Michael, agreed, Panthera will not do three out of four with the added requirement of 75%.
It might just do it with 55% and IO-390. Granted – not certified. Who knows whether there will be any certification at all, the lack of progress in the last three years is worrying. Perhaps they realized the aircraft did not turn as great as they hoped for, the certification problems/costs are too much and decided to cut their loses and focus on their core business.
Does anybody have a clue what is the empty weight of the test aircraft?
This article from 2014 (9MB PDF) says 692kg on the last page, presumably for the IO390.
Peter wrote:
you can see how much less cockpit volume it has, and that is the #1 factor.
Plate surface of the cabin is indeed an important factor but there are two others that are just as important : aerodynamic efficiency and weight.
Typically the wings and empennage generate approx 80% of the overall drag on a GA acft. so the wing profile and length are much more critical in influencing the overall performance.
I think a lot of people would like to think that but no matter what people do they still end up with the same drag for a given cockpit size.
TB20 SR22 Cessna400 all do 140kt IAS at 11.5GPH.
Funnily enough the DA42 does too though that just shows that the extra drag of the 2nd engine is balanced out by the better SFC of a higher CR engine.
I have been in all the above and checked it.
The SR22 is for sure more slippery than a TB20 but it then wastes it in the fixed gear.
Nobody has managed to go specially fast in GA for a given cockpit size. All the “fast” planes do it by burning tons of avgas, or by being tiny/narrow, or both. And of course the “200kt” sales brochure figures are all TAS and achieved with a turbo and an oxygen mask.
At the low subsonic speeds, the options are evidently very limited.
Which is not to say there isn’t a market for a more compact tourer than the SR22/TB20 class. No doubt there is. A lot of “touring” in Europe is quite short flights, not carrying everything including the kitchen sink like I do on long trips. Also there is a market for modern looking stuff – look at Cirrus.
What there isn’t a market for is something that doesn’t deliver at least as much as the competition. The Panthera needs to outclass the SR22 on all the key factors. And being so much smaller it can do that.
BTW, there is the Diamond DA 40 – same smallish cabin and glider like lineage as the Panthera …. alas, the performance is no where near the Pipestrel claims .
Of course not – look at the Vs.
But the DA40 probably does the same MPG as the rest, but at a lower speed.
Basically all SEP “IFR touring” planes ever built, Vs=59kt, same cockpit size, all fly at nearly the same speed.
It wins in the sexy looks stakes though! And that is a factor I think…look at the sometimes irrational arguments against high wing aircraft…
Peter wrote:
And of course the â200ktâ sales brochure figures are all TAS
Why, yes? That’s the only relevant figure, isn’t it?
Except you cut off the bit about the oxygen mask and the turbo 
Peter wrote:
Of course not â look at the Vs.
What does the “Vs” have to do with it ?
