Flying the Pioneer P200 Microlight
By Mark Attwood | Flying
I had the pleasure of flying this very nice Italian aircraft recently in the company of a great pilot, Dave Northwood.
Here’s Dave next to one of his most treasured possessions, the Quicksilver 2:
For those that are interested (like me), I found an informative video about the Quicksilver here:
And here’s Dave post-flight with the P200…
This was the first time I have flown a P200, and I found it to be a very nimble and slippery aircraft that was like a flying version of a Fiat 500: small, nippy and good looking. Typically Italian, in other words (although the P200 refrained from pinching my wife’s backside).
One aspect that made it interesting was the electric flap (I like the heavy manual variety) and the P200’s desire to constantly exceed the never-exceed flap speed, a characteristic you need to be aware of before taking-off to avoid any embarrassment, or death.
The manufacturer describes their product like this:
– Functional design with high visibility
– Wood construction
– smooth forgiving flight design
– Modular design construction
– 100 knot cruise @ 75% power
– 12 – 14 ltr / Hour fuel consumption
– 80Hp Rotax 912 UL Engine
– Low wing design features
– Fixed pitch propeller
– Light weight fabric covered wings
– Impeccable Italian design, fit and finish
..and I have to say, I agree with it all!
It’s been a week since I took her up, but I’m already yearning to go back. So, thank you Dave for a great flight – see you soon!
Finally, in the spirit of this blog I found a great video of an inspirational young guy called Harrison Nall flying the very same aircraft in the Algarve with it’s owner, the legendary Gerry Breen that I thought you would enjoy…
I hope you’re still flying, Harrison!
