The first Tecnam P2008 to arrive in Australia is currently stretching its wings as a Gold Coast-based demonstrator. Justin Grey reports.
Shipped into Brisbane via Sydney from the Tecnam factory in Italy, the aircraft was reassembled at Redcliffe and put on the Civil Aircraft Register (VH-MSF) in early November.
Bruce Stark of Gold Coast-based Tecnam Australia, who has flown the aircraft himself on numerous occasions, believes the P2008 represents a major evolutionary step in the Tecnam range.
“It’s a significant evolution of the existing aircraft,” he explains. “It’s incredibly spacious inside and has a massive baggage area compared to what we had before.
“The secret to success is relentless innovation, and I think Tecnam is a good example of that. If you look at the evolution through the various models, I think the P2008 is just taking it one stage further.”
As with most of the Tecnam family, the P2008 offers the advantageous combination of a carbon-fibre composite body and metal wings, tailplane and rudder.
“It’s getting all the advantages of composites in terms of bulges and the ability to shape for the best wind tunnel advantage, which you can’t necessarily do with aluminium,” Stark says.
“But it overcomes the downside of a lot of composite aircraft – damage to the wings – because it’s got metal wings, metal tailplane and a metal rudder. So if you have any damage to the wing any LAME in the country can very simply de-rivet it and repair it, whereas wing repairs on a [fully] composite aircraft involve ultrasound testing, and most insurers would insist on throwing away the wing just to be safe.”
The first Australian customer P2008 – destined for Western Australia – is expected to arrive before year’s end, and Stark says there’s considerable interest in the aircraft locally.
“I’ve got a number of people waiting to fly this demonstrator – principally net worth individuals,” he says. “Two individuals and one flying school from New Zealand have also come across to fly it.”
The Tecnam P2008 has a price tag of around AUD$136,000 plus GST. Stark is currently touring the demonstrator to Queensland flying schools and plans on flying it to the Great Eastern Fly-In at Evans Head in early January. Following that, a national demonstration tour will be scheduled.
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