New training aircraft flying in skies above Warnervale

The Central Coast Aero Club has a new training aircraft flying in the skies above Warnervale.

It is quieter, more fuel efficient and has lower emissions than the traditional Cessna aircraft typically used for flight training.

Earlier this year the RV-12iST manufactured by Vans Aircraft Inc in Oregon USA arrived in a shipping container at the Warnervale maintenance hangar where it was assembled by the aircraft engineers certified by Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

The new Vans low wing monoplane is one of more than 11,000-kit aircraft produced by the family-owned company since 1973 and is the first brand-new training aircraft acquired by the aero club in more than 20 years.

Fully registered with CASA, it will be available to the aero club for flight training alongside the existing fleet of Cessna 152, 172 and other aircraft.

The RV-12 is a Light Sport aircraft, a modern category which allows for lower maximum take-off weight, and a corresponding higher power-to-weight ratio than the more traditional trainers.

The aircraft features a very modern Rotax engine, which uses about half the fuel with a 20 per cent increase in cruise speed over the equivalent traditional two-seat trainer.

It is greener, cleaner and just a much nicer place for the instructors and their students when spending time in the air.

Building on the introduction of the synthetic trainer simulator at Warnervale, the Vans trainer features the very latest in glass cockpit technology where information regarding aircraft performance, navigation and communication is provided to the pilot on easy to see touch screens.

For the student pilot, and already qualified pilots wishing to gain further endorsements such as being able to fly in cloud or at night under what is called instrument flight rules, the benefit of training time in the simulator’s glass cockpit mode can now be directly experienced in the air.