Though they didn’t make an appearance at Sun ‘n Fun, Tecnam’s Special Missions P2012 variant and STOL editions were announced. The two aircraft’s missions are significantly different, illustrating the inherent versatility of the light piston twin.
British Columbia, Canada-born Sven Lincke, now a Tecnam sales representative based in Anchorage, Alaska, explained to AVweb at Sun ‘n Fun why the Tecnam 2012 Traveller airframe fits the bill for the two new mission profiles.
Both new variants replace the legacy Traveller’s Lycoming TEO-540 C1A engines with Continental GT-SIO 520S powerplants. In the Special Missions version, there are a pair of 22 x 29-inch belly openings that can accommodate cameras, sensors, and probes. Enhanced “mission” electrical power is also incorporated to operate the special missions equipment. AVweb asked if the aircraft could accommodate air-to-ground weapons pods, and Lincke answered, “not as far as we know.”
He noted that the Special Missions P2012, with full fuel and cruising at 85 knots with takeoff flaps, would have an endurance of eight hours for significant loiter time.
The STOL (Short Take Off and Land) version is designed for close to the complete opposite mission profile. Lincke described a typical role, for example, as making the 30-minute flight to the short runway at Caribbean island St Barts with a full passenger load. With its extended wingspan of 54.5 feet (almost 10 feet more than the standard Traveller and the Special Missions versions) the STOL P2012 variant has a dirty stall speed of just 56 knots, about 10 knots slower than the other two versions.
LIncke concluded with the fact that demand for the P2012 across the board has generated a 50% increase in factory production for the light twin, to 30 aircraft per year. He said there are no apples-to-apples comparisons among new aircraft: “only apples to pineapples – and we have the pineapples!”
