My guess is that they are busy elsewhere and don’t really believe the aircraft will make them loads of money anytime soon.
Or waiting for a suitable diesel power plant. The IO-540 they had to revert to was always a little bit of a letdown in such a modern airframe. Be a shame to certify that with that dinosaur engine only.
I think they bit of more than they could chew and fell in to the advertizing trap of promising things which were impossible from the outset. When confronted with reality in flight test, interest in the plane plummeted into non-existance.
Adam is right however, a good diesel variant would have been and still would be a very viable solution to that problem. A plane like this with a diesel plant would sell. Trouble is that there is no diesel plant which would fit this plane and keep its performance.
So imho the Panthera will disappear into insignificance as have many “promising” types before.
Wow, interesting opinions.
I had a brief exchange with Mr Boscarol about the powerplant in Friedrichshafen 2 years ago. I think his target market is not the US, and the engine choice was in part dictated by MOGAS compatibility. I still find it weird…
I wish they could keep it happening.
I think the airframe is really great ( I like the all-terrain gear and the high quality aerodynamics).
Since the airframe is so light, maybe one could restart by trying to keep it this way:
Start with a CDI-155? Limited may power would definitely compromise take-off performance but
- climb rate would be fine above 5000 ft where the turbo helps
- cruise between 10 K and 12 K would be as good or better than the 210 HP version (175 KTAS) clearly SR 22 territory
- fuel burn would be very low, resulting in the possibility of reducing MTOW to maybe 1150 Kg for better initial climb?
Just an idea…
Flyingfish wrote:
Start with a CDI-155?
No way. This is the airframe that requires 300 HP, so CD-300 is the only choice. That’s the engine which DA50 uses (will use).
One airframe for sale. That’s interesting. It it one of the prototypes?
https://www.planecheck.com/index.asp?ent=da&id=48047&cor=y local copy S5-MTS
Amazing! Does not look like a prototype to me. Certainly the most beautiful SEP in my eyes.
I wonder what this airplane is: Experimental? Certified? Or what?
As an experimental, it would be pretty much useless for a long range plane, as it would be VFR day only and require overflight permits almost everywhere?
Or did Pipistrel manage to certify the Panthera without telling anyone?
require overflight permits almost everywhere?
“Everywhere”, yes, excluding ECAC territory which is most of Europe. Overflight permits for the rest, yes, but no problem from equipment/capability pov.
They must be selling the aircraft they used for testing.
Most notable is the fact this one has the IO540 engine. So it won’t be the demo one they have been showing at airshows for some years; that one had the IO390.
I can only think it must be classified as Annex 1. Day VFR and needing the usual permits. At 550k this is certainly pushing the boundaries for a non vintage type 
Has anyone seen a test report on the IO540 engined model? There have been various magazine reports on the IO390 one.
Maybe the development of the aircraft has been terminated. I have emailed their sales manager to ask.
