Date: 2001-01-07 01:18:18
Ernesto Blanco Calcagno (ernesto747@hotmail.com wrote:

Dear Guys!
Great site, just one constructive feedback! On the page for the SF260E at the factory in venegono, the main first pic is not of an Uruguayan one, but one of the Venezuelan Air Force!!(They placed the large"E" for Escuela -school- on each side!! I just flew one at the Pando Air Academy, Uruguay. I am also Uruguayan!I am presently writing an article about my flight for (maybe) a UK magazine so any further details would be welcomed from more experienced SF260 pilots!!!! I was delighted with the SF260 and the flight!
Best regards and safe flying!
Ernesto


Here is a picture Mike Patlin, our SF260 dealer, sent me on 12-24-2000 of a new SF260E in Italy.

Dudley-Picture I took last week at the Aermacchi plant in Venegono, Italy of a new Uraguayan SF260E.

Note the "bubble" on the nose bowl for the Air Conditioning compressor and the wing fences and shortened stall strip to keep the stall speed down and retain control authority. Weight has been raised by about 100 lbs with thicker skin on the wings and substantially beefier main spar caps. Also automatic fuel management (no more selector), electric trim in all axix, much more. It flies GREAT!

Mike Patlin

Also, note the jack is not a simple wing jack arragement. The nose is supported by the jack and the wings are supported by the normal jack pads. Also, there is a special safety extension provision to keep the jack extended in case of a loss of hydraulic pressure.



Notice the throttle body and the new style starter.

There is no fuel tank selector valve, just an on - off valve. Also, there is only one seat rail and it is in the middle, not on a side. Note the airconditioner vent that is in the center of each seat.

3MAR2001
Dear Dudley, last week the I-ISAB group went to visit the Aermacchi plant in Venegono. I have arranged the visit with engineer Filippo Meani, one of their Area Managers. He is a very competent person and has been extremely kind, like everyone else that day, and took us into a comprehensive tour of the company. It was an unforgettable experience.

During the visit we got to know these news:
The SF 260 EU, the last model being produced (and they have some hulls on the production line), is NOT CERTIFIED. It is for military use only. So the automatic fuel control, the electrical 3-axis trim, the modifications to the wing etc. are at the moment NOT available to the civilian market.

Aermacchi is currently racing for some contracts for the supply of civilian flight schools that are working for the military pilot training. Should they win any of them, they will have to certify the EU and they will possibly make retrofit kits available.

If this should happen, there will also be some NEW 260 on the market! the cost will be high, but I've seen now how they make them... they are using almost lost skills; the airplane is entirely made by hand; every single countersunk-head rivet is painfully worked on... the airplane takes 3000 hours to be finished. It is almost an artpiece.

In Italy you must have a double set of everything if you want to fly IFR, and with different power supplies. That's why we have electrically powered Turn and Slip and second AI. The power switches for these two instruments are used when doing aerobatics, we spare them by turning them off.

Arrivederci!
Carlo Cattoni


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