Today at SUN ’n FUN, Piper Aircraft announced it had reached a three-year agreement with Airline Transport Professionals (ATP) for the sale of multiple Piper Archer TXs.
ATP, which specializes in airline pilot training, agreed to initially purchase a fleet of 15 Piper Archer TX single-engine piston-powered training aircraft (pictured) for delivery in late 2013.
In addition to the firm 15-aircraft fleet order, ATP has options for 85 additional Archers for delivery in the future. These will be the first single-engine Piper training aircraft in ATP’s fleet as it transitions to predominately Piper training aircraft, Piper officials noted.
The latest order is in addition to a 30-airplane Piper Seminole fleet option placed with Piper by ATP in 2011. The 15th aircraft delivered in that transaction is on display at the Piper Booth #MD-18 at SUN ‘n FUN.
All of the new ATP airplanes under the agreements with Piper will be equipped with Garmin G500 glass cockpit avionics suites. The G500 is a PFD/MFD dual-screen electronic flight display. Dual 6.5-in. LCDs, mounted side-by-side in the bezel, put both Primary Flight Display (PFD) and Multifunction Display (MFD) capabilities directly in instructor and student field of view to help streamline instrument scanning and enhance situational awareness.
“This large follow-on fleet transaction clearly shows continued confidence on the part of ATP in Piper Aircraft. Our training aircraft have proven themselves with millions of hours of rugged flight school training around the world,” says Piper President and CEO Simon Caldecott.
“ATP is transitioning our fleet to Pipers because these airplanes offer rugged dispatch reliability, technological flexibility in cockpit avionics and instrumentation and operational economy,” said ATP Vice President Jim Koziarski.
ATP currently operates 107 Piper Seminoles, five Diamond DA40s, 93 Cessna Skyhawks and a CitationJet.