> From what I can tell, they do have their issues.
Care to elaborate? Is this based on your own experience? It really surprises me but my 800 hrs in the Van are from Nordic ops, so not exactly bush flying. I did fly with a number of ex bush pilots though. Never got the impression they thought the Van was a “least bad” solution as you put it.
I think they’ll sell loads of these. There simply isn’t anything around that’s not at least 40 years old. Plus, Tecnam have always had sensible pricing. The new P2006T with G1000 is cheaper to buy than a new C182, even. And it can run on Mogas. And it uses less fuel. For me that makes it a no brainer, but obviously never underestimate the conservativeness of aviation.
> but my 800 hrs in the Van are from Nordic ops
Krister, your answer may lie in your own quote – Nordic ops. From speaking with operators in Africa the impression I got was that the C208 wasn’t quite the right a/c for the circumstances. Think maintenance, for one, cost per seat mile another. Turbine cycles. Non-pressurized and rather slow. Add crewing issues – a substantial part of flying in southern Africa is done by low-hour guys who need the experience, but have no turbine time or training. In hundreds of hours as pax on pretty much anything that can fly all over Africa, I can only remember one C208 op, and that was in southern Sudan. Mind you, I am not saying the C208 is bad a/c! Far from it, it’s a great airplane, it just seems to sit rather uncomfortably between the C206/210 and the bigger twins, e.g. the Twotter, at least in Africa. And it’s exactly in this niche that the Tecnam may live quite well.
