Julian Moxon/PARIS
Sales of the new Akrotech Cap 222 aerobatic competition aircraft, now being produced by France's Avions Robin, have exceeded expectations, with seven orders notched up before certification. "We're sold out to July," says Avions Robin president Jean-Paul Pellissier, "and we are seeing a great deal of interest from a range of potential customers".
The tandem-seat, all-carbonfibre composite Cap 222 takes its name from the Mudry aerobatic line taken over by Pellissier in 1997, when the Bernay, Normandy-based manufacturer, famous for its Cap 10 and Cap 232 aerobatic aircraft, went bankrupt. Under Aéronautique Services' Akrotech division, the latter two are still selling, with orders for two of each already booked for 1998.
Pellissier bought Akrotech USA at about the same time as Mudry went into receivership, realising that its G202 kitplane would fit well with the two Mudry products (the Cap 10 is a side-by-side all-wooden aircraft, while the single-seat Cap 232 is built of both wood and metal). The G202 is offered either in kit form - at $60,000, without engine, propeller, avionics, or accessories - or in partially completed form at $145,000. The full-up completed and certificated aircraft is priced at $170,000.
Pellissier has hired 1995 world aerobatics champion Dominique Roland to help develop and market the Cap 222, certification of which is due in the first quarter of this year
The aircraft had its first flight at Dijon on 12 June, 1997. Power is via a 150kW (200hp) Textron-Lycoming AEIO 360-AE1. The Cap 222 is stressed to +/- 10g at its 726kg maximum take-off weight and, says Akrotech, can be flown on a 5h ferry flight at its 170kt (320km/h) cruising speed.
Source: Flight International
