Tecnam’s Quantum Leap
Globules of rain splattered on the windscreen as I splashed my way along the Pacific Motorway towards Southport. The wipers struggled to keep up with the torrent, making my search for the exit sign nearly impossible in the blurry world outside. Cars swooshed all around me, sending out the occasional bow wave as evidence of flooded road. Cloud, grey and heavy, hovered only a few hundred feet above the motorway.
This was possibly not the most ideal day for testing an aeroplane.
My mission that day was to fly the new 215-hp Tecnam P TwentyTen (P2010) Mk II, and compare it to the 180-hp fixed-pitch version that I flew in Capua, Italy, in 2015. Operating from Southport Airport, I should have had a bright, sunny Gold Coast day for the job, but Cyclone Uesi, tracking just off the coast of Queensland, was threatening to spoil my party. I sat in the car outside Southport Flying Club for a good 15 minutes hoping for a break in the downpour before giving up and making a dash for the club entrance. I arrived inside soaked to the skin.
With flying activities clearly off the cards, I spent some time talking aviation with some locals and gathering background on the new P2010 from Bruce Stark at Tecnam Pty Ltd, the Australian distributor. As rainwater streamed down the outside of the windows, we drank good coffee and dissected the aeroplane, occasionally leveraging our optimism to check the weather radar.
“The P TwentyTen is part of Tecnam’s philosophy of offering a complete range of aircraft models to the aviation market from small two-seat recreational and light sport aircraft through to
