The proptrainer market is equally overcrowded, and just as riddled with failures. I don’t know how many countries have tried and flown a design of their own before buying either Swiss (PC 7/9) or Brazilian (Tucano / Super Tucano), but there are more than one. France’s SOCATA TB31 and there was that British thing. And for lighter trainers… anyone knows how well it’s going for the Valmet Redigo… uh… Marchetti Redi-GO? Zlins? Slingsbies? Grobs? FFA Bravo? HTT-35? Orlik?
Yeah, let’s have some more of those too :rolleyes:
Ja,
The S.211 never got it’s development costs earned back, and only was sold thanks to some nice subsidies from befriended Italian finance ministers to Marchetti rather than anything else. They might be pretty reasonable trainers, but appearantly not as good as the MB339 (for which it competed for an AMI order, notably for the Frecce Tricolore demoteam). If they ‘outperformed your Hawks’ (or so you are informed), i do think you should ask your government in how your tax money is being spent though 😉
The IAR 99 is a failure (although not as bad as the Iryda, it has to be said), and not only because Romania hasn’t got much of an economy. Even with the Israeli upgrades as in the single IAR 109 the Soim can’t do anything the L 39ZA (that’s the old pre-Westernised variants) can do cheaper. It is not a rival to the L 59/ 159 (definately not the latter obviously), and it has simply lost the competition in the Romanian AF with the L 39. That’s a failure in my book – just one of Ceaucescu’s bullsh!t programs.
The Pampa might actually have a future now Lockheed has effectively bought it, so Lockheed can now market a jet trainer. Too bad only that the nineteenth production example sat on the production line longer than the recently delivered Tu-160s…
Good quick sumary of Eastern European wings.. what are your thoughts on Eastern stuff like the K-8, that turbo Prop Korean trainer and the Japanese trainers?
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