Volare is the Italian word for ‘to fly’ and the famous Dean Martin song of that name features the line “no wonder my happy heart sings, your love has given me wings” which is how I feel about this cute little Italian bird I’ve fallen for.
The Tecnam P92 has brought the pleasure back to my flight training after an almighty plateau, where I only flew 10 hours in two years.
People lament how Cessna failed miserably to emulate its prolific little 152 with its 162 Skycatcher LSA, but Tecnam achieved this 25 years ago.
My last ride was a Piper Warrior, which I loved, but only saw it as a means to my RPL and a chance to try different aircraft. I’m a low and slow kinda guy but I loved the idea of flying something with a stick that didn’t feel, by association, like a flying classroom. So I decided to return to flying via RA-Aus and so began so my Tecnam ‘romanza’.
You have to get up close to the all-metal P92 to appreciate how well built she is. To me it’s the Cessna 152 re-imagined. People lament how the Wichita planemaker failed miserably to emulate its prolific little trainer with its 162 Skycatcher LSA, but Tecnam’s co-founder and chief designer, the late Luigi Pascali, achieved this 25 years ago
While getting in the cockpit is a little more tricky than the 152 because of the joystick – get your right leg around the stick, head through the door and drag your bum and left leg into the seat – it has extra elbowroom thanks to the bubble shaped doors, and the forward vision of a Toyota Yaris.
Thirteen months had elapsed since my last logbook entry so I had no idea how I’d fare flying a whole new type of aircraft and its joystick, push-button trim, glass cockpit, light-sport dynamics and high-revving Rotax engine.
I also had a stiff 20-knot wind to contend with, but, apart from pitching too high on take off because the tall forward vision makes you think you’re still straight and level, the old adage about returning to cycling applied.
The P92 was surprisingly stable once I got used to the trim but very responsive and I had a ball re-acquainting myself with steep turns and the like.
It even made my first landing look pretty good, though I ended up left of centreline because I tried using the stick instead of my feet to stay true in the gusty breeze.
One of the P92’s quirks is the white line on the ASI starting at 68 knots, which means you have get down to base leg speed before lowering that first stage of flap. This means cutting the throttle to idle before just turning base and keeping the nose up before trimming to 68, lowering 15 percent flap and then re-trimming, which is simple enough.
After a couple of touch-and-goes we tried crosswind landings in winds that would have kept a Cessna 152 in the hangar.
The preferred crosswind method in the Tecnam is to use the stick to crab into the wind and straighten up with rudder when you’re over the fence and land on the windward wheel.
With larger aircraft you touchdown on one wheel momentarily, but in the P92 you stay on the incline as long as airspeed allows.
My first two attempts weren’t good mainly because I failed to compensate for the tailwind on base, but after a demo circuit where my instructor made it look ridiculously simple I tried again it and voilà!
I ticked quite a few boxes off the RA syllabus in one lesson and more the next, which included a training area solo, and for the first time in ages that light at the end of the training tunnel saw me reach for my sunglasses.
My progression has also been aided by the fact the Rotax sips premium unleaded at the same rate as a Ford Mustang meaning I only have to worry about the weather gods and not so much my bank balance.
I look forward to the few lessons I have left as a chance to fly, rather than as a hurdle, but can’t wait to fly the Tecnam as a certified pilot.
That said I have my eye on another cute little Italian in the hangar, an Alpi Pioneer, who I really want to get to know.
Since writing this piece for AOPA Pilot magazine in September 2017, I have flown both the Tecnam P92 Eaglet and Echo Super.amassing about 55 hours. Much of that time was in Echo Super 4679 at Golden Plains Aviation, which is the aircraft in which I which I did my RPC checkflight, most of my navs exercises, and took up my first passengers. I'm still very much in love.