Pilot – June 2018

pilotweb.aero | Pilot June 2018 | 7

Channel hopping of a different kind

Sun Flyer flies

Tecnam P2006Ts for US flight school

Somerset-based pilot Will Hosie has
completed an inverted flight across
the English Channel in a Christen
Eagle in support of Great Ormond
Street Children’s Hospital. “The
Channel crossing was originally
planned for 7 April with five other
aircraft,” he told Pilot, “but at the start
of that week the weather was very
poor indeed until we had a change
of air mass over the UK. For various
reasons the other aircraft pulled out
so it was just myself. Eventually the
weather improved and on 16 April
I set off from Dunkeswell direct to
Lydd, filed a flight plan with the help
of Liz at Lydd ATC, and after relaxing

for an hour and setting up the cockpit

with the iPad so as to have a track line

clearly visible to follow I strapped in

(extra tightly!) with a ratchet strap.

Due to the tailwind the inverted leg

was flown from the French side back

to Lydd meaning less time upside

down – 11 minutes, 30 seconds

covering 22nm at 1,000ft above the

sea. (Then) I sat in the café relaxing

for an hour or so with a cup of tea and

two paracetamol to help take away

the headache! I hang upside down a

lot due to an old back injury, but even

after twenty ten-minute practices

at home it’s still alien.” Will’s flight

raised £3,700 for the hospital.

Denver, Colorado-based Bye Aerospace flew

the prototype Sun Flyer 2 two-seat electric-

powered aircraft on 10 April. “We are excited

about the future and the potential the Sun Flyer

family of aircraft has to revolutionise general

aviation, providing improved affordability and

accessibility,” company founder and Chief

Executive Officer George Bye said. “Lower

operating costs are key to solving the student

pilot drop-out rate, which is curtailing the

successful attainment of badly needed airline

pilots. The Sun Flyer 2’s $3 hourly operating

costs are one tenth of traditional piston-engine

flight trainers, with no carbon emissions and

significantly reduced noise.” By March, Bye

Aerospace held 105 deposits for the Sun Flyer 2

and sixteen for the four-seat Sun Flyer 4.

Tecnam has received an order
from the Lakeland, Florida-based
International Aero Academy
(IAA) for an initial six P2006s,
the first of which is scheduled
for delivery in the second
quarter of this year. IAA will be
the first US FAA Part 141 flight
school to acquire a fleet of the
aircraft, which will be equipped
with Garmin G3X touch-screen
displays, GTN-650 GPS/Com/
Nav and a GTX45R that provides
ADS-B in and out, traffic and
weather. IAA is an FAA-certified
ab initio and accelerated flight
academy with authority to issue
foreign student visas for training
foreign students.
“The analysis for our fleet
renewal was no different from
the analysis we have done as
airline executives for Boeing

Notes

ABOVE: Tecnam P2006Ts

will be arriving at IAA in

Lakeland, FL soon

and Airbus acquisitions –

capital cost, maintenance cost

projections, performance, fuel

burn, manufacturer support,

environmental compatibility,

safety, reliability and customer

acceptance,” said Steven

Markhoff, IAA President and

Chief Executive Officer, adding

that additional Tecnam models

may be added to its fleet in future,

and that the facility will soon

become a Tecnam service centre.

Sun Flyer 2 electric-powered prototype has flown

Will Hosie coasts in, inverted. He raised £3,700 for Great Ormond Street