Pipistrel Panthera
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Pipistrel Panthera is a four-seat, 260 hp, retractable-gear composite tourer from Slovenia with gull-wing doors and a whole-airframe parachute, first flown in 2013 and delivered in the United States from 2020 as a factory-built aircraft on experimental-exhibition certificates while Part 23 certification is pursued. Pipistrel's data give 1,797 lb empty, 2,899 lb gross, 55 gallons, 194 knots true at 75% at 8,000 ft on 14.8 gallons an hour, a 55-knot flapped stall, 1,300 fpm and 1,000 nm with four aboard and reserves.
It does Cirrus SR22 or Bonanza work on 40 percent less fuel, and the price for that is a six-figure-plus aeroplane that is neither certified nor amateur-built: an experimental-exhibition certificate carries operating limitations on where and how it may be flown and for whom, cannot be used for hire, and depends on the manufacturer's continued support rather than an FAA type certificate, so a buyer should read the specific aircraft's limitations and programme letter before anything else. Published useful loads disagree (1,023 to 1,102 lb), so the aircraft's own weight-and-balance governs; with 55 gallons aboard about 770 lb is left for people and bags. It is a complex, high-performance aeroplane with a retractable undercarriage of eleven doors, a constant-speed propeller and a parachute with a repack life, and the flying club's insurer will want a complex endorsement, time in type and probably factory training. Forward visibility from the fixed, reclined seats around the centre post was a criticism in flight tests. The one example advertised in October 2026 asked $745,000 against a new exhibition-version price of $600,000 to $700,000 in 2021; Pipistrel is owned by Textron.
Variants of the Pipistrel Panthera
- Panthera · 2020 · 17 active · this page
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What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Lycoming IO-540-V4A5 (260 hp; the 2013 prototype flew with a 210 hp IO-390) |
| Horsepower | 260 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | experimental-factory |
| Production start | 2020 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise (75 % power) | 194 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range (75 %, standard fuel, 30-min reserve) | 1,000 nm |
| Service ceiling | 18,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,300 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 55 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,102 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 2,899 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,797 lb |
| Usable fuel | 55 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 14.8 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $745,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $800,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 17 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 17 |
| Median year built | 2023 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | — |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | — |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 8 |
| Transfers per 100 active | — |
| Airworthiness directives | 4 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | none |
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 5.8 of 103 |
| Support | 1.1 of 104 |
| Liquidity | —5 |
- Accident record: class median 33.21 · 223 models in class.
- Severity: class median 12.5.
- Access: class median 796.
- Support: class median 131.
- Liquidity: class median 19.89.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 8 · scores Sep 30