

Il Professore will transport you back to 1935
I will try to tell… I was ten years old and Gino a little bit more than eleven; we lived in our house in Benevento, a little provincial town. Our room was on the second floor; the balconies faced a terrace from where we continuously launched little paper airplanes that gently glided and landed on the roofs below.
We built these miniature planes with sheets of paper and competed with each other, always trying to make them go further.



We were two kids animated by a great passion for the flying machines
The paper planes were the first expression of interest that would inevitably bring us to model aircraft construction.
The opportunity arose one day during one of our high school classes, where an aviation magazine named “L’Aquilone” circulated among the students, from where we found the address of Movo, a supplier of assembling boxes and equipment for model aircrafts based in Milano.
We immediately wrote to Movo and in a few days we received a catalogue, from where we chose the elastic and tube M5 model.



Every aircraft aficionado has always dreamed of building one day an aircraft on which he could fly.
We too had this secret hope.
Driven by a great enthusiasm, but also by a considerable aeronautical temerity, we began drawing the plans for our glider.

Grandpa, who couldn’t say no to us, paid for the transport of the aircraft on a big two- horse wagon, thus making us happy.
But another big problem came up: we had to find a room where we could put the glider and continue building it. Our mother helped us parking the glider in an old abandoned church, but this solution turned out to be unsuited: the place was cold, dirty and full of rubble.
By then, the war was knocking at the door, like the destiny of our glider. The church was hit by a bomb and totally destroyed, together with our plane.
In the post-war period, Italy was full of ARAR[1] scrap fields, where all the war remnants were collected to be sold to the public at a very convenient price.
We rushed to Bagnoli where we found 4 or 5 damaged engines that we believed we could fix. We bought the whole lot for 50 liras to a kilo, and with a cart towed by Buonomo’s Fiat 509 Spider, took everything to Via Tasso where we had moved.
[1] ARAR, Azienda Rilievo Alienazione Residuati (Company for the Collection and Disposal of Residues)
After many years of work, and without any technical drawing of the engine, we finally succeeded in assembling a complete one.
We built an engine mounting pylon as best as we could and, with four iron brackets, installed the whole set on the wall of our garage in Via Tasso, which we had turned into our lab.
On the first prop launches, the engine gave no signs of life. Then, the engine released a first bang that left everybody with bated breath and then, finally, it roared among the enthusiasm of the participants and the worry and the fright of the neighbors.



In the small garage, everything was flying in the whirlwind caused by the propeller that was running in full gear.
We had taken a huge step: we had the engine for our aircraft.



After the success of the P48 Astore in 1951, we were asked to build other models. The team built the low wing P52 Tigrotto and the one-seat P53 Aeroscooter. However, it wasn’t until the P55 Tornado won the Giro di Sicilia race that we gained recognition. This gave us the confidence to start up our first company: Partenavia.




With the success of our first series production, the P57 Fachiro, we continued building other models for aero clubs and flight school. Air races were popular at the time, and we competed, arriving always second. In 1967, finally, the “always second” arrived First!




The Seventies arrived with all their dark shadows and new challenges. Our first twin engine made the first flight in 1970 and to our surprise, she became the most sold European twin engine aircraft in the US. A new facility was built in Naples International Airport to sustain the production.



Despite the success of the P68 and its variants, the beginning of the eighties drove us to some hard decisions. Partenavia was acquired by the Italian Government, a good idea at the time, but ultimately tough management led to the core team exiting the company. We founded Tecnam in 1986 to produce parts for them and other manufacturers such as Boeing and ATR. The team was in their 70s and two seconds away from quitting.




With Tecnam, we started again in a small lab. The dream of building aircraft seemed all but vanished. But Paolo, the second generation pushed us to work on a model in a new category, the Ultralight.
He was so insistent that our team produced the P92: it was a real aircraft with the weight and the freedom of an Ultralight. It was the real big success! Over 2600 P92 were built in the following years!


The new century found us with new energies and ideas! It was so fun to build the P92 with retractable gear, or the SeaSky to land and float on water! But General Aviation was our DNA. It was the time to design a new twin engine: the P2006T was born. We had been studying composite materials since the 1960. So we wanted to use them, this led to the P2008.





The new decade saw the launch of the P2010, our first Tecnam four seat, with composite fuselage! We pulled all of our experience to create a new aircraft with state-of-art materials and avionics. The world largest regional airlines, the US based Cape Air, contacted us asking for an even newer model. Pushing us to create the P2012. After an extensive certification program we flew the aircraft for the first time in July 2016.





2023 is a very special year for Tecnam: 75-year anniversary since 1948, when the two Pascale brothers built the first aircraft, 30 years since the first flight of the P92, 100 years anniversary of the birth of Professor Luigi Pascale. Today Tecnam, among the top worldwide manufacturers, is recognized as the best aircraft for training, offering a complete fleet solution from two seat IFR up to the twin engine. With the Gran Lusso Tecnam also delight the most demanding private owner with a machine that brings the quintessence of made in Italy.





Today, we have a lot more dreams and goals. We want to push forward and find new ways to unleash our potential and soar higher. With over 7,500 Tecnam aeroplanes operating around the world today, Tecnam customers and operators are supported by a global network of over 65 dealers and more than 125 Tecnam Service Centres.
The company today operates in 3 main locations
ITALY
The headquarters in Capua, on a area of mq. 60.000 ( with a built-up aera 13.500 mq ) with direct access to O. Salomone airport (LIAU).
A factory in Casoria with 4.000 mq close to Napoli international airport. This factory is dedicated to the production of composite materials and precision mechanics.
An auxiliary factory in Capua with 3.200 mq, close to the headquarters, where we assemble the primary airframe structures.
USA
A subsidiary company in Sebring, FL USA, Tecnam US Inc. (100% owned by Tecnam Italy), with direct access to Sebring airport (SEF), with a area of 1.950 mq, with showroom and service center.
AUSTRALIA
A subsidiary company, with show room and offices in Runaway Bay, in Australia, Tecnam Pty ltd (100% owned by Tecnam Italy).
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