The arrival of the first example of TECNAM's line of best-selling aircraft is sure to create plenty of buyer interest.

All-metal design, low European light planes have had as much impact here as a tin can thrown against a locomotive. Who remembers the Bolkow 208, Piaggio Royal Gull, Gardan Horizon, Messerschmitt-Bolkow Monsun, Moraine Saulnier Rallye, Nardi Riviera, I.I.I. Sky Arrow or Waco Vela 220? They failed because of lack of support, indifferent performance or value, poor marketing or a combination of these factors. The light plane business has always been one of the most challenging areas of general aviation.

A captivating Italian aircraft that just arrived in Canada, however, promises to be a smashing exception to the record. The Tecnam P96 Golf is a 2-seat, all-metal advanced ultralight that looks like a perky, miniature Grumman American Tiger. Designed by a veteran engineer, the cabin has a carbon-steel cage for crash resistance. The simple flaps and ailerons are Dacron covered to save weight. Because the plane weighs only 619 pounds, one person can easily move it on the ground.
Power is supplied by either an 81-hp or a 100-hp Rotax 912. Both are certified 4-stroke engines driving a Torini Giancarlo GT propeller through reduction gears. Although the prop is wood, the carbon fibre reinforcement mimics composite construction. Maximum power (5,800 rpm) is limited to five minutes. The engines can use either 95-octane auto fuel (preferred) or 100 LL. Motorcycle oil with a gear additive is recommended. The top half of the engine cowl is secured by four fasteners, which are easily opened. The cowling itself is so light it can be carried in one hand. Also noticeable during the pre-flight inspection are the superior fit and finish, a canopy that slides backward on the press of a single finger, a stabilator and the balanced ailerons and rudder. The prop is placarded "Do not use to push or pull." When there's no tow bar available, there's not much choice.

Entry is via a step on each side of the fuselage in front of the wing. Climbing up, the next logical place to plant your foot is near the leading edge, but you must lean further in to reach the reinforced footway at the centre of the wing. Then put one foot inside the cockpit and lower yourself in the seat, using only the side of the cockpit for support. Like the leading edge, the windshield frame cannot take your weight. Exiting, the step is so far forward of the reinforced walk that you must squat to avoid stepping on the fragile leading edge. The procedure is easily learned, but passengers need to be coached and monitored to avoid airframe damage.
When the Cessna 150 was designed, North Americans were lighter and thinner. Today, many people don't fit in such a confined cockpit. The Golf's cockpit is 44 inches wide, plenty of space for cheeseburger-loving people in Arctic dress. The comfortable seats can be moved fore and aft to fit anyone from five feet to six feet six inches. I'm six feet tall, and had adequate headroom, but had to duck when the canopy was closed or opened. Four-point harnesses are standard, a feature American manufacturers should copy.

Like many European aircraft, the Golf has two throttles ("accelerators," they say), one in the middle of the panel, and another on the far left. No carburettor heat control is fitted, apparently because only certified aircraft like the Diamond DA20 require it. The Golf comes with basic flight and engine instruments, but even with the optional full panel, GPS, nav/comm and transponder there's room to spare. A lever on the central pedestal operates both brakes simultaneously. They can't be used to turn, but the turning radius is so small they're not needed anyway. The parking brake and fuel tank selectors are nearby. Each of the two fuel tanks can be used alone or simultaneously. Standard tanks hold 70 litres (18.5 U.S. gals.) but the optional tanks on the 100-hp model I flew held 90 litres (23.7 U.S. gals.) Optional avionics and full panel brought our empty weight to 634 pounds, leaving a useful load of 578 pounds. Baggage can be placed on a shelf behind the seats, which holds up to 75 pounds.
If you're not used to ultralights, the Rotax's loud "clunk" on start and shutdown is alarming. Warm-up requires 2,000 to 2,600 rpm. If taxiing before warm-up is completed, brakes must be used to slow down. The steerable nose wheel (which has a rubber puck shock absorber) makes control easy. Run-up is done at 3,800 rpm, when you can actually lift the nose wheel with the stick.
Takeoff is marked by noticeable torque, quick acceleration and lift-off in about 300 feet. At full gross, 18°C and a field elevation of 900 feet, we had an initial climb of over 1,100 fpm. Controls are light and nicely harmonized. The de Havilland Chipmunk is the gold standard for precise, harmonized controls, but the Golf comes close. Pilots used to heavier aircraft like the Piper Warrior might find the controls sensitive at first. The short, 27-foot, 7-inch wing gives a quick roll rate. I measured 2.1 seconds from 60 degrees left to 60 degrees right. Turns require some use of rudder, but with a little patience I was able to get the Golf to fly hands-off in a stable 20-degree bank with the ball in the centre.

Aircraft with a stick always seem more responsive than those with a wheel. The plane's high roll rate and light stick forces make you feel like a Spitfire pilot. (Or, if you're younger, a CF-18 pilot?) The limit load factors are +3.8 G to -1.9 G, so aerobatics in the Golf are not legal in Canada. The Golf's stick has a sensuous feel, with four tiny buttons on the top. Two are for the electric trim, while the unmarked pair must be for rockets and cluster bombs. After all, the microphone button at the front of the stick feels just like a trigger.

Stalls are preceded by noticeable warning buffet. If you fail to recover, the nose nods up and down. If you're still asleep, the left wing drops, followed by the right wing. The wing can be picked up with rudder, while earlier recovery requires merely a release of back pressure on the stick. Buffeting and wing drop are more pronounced with flaps down.
We flew on a clear day after the passage of a cold front. The air was rough and the thermals were strong enough to make glider pilots drool. "Short-coupled" aircraft like the Golf, the American Aviation Yankee and the Zenair CH 2000 (now the AMD Alarus) aren't at their best in such weather. We yawed and rolled until conditions improved. In addition, all ultralights have such low wing loadings that you can't expect the rock-like stability of a Cessna 182. Any discomfort was eased by the cruising speed of about 113 knots. Not bad on 100 hp. Vno, the maximum structural cruising speed, happens to be 113 knots. Cruising at 75% power (5,250 rpm), we were just at the edge of the yellow arc. At that power setting, fuel consumption is a miserly five U.S. gallons per hour.

Visibility is superior, and not unlike that in a Grumman American Tiger or Cheetah. Sun visors are not provided, but I've found green clear plastic sheets, held by static, worked well in a Robin R.2160, which has even better visibility. You can fly with the canopy open, although you'd best remember to duck while opening it. I found it too noisy and breezy when it was more than an inch or two open.

My first two landings were the kind you hope to do when flying your mother for the first time. The kind the late Syd Cowley, former CFI of the Oshawa Flying Club, made every time. After 38 years' flying, I haven't matched his awesome consistency, so I put the landings down to the Golf's forgiving spring steel gear and its crisp, responsive controls. A landing in a 10-knot, 90-degree crosswind was similarly routine. (The Golf has a demonstrated crosswind component of 15 knots.)
The electric flaps reduce stalling speed from 42.5 knots to 36.6 knots. My overshoot with 40 degrees of flaps could, if necessary, have been managed easily without the electric trim. The flap-down speed (top of the white arc on the airspeed indicator) is only 60 knots. That's low for operating into busy airfields. In practice, it's easy to use no flaps, keeping ahead of Cessnas with attitude.
The Golf's glide ratio is 12 to 13:1. The Diamond Katana's is 11:1, but most light planes, like the American Aviation Traveler and the Cessna 150, can manage only about 8:1 or 9:1. Golf pilots have to plan their approaches accordingly.
Robert Carney, an instructor at the Brampton Flying Club, thought the Golf flew much like the Katana, on which he instructs. "The Golf performs better, climbs faster and is easy to fly. The electric trim is better placed than the Katana's. You don't have to reach across the cockpit. I didn't notice a difference in the control sensitivity. Both are responsive, although the Golf has an apparent nose-down attitude. A student could convert to the Golf in two or three hours, perhaps longer if he or she were used to a Cessna."

No ultralight maker has ever been accused of providing overly detailed pilot's manuals. Handbooks tend to be skimpy, if not non-existent. The Golf's is bigger than average. However, it doesn't quote unusable fuel, airspeeds and fuel consumption at 75% power, landing or takeoff distances at gross weight, or cruising speeds at different altitudes.
The first ultralights were as safe as ferries in Bangladesh. Today, they're not only much safer, but perform as well as their certified cousins. The Golf outclasses the Cessna 150M on useful load, cruising speed, sea-level rate of climb, service ceiling and landing and takeoff distances. Only on range does it fall short. The Golf is also inexpensive to run. Our first flight of 1.2 hours used only 22 litres of fuel. An engine overhaul, needed after 1,200 hours, costs about $6,000. Small wonder that over 220 Golfs have been sold since the first flight in March 1997.
The 81-hp Golf sells for CAN$79,000, while the 100-hp version sells for $81,000. Both the Ultravia Pelican and the Italian-built I.I.I. Sky Arrow are said to be more expensive. Delivery time is three months. The Golf comes with a one-year warranty and an engine manufacturer's warranty. For a limited time, free pilot training to ultralight permit standard is included. A ballistic parachute is an option.
Canadian distributor for the Golf is Airsport Aviation Inc. of Toronto. Peter Glaw, the president and chief executive officer, considers the Golf a high-end ultralight, more than competitive with the Murphy Rebel, Ultravia Pelican and I.I.I. Sky Arrow. He thinks the Golf is suited to ultralight schools and for pilots of certified aircraft who want a cross-country machine that's less expensive to operate. Its outstanding short field performance should appeal to pilots with farm strips. Conventional flying schools could save money by using it for the first 20 hours needed for a recreational pilot's permit. An ordinary light plane would be used for the remaining five hours, he believes.
Glaw started his flying career with the Air Cadets. While serving in the Airborne Regiment, he was intrigued by the first ultralights. Twenty-seven years ago he became distributor for the Quicksilver, and set up a school at Cayuga, Ontario that grew to have seven aircraft and seven instructors. In 1983, he was one of 15 veteran ultralight instructors who were trained by Transport Canada to check out other instructors. After a period at Tottenham, Ontario, he operated Sport Flight at Barrie Executive Airport until he sold that company in July 2001 to concentrate on Tecnam products.
Glaw now operates from Brampton, probably Canada's busiest uncontrolled airport. Instruction can be provided there or at the customer's field. Training and service will be backed up with a stock of parts for all Tecnam aircraft models. The factory replied to my three e-mails within a day or two, which suggests that service will be responsive. By way of comparison, I'm overjoyed if Cessna answers within a week.
The designer of the Golf, Prof. Ing. Luigi Pascale, co-founded Partenavia with his brother, Paolo, in the early 1950s. They built a series of increasingly refined light planes, which soldiered on, mainly in Italian flying clubs. The company became prominent with its P.68, a sleek 7-seat high-wing twin, and the first European twin to be successful in the North American market. Over 400 were sold in more than 20 countries. Due to union problems, Partenavia was sold to a state company in 1981.
In 1986, the Pascale brothers founded Construzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam s.r.l. in Naples. It makes tail planes for the ATR 42/72 commuter airliners, fuselage panels for Boeing, and other parts for Lear, Agusta and Dassault. Another unit designs and builds light and ultralight aircraft. Prof. Ing. Pascale designed the P96 Golf and the P92 Echo, which, like the Diamond Katana, are certified under Europe's Joint Airworthiness Regulations/Very Light Aircraft (JAR/VLA). Seven hundred and thirty P92s have been sold.
Tecnam's long experience is evident in the design and the finish of the Golf, while the company's (aerospace) subcontracting business gives some assurance that it will survive market fluctuations. When Bellanca, Piper, Mooney, Taylorcraft and so many other plane makers have had financial problems, that's comforting.
Airsport Aviation's first P92 Echo, which is also available as a kit, arrived in Canada in June. (Earlier designs were called Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Oscar.) The Echo is offered with 65-, 81- and 100-hp Rotax engines, but is a high-wing, 2-seater. Except for the tail and undercarriage, the two planes seem as different as an aunt and uncle, yet both have identical empty weights and useful loads. Therefore, it's surprising that the Echo's 81-hp and 100-hp models will sell for CAN$69,000 and $71,000-$10,000 less than the corresponding Golf models. If that seems a lot of money for a little sex appeal, note the number of BMW and Mercedes convertibles on the roads. People will pay for style, quality, performance and fun. The Golf offers all four.

This story is copyright Aviation Canada Media Inc. Visit www.aviationcanada.ca for information on Canada's top-selling aviation magazine.