‘Curviest’ Airplane At Lakeland Sure Got A LOT of Pilot Attention 

The Pipistrel Panthera is raising a LOT of fuss... the immensely curvy, as well as speedy, four place retractable geared airplane has been seen all over the country. With a cruise speed in the 200 knot arena and solid handling qualities, the Panthera is looking to be a Cirrus-killer when it makes the jumbo from being available as an experimental class aircraft to one that has received certification.

Aero–News was privileged to be the first to fly a US registered Panthera, as it came pretty much straight out of the crate a few days before, from Pipistrel HQ, in Slovenia. Unfortunately, we did not have a whole lot of prep time, but nonetheless elected to head down to very sunny, very warm, Inverness, Florida, the home of Right Rudder Aviation -- who will be serving as the US distributor for the aircraft, in order to at least get an initial flight test done.

The first look at a Pipistrel Panthera in the flesh makes a delightful impression. The aircraft is curvier than a Sports Illustrated supermodel and almost as alluring (Note to my friend Kim Alexis… this does not refer to you, of course… Grin). There are simply very few straight lines in this airplane. It's almost all curves. One would think that Pipistrel’s design staff was not issued straight edge rulers at any time. Further; the fit and finish of the workmanship looks pretty good at first glance and the more we climbed on and through the airplane during our flight test last year, the more that impression was enhanced.

The first panthera has already been delivered and more are on the way... we’ll keep you updated.

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