This post is also available in: ItalianoEspañol

Flying. Ambition of the man of all time. Aspiring to the feeling of maximum freedom, soar above everything, detach from the ground and enjoy every detail from above, shortening distances. Man dreams of flying since he is conscious of himself. Nature has not provided the human being with the appropriate equipment to rise up in the air, but has remedied by providing to the human species the necessary intelligence to design, build and implement tools capable of bringing man beyond the clouds. Aircraft of course, to move from place to place in less time and with greater comfort. But not only. The needs change, fly becomes a pleasure, not just a necessity linked to travel. Here are then planes of tourism, ultra-light and private jets, in short all the aircraft that fall within the broader category of General Aviation, a sector in which even the Italian aeronautics industry can say its own.

ultralight aircraft

Private plane

Italian aircraft: great performance, safety and style

The need to quickly travel long distances comes out from the business world: it is the wealthiest men to start using private aircraft to move from one place to another, from one location to another of a company empire or to run from the other part of the world to close a contract. Avoiding long lines at the airport, sharing space and flight schedules are the main motivation for starting the private aircraft market. A luxury that not everyone can afford. Italy, however, does not have a great tradition in the field of wealthy aircraft. There are very few examples of Italian private jets.

Italian private jet

Interior of a private jet

Much more attentive to the beauty of our territory and more linked to the concept of passion, the Italians took the side of the pleasure of flying, more than its need. The Italian aeronautics industry has specialized over the years in the design and production of ultra-light aircraft, suitable for tourist trips to admire the Peninsula in all its glory, loved by flight enthusiasts who accumulate hours and hours of experience before taking the patent and also chosen by businessmen for their rapid and continuous movements. Forget Spartan accommodation or essential lines: in the world of ultra-lights the technical part is not the main part, the structure that engineers have thought about and designed, the mechanical characteristics of the vehicle. In this ever-expanding sector, not only  the performance is important but also the design and interiors, cared for down to the last detail to fly in complete safety, but above all in elegance and comfort.

Italian tourism planes

Tourist plane

Here are the main Italian aeronautical companies producing ultra-light aircraft, including newly founded start-ups and historic masterpieces of the tricoloured engineering.

Tecnam

Two boys animated by a dream: to fly. The Pascale brothers built it, with the foundation of the Partenavia Costruzioni Aeronautiche. Among their successes are the trainer Partenavia Oscar and the twin-engine touring P.68. In 1986 the company was re-founded with the name of Tecnam, world leader in the creation of General Aviation aircraft. For over 70 years, Tecnam is committed to creating aircraft for General Aviation. From the genius of Professor Luigi Pascale to the skies of the whole world: the most innovative and elegant airplanes made in Italy are born here, in Capua, in the province of Caserta. Ultra-light for private flight enthusiasts, twin-engine aircraft for the Italian Air Force and also fuselages for NASA. A global success.

Techn. Aircraft

Tecnam P2006T

Piaggio Aerospace

One of the largest Italian aeronautical production companies, born as a branch of the most famous vehicle production company (yes, just the Piaggio of  Italian). After supplying the Italian army of aircrafts in the Second World War, the company then dedicated itself to private aircraft, such as te Twin-engine italian turbocharger that combines an innovative design with remarkable efficiency the famous Piaggio P180 Avanti, a turbo props from performance similar to those of a light jet, with a cabin equipped with a toilet and a luggage compartment, for the comfortable transport of 6-7 passengers.

Piaggio airplane

Piaggio airplane

Vulcanair

Another excellence of the Campania region in terms of aircraft is Vulcanair, an Italian aeronautical company founded in 1996 in Casoria. The name and logo are inspired by Vesuvius, the inspiration for the construction of twin-engine sold throughout the world.

Blackshape

Based in Monopoli, Puglia, Blackshape Aircraft is dedicated to the production of Italian tourism aircraft, made entirely of carbon fiber. From 2009 a growing reality in the Apulian aerospace district. The Blackshape Prime is its most successful aircraft.

Oma Sud

From an aeronautical company specialized in the construction and assembly of large civil aircraft structures and in mechanical-aeronautical machining operations to the production of a new multi-role light twin-engine aircraft, the SkyCar.

Engineer Nando Groppo

In 1993 in Mezzana Bigli, in the province of Pavia, was born a company producing ultra-light aircraft all Made in Italy. The engineer Nando Groppo srl realizes the dreams of the flight lovers, trying to wisely combine tradition and innovation.

The question is a must: how much does an ultra-light cost? The answer can only include several variables. Ok, not everyone can “park” an ultra-light under the house, but the prices of a private plane are not as prohibitive as you imagine, always remaining in the field of 4-zeros ciphers. It ranges from 10,000 to over 200,000 euros for the purchase of a tourist aircraft or for private use. At this cost must be added then that of the flight school that you will have to attend to become pilots and even rent a hangar where to place our little jewel in the breaks between a take-off and another. But in front of the passion there is no price that holds and in fact that for the ultra-light is a passion that is infecting more and more people, in Italy and in the world, determined to overcome human limitations, curious to find out what it feels like to watch everything and everyone from above, ready to experience the infinite feeling of freedom that is felt at the precise moment of take-off.

Flight school

Flight school

From the earth to the sky, a path against the current, unnatural given the impossibility of flying with which man finds himself having to live together, looking at the blue high without ever being able to enjoy it untill the end. But in the world of luxury, where money is not a problem and where the passions know no limits, the word “impossible” is really just a word. And so man flies.

This post is also available in: ItalianoEspañol