| P.68 Victor | |
|---|---|
| Partenavia P.68 (D-GHAN) at Cambridge Bay Airport, Nunavut, Canada | |
| Role | Light transport |
| Manufacturer | Partenavia |
| Designer | Luigi Pascale |
| First flight | 1970 |
| Number built | 300+ |
The Partenavia P.68 is an Italian six-seat, twin-engined, high-wing monoplane built by Partenavia and later Vulcanair. Designed by Professor Luigi Pascale and originally put into production in 1972, it was intended for private or business use but has also seen use as both a training and a transport aircraft. It was originally named the Victor, although this name was not used for the production aircraft. The P.68 Observer, which was an Italian/German development, has a transparent nose for use in police work and observation duties.
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First flown on 25 May 1970, the prototype P.68 was built at Arzano, Italy. It was powered by two 200 hp (149 kW) Lycoming IO-360 piston engines. Production of the P.68 began in 1972 with 14 pre-production aircraft at new facilities in Casoria, Italy. These were followed in 1974 by the P.68B with the fuselage lengthened by 6in (15.2 cm) to create more space in the cockpit. It was superseded in 1979 by the P.68C which had a lengthened nose to accommodate a weather radar. A turbocharged version (the P.68C-TC) was available in 1980. The type license was obtained by Vulcanair, which is still producing the P.68C.
With the help of Aeritalia, development began of a nine-seat turboprop version. The first aircraft, an AP.68TP, first flew in 1978 using Allison 250 turboprops. Although the prototype had a retractable undercarriage, the production aircraft, named the Spartacus, had a fixed undercarriage. Later, a retractable undercarriage version was built as the Viator.
The German company Sportavia-Putzer modified the P.68 by replacing the nose section with a transparent structure, marketing it as an observation aircraft for law enforcement. Initially, Observers were simply conversions of existing aircraft, but later, they were entirely new aircraft built by Partenavia.
The ICAO designator for all versions with piston engine as used in flight plans is P68, for the versions with turboprops it is P68T
On September 11, 1983, a sales representative was flying a P.68C at an airshow in Plainview, Texas. The pilot performed high-speed, high-G maneuvers in excess of the aircraft’s design parameters and, during one such maneuver, the wings separated from the rest of the aircraft just outboard of the engine nacelles. The pilot was killed.[1]
Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982-83[2]
General characteristics
Performance
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