Pipistrel

Tecnam is not the only manufacturer thinking along these lines.

Pipistrel, before their acquisition by Textron Aviation, was pushing hard on efficiency and electric propulsion.

Cessna's Skycatcher program is ancient history, but Textron is watching the market.

Diamond has been building composite airplanes with diesel engines for years.

I have no problem with that.

Pipistrel pointed out when the Pipistrel Alpha Trainer came out, they were the very first model It was $99,000.

They made a point of it saying it's $99,000.

And that was where we thought the high end of light sport aircraft would be when it first came out in 2004.

Well,

Textron bought Pipistrel specifically because of their electric trainer.

So that gave them a jumpstart on this market.

So they're clearly looking at it.

From first solo to airline transport pilot, every coin tells a story.

Aviationsoul.com. Let's talk about the Pipistrel Velis Electro.

Pipistrel is a Slovenian manufacturer that has been building light aircraft since nineteen eighty-seven.

They are not a startup.

They have been producing composite aircraft primarily at the lighter and more efficient end of the market for nearly forty years.

In twenty twenty-two, Textron Aviation acquired Pipistrel.

If you know that name, you know what that means.

Textron owns Cessna.

So that is a three-seater version of the CH750 from Zenair.

Pipistrel have unveiled their Voyager, the trainer version of that, the Voyager trainer.

That's got the ubiquitous Rotax 912.

And they advertise a £552 useful load with that, with an 850-mile range.

A generation of light, efficient two-seat aircraft came to market.

Companies like Flight Design, Pipistrel, Technum, and others built real airplanes that pilots actually wanted to fly.

The Sport Pilot Certificate gave people a cheaper, faster path into the left seat.

But by the end of the first decade, the constraints were starting to bite.