ATP Flight School, Piper Reach Three Year Fleet Purchase Deal For Up To 100 Aircraft

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ATP Flight School, Piper Reach Three Year Fleet Purchase Deal For Up To 100 Aircraft

By Eddy Metcalf

April 10, 2013 - Piper Aircraft and Airline Transport Professionals reached a three year agreement today at SUN ‘n FUN International Fly In and Expo for the sale of multiple Piper Archer TXs. Piper and ATP jointly made the announcement on the second day of the aviation event here in Lakeland.

Airline Transport Professionals (ATP), one of America’s largest flight school, specializing in airline pilot training and pilot career development agreed to initially purchase a fleet of 15 Piper Archer TX single-engine piston-powered advanced training aircraft for delivery in late 2013.

In addition to the firm 15-aircraft fleet order, ATP has options for 85 additional Archers for delivery in the future. These will be the first single-engine Piper training aircraft in ATP’s fleet as it transitions to predominantly Piper training aircraft.

The latest order is in addition to a 30-airplane Piper Seminole fleet option placed with Piper by ATP in 2011. The 15th aircraft delivered in that transaction is on display at the Piper Booth #MD-18 at SUN ‘n FUN.

All of the new ATP airplanes under the agreements with Piper will be equipped with Garmin G500 glass cockpit avionics suites. The G500 is a PFD/MFD dual-screen electronic flight display. Dual 6.5-in. LCDs, mounted side- by-side in the bezel, put both Primary Flight Display (PFD) and Multifunction Display (MFD) capabilities directly in instructor and student field of view to help streamline instrument scanning and enhance situational awareness.

"This large follow-on fleet transaction clearly shows continued confidence on the part of ATP in Piper Aircraft. Our training aircraft have proven themselves with millions of hours of rugged flight school training around the world," says Piper President and CEO Simon Caldecott.

"ATP is transitioning our fleet to Pipers because these airplanes offer rugged dispatch reliability, technological flexibility in cockpit avionics and instrumentation and operational economy,” said ATP Vice President Jim Koziarski. ATP currently operates 107 Piper Seminoles, five Diamond DA40s, 93 Cessna Skyhawks and a CitationJet.

As a classroom, the Piper Archer provides everything needed to learn to safely fly. Standard instrumentation includes the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit system, a perfect mixture of low workload and high technology. Piper’s specially created flight school interior designed to withstand the rigors of flight training, is standard, and the option for factory-installed air conditioning adds to the Archer’s appeal as a training aircraft. It is powered by the 180 hp Lycoming 0-360-A4M and offers 128 ktas / 237 km/h cruise speed.

The Piper Seminole is an advanced training aircraft with consistency and proven reliability in more than 20 years of service and hundreds of thousands of hours in flight school environments throughout the world. Students admire the airplane for its ability to teach advanced flight training maneuvers and procedures. Instructors value the Piper Seminole's ability to teach these lessons in a safe and forgiving manner. Flight school owners appreciate the Piper Seminole's ability to keep students and instructors happy while increasing operating revenue.

The Seminole is a twin-engine piston powered aircraft that seats four and is equipped with ThermaCool air conditioning. It is powered by two Lycoming L/O -360-A1H6 each generating 180 hp. Its cruising speed at 75 percent power is 162 KTAS / 300 km/h. Its range is 700 nm/ 1,426 km. Standard equipment includes the Garmin G1000.