Five Twin Pushers You’ve Never Heard of

presenting five unique twin engine aircraft with Pusher configurations which you've probably never heard of number one the first twin Pusher aircraft on our list hails from Italy formerly a subcontractor for boing an Airbus om suud is an Italian company that ventured into aircraft manufacturing with the sky car you might think the sky car is a rotable airplane but the name actually implied the idea of merging the comfort and convenience of a luxury car with the experience of flight om suit certainly did not compromise on luxury designing the aircraft around a spacious cabin large enough to accommodate up to five passengers on fine Italian leather seats the sky car is characterized by a boxy fuselage providing a cabin volume of about 240 cubic feet with ample space for passengers or cargo this high-wing mon plane operates on Twin Lycoming IO 360s arranged in a pusher configuration what what sets This Plane apart are the twin vertical Tails High mounted horizontal stabilizer and engines mounted to the trailing edges of the Wings featuring a lift generating fuselage the sky car also boasts a unique rear door that can be opened mid-flight for cargo and rescue operations the sky car prototype took to the skies on December 21st 2007 and it was publicly introduced at the 2009 Paris Air Show the sky car's versatile design catered to a variety of markets and purposes including general aviation military and civil defense its twin boom structure and the rear door that opens during flight were Innovative features that facilitated cargo loading delivery of supplies and even suitable for skydiving operations omo Su established a sales office in Florida with the aim of promoting their unique aircraft to the US market priced at just under 1 million at the time om suit has since faded Into Obscurity with no recent updates about the sky car being released number one and now an interesting twin from the Ukraine the softex v24 presents an intriguing engine layout that's somewhat reminiscent of a miniature Honda Jet its twin Pusher engines are perched high above each wing and together with a prominent teail and Sleek winglets the aircraft takes on the guys of a small Business Jet one that burns Avgas of course and going off of the luxuriously appointed cabin that may have well been the intent however details regarding the v24 are scarce and it remains unclear which segment of the market it is precisely targeting is it a mini luxury aircraft or a light twin trainer the anticipated price point is about 500,000 potential buyers have the choice of equipping the v24 with either a pair of 100 horsepower Road tax 912s or the more powerful 160 horsepower Lycoming IO 320 turbo props are also under consideration though nothing has left the drawing board similar to Sirus aircraft it features an integrated BRS parachute for enhanced safety while there are no clear records of sales Katherine's report highlights an incident where a v24 registered in the US crash land in a snowy field in monttana following an engine failure suggesting it might have been one of the prototypes on social media one Facebook group has dubbed it the flying dream at this point the soft teex seems to remain just that a dream as no recent updates on the aircraft have surfaced number three next up a Sleek design from Poland EM1 Orca was the brainchild of Edward mcski a veteran glider designer this Heritage is evident in the orca's design with its slender fuselage that bears Sleek lines of a high performance sail plane you can also say the Orca looks somewhat similar to a scaled down panti construction of the Orca commenced in 2001 with its first flight taking place in 2003 margoni aimed to combine luxury and high efficiency likening the aircraft to a flying limousine yet the seating arrangement was more Ferrari than limo with passengers seated low in an almost prone position reducing drag by minimizing the aircraft's frontal profile while margansky cited the elegant morava L2 200 as an aesthetic influence it Bears little resemblance to Orca the Prototype was equipped with popular rootx 912s and fixed landing gear accommodating two two passengers recognizing the business potential and a wider Market production models were upgraded with loming IO 320s of 160 horsepower retractable gear and seating for four some versions featured a conventional tail While others adopted a teail design an ambitious version of the Ora was tested with tp00 turbo prop engines and enhancing its resemblance to the mini Avante even more the Oracle was also pitched as a reconnaissance aircraft with a large camera installed in the nose considering its high visibility cockpit in wraparound Windows probably not a bad platform for the Mission Number Four next up another Pusher twin from Italy the P 166 might not be as obscure as other aircraft on this list yet definitely worth mentioning a distant relative to the Sleek ofon the p166 is recognizable by its unique Goldwing design and portly fuselage the pagio p166 started Life as a p136 royal gold amphibian and evolved into the landbase p166 the p166 gained roughly double the cabin space and power was increased capable of transporting up to nine passengers or a generous amount of cargo the p166 was powered by various models of geared like coming engines ranging from 340 to 380 horsepower in the 1970s the p166 received an upgrade to Lycoming turboprop engines a number of these upgraded aircraft were purchased by the Italian coast guard for surveillance purposes its sizable tit tanks gave the p166 up to 9 hours of endurance making it an an ideal platform for search and rescue missions the p166 served in the Italian and South African Air Forces and continues to be operated by a handful of private owners to this day initial models featured a swing gear Landing system similar to The Republic CB subsequent models however Incorporated gear retraction into sponson similar to the mitsubish emu2 which provided an extra cabin space despite its rugged land gear which performed well on rough runways the p166 was somewhat underpowered and required generous runway length for takeoff and perhaps the reason why Pilots affectionately refer to the p166 as the pig number five lastly a model from the US among the twin Pusher aircraft listed thus far the avtec 400a stands out as the most striking and Innovative design as a twin Pusher it was equipped with pratton Whitney pt6 engines each delivering 680 horsepower it's Unique design included a Canard mounted a top the fuselage which in combination with the low set wings and push a propellers contributed to an optimal passenger experience by offering increased cabin space and reduced noise introduced in the early 1980s and crafted by designer almoney the attec 400 a was constructed using Composite Materials it served as an experimental platform to validate its design principles and establish a groundwork for a larger n seat version that ultimately never left the drawing board designed entirely with computer AED Design Systems the 4008 aimed to directly compete with the kinger and Cheyenne tobo props as well as other conventionally styled corporate aircraft it boasted ambitious performance specifications claiming a cruising speed of 240 knots at 41,000 ft a climb rate of 4,000 ft per minute and a range of 2,200 nautical miles it's also worth noting that the 400a featured control sticks for the pilots instead of traditional yolks found in most corporate planes regrettably the 4008 did not progress beyond the Prototype stage due to its inability to secure fa certification as production cost balloon and funny depleted the soul prototype now resides at Camaro airport in California with little hope of flying ever [Music] [Music] again

Channel: Aircraft Adventures

Views: 179,318

Keywords: Lycoming, pusher engine, skycar, orka, piaggio, P166, Avtek, Softex

Id: 8YT7sN1Z9Z8

Length: 9min 53sec (593 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 10 2023