Ocean Air Flight Services, a Tecnam Flight Center located at the Watsonville Municipal Airport (WVI) in California, has taken delivery of its first Rotax-powered P2006T.
The Rotax 912S engines in the Italian-made P2006T have a combined fuel burn of around nine gallons an hour, providing a significant savings in fuel cost, school officials note, adding the aircraft will rent for an introductory rate of “under $200 per hour.”
“Our previous twin trainer was a Duchess,” says Dudley Clark, Director of Maintenance at Ocean Air Flight Services, “but the operating expenses for fuel and ongoing maintenance became cost prohibitive.”
The P2006T, built by Costruzioni Aeronautiche TECNAM, has already become the training twin of choice throughout Europe since its EASA certification in July 2009,” says Phil Solomon, C.E.O. of Tecnam North America.
Ocean Air Flight Services is a flight school and aircraft maintenance facility featuring new light sport aircraft (LSA) and offering training toward both the Private Pilot certificate and the Sport Pilot certification.
For more information: 831-763-0290 or Oceanairflightservices.com
Thank you from all of us at Ocean Air Flight Services!!!
You are correct that ethanol-free mogas is nearly impossible to find in California.
Luckily, the Tecnam airframe (and ROTAX 912S engines) are allowed to operate on up to 10% ethanol content. We have a letter from Chevron that their 91 octane does not contain more than 10%, so we are able to use it (and we do with excellent result). 🙂
Some airframes cannot handle any amount of ethanol due to fuel lines, tanks, etc. not being compatible — especially in composite aircraft. So, there’s another benefit (other than ease of repair) for an all-aluminum airframe.
Come by and see N6912T if you’re ever in the San Francisco bay area.
Congratulations TECNAM USA and Ocean Air Flight Services. 9 GPH in a four -seat twin is phenomenal. Too bad that in California one can not obtain ethanol-free Mogas, otherwise the fuel cost per hour would be around $30 instead of the $45 you’ll have to pay for 100LL.