Procaer Picchio


The Procaer F.15 Picchio is an Italian-designed light utility aircraft built by Procaer.

Design

The Picchio was developed in Italy in the late 1950s as a further development of Stelio Frati's Falco and Nibbio designs. Similar to its predecessors, the Picchio featured a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane design with exceptionally clean lines and a retractable tricycle undercarriage. Early versions of the Picchio retained the same wooden construction as earlier models but incorporated a thin aluminum skin over the plywood. The F.15E and F.15F, however, were all-metal.

Production

Production of the early, wooden Picchios was carried out by Procaer in Milan, but in the mid 1960s, Frati established General Avia as his own factory to build his designs, commencing with the F.15E. Only a few examples were built, however, and the design lay dormant until revived by an Austrian company, HOAC in the mid 1990s. HOAC arranged to have the two-seat F.15F model built at the JSC Sokol plant in Niznij Novgorod, but ran out of money, leaving Sokol with unsold airframes in various states of completion.

Operational history

The Picchio was primarily intended for operation by private pilot owners and the design was exported to several European countries as well as being purchased by Italian individuals. Several are still airworthy.

Variants

F.15 - prototype and initial production with Lycoming O-320 engine and three seats. 5 built.F.15A - revised production version with Lycoming O-360 engine and four seats. 10 built by Procaer.F.15B - similar to F.15A but with larger-span wings and fuel tanks relocated from fuselage to wings.F.15C - version with Continental IO-470-E engine and tip tanks. One built.F.15D - proposed version similar to F.15B with Franklin engine. Not built.F.15E Picchio - Four-seat, all metal aircraft with fuel in wing and wing-tip tanks and powered by Continental IO-520K engine. First prototype flown 21 December 1968 and second aircraft flown 1976.F.15F - All metal, four-seat derivative of F15.E with bubble canopy and powered by IO-360 engine. One built by General Avia, flying 20 October 1977.
  • * F.15F Excalibur - F.15F built by JSC Sokol at Nizhny Novgorod, Russia for assembly by Eurospace in Italy. Pre-production aircraft assembled by HOAC in Austria and flown in October 1994. Orders for 33 aircraft at end of 1995, with about 100 in various stages of construction or assembly at that time.