WE FLY: PIPISTREL PANTHERA

PANTHERA: THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR THE CAT GENUS THAT INCLUDES TIGERS, LIONS, JAGUARS, COUGARS AND LEOPARDS.

- ROB MARK

Automobiles with gull-wing doors are rare. For me, a Mercedes-Benz 300SL immediately comes to mind. Aircraft with gull-wing doors—such as the Cessna TTx and Socata Trinidad—are even rarer still, so when I first saw the Pipistrel Panthera from a distance at Chicago’s Waukegan National Airport (KUGN), I knew this airplane was something special. The company’s heritage of gliders and drones built for minimum drag and maximum glide capabilities deserves a nod.

As I gently pulled open the Panthera’s gull-wing door and slipped into the front seat, I also realized that pilots who buy one of these won’t simply climb into the cockpit as much as they’ll wear the Panthera like a sort of superhero suit. It’s formfitting but with comfort like that of a well-designed sports car. Aircraft control is handled via dual control sticks between the pilot’s and front passenger’s knees.

The Panthera’s main doors are hinged at the top of a 6-inch-wide bar that runs fore to aft over the center of the 47-inch-wide cockpit. There’s a separate center-hinged door on the left side for rear-seat passengers. Gently pull down the doors, and the view becomes truly impressive— because other than the center post, all the pilot sees is the great outside, from straight-ahead to nearly the tail feathers and even above. The nose is long when viewed through the raked windshield, which could be a problem for the most vertically challenged aviators to see over; the seats move very little fore and aft. Those seats are beautiful, though, with integrated headrests. The seats don’t recline, however, because they are already canted back.