Most prices in the aviation are hiking - despite the poor economic outlook in most countries. One company, however, surprised the world market with their announcement of a very economical light sport training airplane.
Pipistrel, a highly innnovative Slovenian company with a series of international awards under the belt, announced their Alpha trainer for the price around $83,000.
This is a stark contrast to the recent price hike of Cessna's Chinese made SkyCatcher, which now costs close to $150,000.
The Alpha trainer supposed to be "affordable to acquire and economical to maintain," Pipistrel claims. "We believe no other LSA training aircraft is as cheap to run."
The training airplane will feature:
- a beefed-up tricycle-gear undercarriage to handle student landings
- 400 nm of range
- cruise speed of 108 knots
- and a fuel burn of 2.5 gallons per hour
The cockpit panel features conventional flight gauges and a Garmin GPS unit. The US delivberies may start as soon as in April.
The Alpha trainer comes with an 80-hp Rotax 912 engine and a ballistic parachute as standard equipment.
Pipistrel says it has incorporated a long list of features into the Alpha, including that "it must be strong and easy to fly for beginner students ... it must have benign stall characteristics ... it must be affordable and easy to operate, maintain, and repair."
Pipistrel is adjusting to the need of a new market situation. "We have noticed over the last several years that customers have evolved from basic entry-level aircraft to more sophisticated glass everything with autopilot and every other conceivable addition. Great if you can afford it but with the economy the way it is most aircraft have been priced out of the market for an average person or flight school. That's why we have developed an entirely new aircraft, a completely new approach to flight training and at a cost nearly half that of our competitors."
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