Aircraft
Read PLANE & PILOT raving review of the new Advanced Ultralight Pipistrel Alpha Trainer:
The name “Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER” describes the exact purpose of this exciting new aircraft designed for Advanced Ultralight Flying Schools. The aircraft has been designed with the "essence of student pilot training" as its primary design goal. Times have been changing; we have noticed over the last several years that flight training schools 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 from the marketplace for the 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. After extensive market research and evaluation, Pipistrel now has the perfect training aircraft, providing a fully optioned and Canadian Advanced Ultralight approved training aircraft at a very reasonable cost with the lowest running costs in the industry.
New pilots will appreciate the main undercarriage, which is made of composite material has been reinforced to handle the hardest landings even at MTOW, which provides for a full fuel payload of nearly 500 pounds. The undercarriage is designed to be strong and durable, thus capable of accepting the bad the landings made by pilot-students. The new nose leg is 2 inches (5 cm) shorter, lowering the nose and improving the visibility during taxi. Propeller clearance is not sacrificed because the Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER uses a smaller 63” diameter fixed pitch propeller.
The Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER aircraft has a new central 15 gallon (55 liter) fuel tank. 15 gallons (55 liters) does not sound like much when you are talking about conventional aircraft, but Pipistrels are much more efficient! In reality 15 gallons (55 liters) is more than enough for the ALPHA TRAINER. The fuel tank now has a large opening which means it can be filled directly from fast flow avgas pumps. The 15 gallons capacity will give the Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER aircraft at least 400 miles range with reserves at normal cruise speeds of just under 110 knots. In the training role doing circuits the aircraft will be using less than 2.5 gallons per hour, effectively giving you 5 hours endurance from just 15 gallons of fuel. The Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER is fitted with the ever reliable Rotax 912 80 hp engine. While some may question whether 80 hp is enough, those familiar with Pipistrel know that our designs maximize performance with the given power. The 80 hp engine powers the Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER to a respectable, Cessna 172 cruise speed of 108 knots and will achieve climb rates of over 1000 fpm (5 m/s). Pipistrel believes that the Rotax 80 hp engine is the ideal choice for a training aircraft, it is smooth and reliable, it is frugal with the fuel and the 2000 hour/15 year TBO is fact. The Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER is manufactured from state-of-the-art composite materials and has an empty weight of 100 pounds less than the average competitors’ aircraft. This is one of the reasons why the Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER can offer such good performance and economy. Robust and durableDurability in the training market requires careful planning, for this reason Pipistrel have chosen to supply the Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER with extra heavy-duty seat fabric, the wheel spats are also removed from this aircraft meaning it’s impossible for a student to break them getting in and out and in the unlikely event of a puncture the wheel can be replaced in around 2 minutes, again design features helping to keep the Pipistrel ALPHA TRAINER in the air and earning you money rather than being in the repair shop. The Alpha trainer is NOT approved for Aerobatics in Canada. It Can only be registered as Advanced Ultralight in Canada, and is available as Ready to fly.
Pipistrel Aircraft
Pipistrel is proudly celebrating it's 25th year in aircraft production with yet another record year in sales.Producing their first all carbon composite aircraft in 2002, Pipistrel is now one of the industry leaders in light composite aircraft.Constantly innovating, the Pipistrel team have produced multiple world record winning aircraft. Our greatest achievement to date is winning the NASA challenge THREE consecutive times. Twice with the highly popular Virus SW, and once with the proof of concept fully electric Taurus G4.A diversified range of aircraft are available from Pipistrel. From a simple to fly, yet fully equipped trainer Ultralight such as the Alpha Trainer, self launching gliders like the Taurusor Apis, touring motor gliders Virus and Sinus, nimble high speed hotrods such as the Virus SW to luxurious 4 seat cross country cruisers like the new Panthera. All our aircraft have one thing in common, they are made of the most advanced composite materials, using the latest design technologies. This makes Pipistrel aircraft world famous for the most aerodynamic, lightest, and fuel efficient aircraft available.
