Tecnam

Okay.

Um, and started flying Tecnams out of Rand Airport, which was very, very interesting.

How long ago is this?

Um, that was probably early 2000s.

And then obviously from there it progressed to PPL.

Yeah.

Completed your PPL on the Tecnams.

Um, no, no, no, sorry.

And today we're talking about a new contender stepping into that space.

Tecnam, the Italian manufacturer with a growing footprint in American aviation training, just introduced the P2008 JCNG new generation.

They're positioning it squarely at US flight academies looking for a modern, cost-efficient alternative to fleets that have been flying since some of your current instructors were in elementary school.

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They've been building light aircraft for decades with a strong presence in European flight training and a growing one in the US market.

You may have seen the P2006T twin at university flight programs or the P902 at flight academies looking for lower operating costs.

Tecnam is not a newcomer to this market, but the American training sector is dominated by Cessna and Piper in a way that is genuinely hard to overstate and breaking into fleet purchasing decisions requires more than a good airplane.

It requires the right airplane at the right price at the right time.

Manufacturers built aircraft around the limits.

Companies like Flight Design, Pipistrel, and Tecnam built entire product lines within the framework.

And for a time, the ecosystem was genuinely expanding.

But those limits were already chafing within a few years.

The sim at the booth is an exact replica of the Piper Pilot 100i, and it's built with real Garmin avionics, the same screens and the same knobs in the same places.

Alsim also builds replicas of the Cessna 172 and the Diamond DA40 and DA42, plus one sim that converts between the Cirrus SR20, SR22, and SR22T When I told Suleiman I'd flown a Tecnam up to Oshkosh on our Runway to Oshkosh trip, he lit up.

He said Alsim is working on the Tecnam P2006, and when it's ready, they'll bring one up to Oshkosh for people to try.

So I asked Suleiman where sim training is headed over the next five years.

His answer came back two words I love, muscle memory.

The airplane.

The aircraft in question is a Tecnam P2012 Traveler.

Twin engine, high wing, built in Italy by Tecnam.

The same manufacturer behind a long line of light sport and training aircraft.

But the P2012 is their flagship commuter class design.

That's not marketing language.

That's the design brief.

Tecnam built this airplane knowing that regional connectivity in island communities and emerging markets often means runways that would give a regional jet chief pilot a quiet moment of professional reflection.