Found this one on another forum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRP_bCkE9K8

I’m glad to see that they are getting closer to FAA certification. 182 KTAS at 10500 on 10.7gph is pretty impressive. Looks good too, and has a chute.

That is one seriously sexy bird and very well could give the SR22 a run for its money. The Panthera comes with VERY impressive performance characteristics and looks like a nice, comfortable cabin. There are likely to be a number of changes when they certify and more than likely UL is going to be impacted as they start adding more equipment. I'm assuming they haven't installed A/C yet since they were taxiing with the door open. When they add A/C, turbo and FIKI that 1,100 lbs UL is likely to shrink down closer to 1,000 lbs. Perhaps they will be able to squeak out more UL with higher G seats or other mods. The SR22T G5/G6 has 1,100 lbs UL with every option imaginable which is nice and a current SR22 owners won't want to give up UL if they consider moving to the Panthera.

The one gripe I do have is the aft bulkhead between the rear seats and baggage compartment. This is open in the SR22 and having access to the baggage from the rear seats is nice and allow you to pack it tighter. You can also fold the rear seats in the SR22 and create a massive baggage compartment when you only have occupants in the front seats. That loading flexibility is a nice feature that I also wouldn't want to give up.

Overall, I love the design. If they certify it and it can do 1,000nm, 200 kts and comes with turbo, FIKI and A/C, I'd definitely consider it.

Hopefully a Jet A certified model hits the street. Really is the way to go I think. Makes it a global plane.

Beautiful plane. With a diesel engine, I'd take this any day over a Cirrus.

When I first saw the numbers, they seemed rather unlikely to me. Less power than the new Diamond, less efficient engine, yet 20 knots faster on less fuel.

But then I noticed that it supposedly weighs almost nothing compared to the Diamond. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipistrel_Panthera, it's 1800 lbs empty (compared with 3200 lbs for the DA50, though some of that weight will be because of the heavier diesel engine). Max takeoff weight is only 2899 lbs.

Can that be right? This is much lighter than pretty much any other fast single, isn't it?

It's retractable.

It looks like a much smaller airframe than the Cirrus, so the weight savings doesn't surprise me. I suspect they used more carbon fiber, which will save weight as well.

I wonder if they're able to take advantage of the FAA getting more used to composites, so they didn't have to overbuild as much as was done on the Cirrus and Columbia.

The DA50 is RG, too. The Panthera doesn't seem like a much smaller airframe. It's longer than a SR22, although not as tall. Not sure if that's because the wheel height isn't included in the figures.

Eric, that's a good point. If the FAA is coming around on this, that would be great news. The weight savings are spectacular compared to the Cirrus.

I hope Pipistrel absolutely crushes it with this one... so I can buy one used right about when I’m ready to retire in 20 years!!

There won’t be any 100LL then.

There won’t be any 100LL then.

I own a Pipistrel Apis motorglider. The quality and engineering of these aircraft is exceptional. I think the Panthera knocks it out of the park.

It's a great looking airplane and I'm glad it's finally here. Sort of. It's taken a long time to get to the experimental delivery stage and I hope they can actually get it certified by 2022.

One other thing they are going to have to do to sell many planes and that is to expand the distributor network. One outfit in Florida for north and south America isn't going to cut it. That's not enough for the U.S. One thing the Cirrus has going for it is incredible support from the factory and COPA. That has a lot of value. Pipistrel will have to make some additional commitment to training and support to sell very many airplanes here.

A Diesel will increase the cost of the plane significantly, and it is substantially heavier, eating into the useful load.

Lack of UL is one major reason why I don’t have a Cirrus. This plane looks fabulous, I really look forward to it getting certified.

Engine is certified for mogas. Hopefully E10 too