Has anyone already placed an order for a Panthera?

[curts63]

Yes, the airplane has arrived (finally!!). I received a text on Tuesday that it was on its way to Inverness airport. I got a video this morning with the wings installed and the engine running on the ramp. I'm scheduled to travel to Florida on the 16th to start training on Monday. It's supposed to be 2 weeks of ground and flight training, then take it home.

Curt

[Soareyes]

I thought I might share a picture of my hangar:

Oh yeah Curt, your new plane is also in the picture. It is aviation art!

[curts63]

It looks good. Did Andy take you for a ride... I'm hoping to see it in person on Sunday.

Thanks,
Curt

[TNAviator]

She is a beauty. So bright you have to wear shades!

[curts63]

Well, I finally got the Panthera. It’s been a long road to get to this point. From June of 2020, when I gave my down money, until January of 2022 when I took flight. I was excited to place the order and looked forward to getting my new airplane in what was supposed to be less than a year to delivery. Was it worth the wait? Yes, it was, but not without squawks.
I flew to Inverness, FL to begin my transition training. Upon my arrival the add-on options that I wanted weren’t quite ready. I asked to have a Tanis heater, quick oil drain, air/oil separator, and a Garmin GDL-51R added. The Tanis heater was on, the air/oil separator as well, but the oil drain would wait for our 25 hour oil change. The Garmin GDL-51R will have to wait. Pipistrel didn’t provide a wiring diagram that would allow the installation (this is in the works). The Mid-Continent standby attitude indicator after 3 days, showed us in a 50 degree dive and the compass was off 18 degrees (this is a warranty item with Mid-Continent). Last, the traffic and weather work on the GTN’s, but not on the PFD and MFD, this is being addressed as well.

Let the training begin. The insurance company insisted on a minimum of 25 hours, with at least 10 of those being instrument or simulated instrument hours, with 50 landings. In 10 days we met those requirements, with room to spare. The training covers areas of ground school, day flying, night flying, and instrument flying. We had several hours of actual IFR with 500-1000 foot ceilings on approach. I really needed this exposure, my actual IFR flying before this was nearly non-existent. An emphasis was placed on doing everything you could to avoid deploying the chute, but pulling the chute was covered as well. The chute can be deployed up to 195knots at 500’agl. If possible, you were asked to slow it down as much as possible to reduce the physical forces on you. As part of the training you were flying a motor glider to practice dead stick landings. Yep, you go up to 3000 feet and turn off a perfectly good engine, the land it on the runway. There is also a 2 hour session of upset training with a Pitts, but the weather turned and that part was scrapped. The instructor, James, was great. James was informative, instructional, and comforting. He made the training fun, relaxed, and it gave me the confidence needed to feel comfortable with my new purchase.
I couldn’t really get a lot of questions answered about the plane during training when it comes to performance. I was concentrating on flying, not gathering information for reporting. During this time, I can tell you about the handling. My comparison is with my Diamond DA-40. The DA-40 is better suited for training and someone with lower hours, like me. The DA-40’s lower speed handing is more forgiving. Stalls are almost a non-event. The Diamond also wins with forward views for flying, landing, and taxiing. As reported by someone else, the center pillar on the Panthera is in the way and the dash does sit high and can be difficult to see over. Because I’m 6’2” with a longer torso, I had the seats made lower to give me more headroom. This change gave me slightly more headroom than the Diamond. The Panthera taxis easier with a steerable nose gear, than the caster wheel. The retractable gear eliminates the “corked” nose gear issue (lol).

The Panthera wins in flight characteristics, like steep turning, aileron response, smoother in light turbulence, climb, cruise, useful load, and fuel burn/knot. I felt that the Panthera handles crosswind landings better. The ingress and egress was no harder or easier than the Diamond. There is slightly more shoulder room up front, but definitely more overall room in the rear. The left rear seat back comes out for long items, like skis. The rear baggage compartment has a door and can store 2 overnight bags or up to 100lbs. The ballistic chute occupies the baggage area as well.
The numbers? Well, the Panthera normally rotates at 70knots, climbs out at a preferred 125-135knots, with a climb rate somewhere above 1500’ per minute. When I flew home, we took off with 3 onboard, 5 small bags and full fuel. We were climbing at 1600’ per minute at 125 knots. It was Florida at 60MSL and 40 degrees outside. On the flight to KFLO we were averaging 175 indicated and 192 ground speed, burning 10.9gph (LOP). From KFLO to KPNE, the indicated was the same, but we saw ground speeds up to 212, depending on the wind. The airplane won’t hit those published numbers of 200 knots, 1000 mile range, at 10gph. I didn’t think it really would, but it isn’t too far away.
The avionics package with the Garmin G3X, GTN-750xi, GTN-650xi, GTX345R, and the rest aren’t as intuitive as the G1000, but it’s much more capable than what I was used to in the Diamond. Being experimental, I won’t have any issues with software upgrades, making improvements as they’re developed, and lower ongoing maintenance expense.
In the end, I’m happy with my purchase and transition. I’m also happy with Right Rudder Aviation and their support so far. I know this got winded, but it you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

Curt

[Boatguy]

Congratulations! Your wait was no longer than that for a new DA62.

At what altitude were you seeing 175KIAS?

[curts63]

We were cruising 175kts indicated at 7,000'. The picture attached shows 172, but it did go 175. You can see the other data listed there.

The wait time isn't so unusual, but I was initially promised delivery back in May 2021.

Curt

[Boatguy]

We were cruising 175kts indicated at 7,000'. The picture attached shows 172, but it did go 175. You can see the other data listed there.

That showed 189KTAS so you'd break 200KTAS at 11,000'!

[Soareyes]

Excellent write-up. Thanks for the detailed report.

True Air Speed is what counts. Seriously; 189kts TAS at 7,000 ft on only 10.9 gph? You've got some bragging rights there! The most braggable speeds will come higher up, lighter, with more fuel burn and probably unacceptable engine temperatures. But you'll have to do it once so you can say you did!

"An emphasis was placed on doing everything you could to avoid deploying the chute, but pulling the chute was covered as well. The chute can be deployed up to 195knots at 500’agl. If possible, you were asked to slow it down as much as possible to reduce the physical forces on you."

At the beginning of WW1 aircrew didn't carry parachutes because it wasn't manly and because leadership thought they might be tempted to jump rather than save the airplane. When ejection seats were new pilots were reluctant to use them, thinking it was more macho to try to save the plane. The military had to train-in the discipline to use a parachute.

Pull It.jpeg (13.61 KiB) Viewed 1169 times

Early on, Cirrus pilots were dying in situations where they could have pulled the chute while trying to fly it down like they were taught in their primary training. Now Cirrus teaches to consider the parachute at each stage of an emergency. Troubleshoot if you have the altitude. If at any time there is doubt as to a successful outcome, pull the red handle. Save your life first. Dozens of Cirri have been repaired and are flying again after a chute pull. Have a hard floor at which to pull. 2,000 ft agl is recommended. With regards to airspeed, in a Cirrus the slower the airspeed the longer the chute takes to open. Pulls that are too low and too slow (typically a pilot trying to stretch the glide and realizing too late that they are not going to make it) have resulted in inadequate partial openings before impact. Pull early, pull often is the joking mantra but a mindset that has saved lives.

[curts63]

I guess I should have clarified the chute portion. They were covering situations and how to handle them. If the engine quits and time allows, try restart procedures. If no restart, look for a good place to land, if none available, pull chute. If in IFR conditions and not sure of what's beneath you, pull the chute. There were other situations, but you get the idea. They did not emphasize saving the airplane, but there are situations where pulling the chute may not be necessary. IF you have any doubts, pull the chute. I could care less if my plane is a total loss, as long as I walk away.

Curt