Falcomposite Furios of New Zealand

The FalcomposIte Furio is a New Zealand designed aircraft that draws its inspiration from the Stelio Frati designed Falco, and you can get a comparison of the two aircraft at: FURIO - BY FALCOMPOSITE OUT OF FALCO

The Furio was designed by Lapo Ancillotti and brothers Lapo and Giovanni Nustrini.  The model LN 27RG has a retractable undercarriage and another version with a fixed undercarriage was envisioned but I am not sure if this has progressed.  The design drew on New Zealand's expertise in hi-tech boat design and the kit was simplified to less than 30 carbon fibre structural components.  The use of moulded carbon fibre produces stunning aerodynamic lines which also leads to great performance.  Dimensions are:  length 6.8 metres (22 feet 4 inches), wingspan 8.02 metres (26 feet 4 inches) and a wing area of 102 square feet.  Its empty weight is around 620 Kg (1,366 pounds) and MAUW is 1,250 Kg (2,756 pounds) but this is reduced for aerobatics.  The Furio is designed to be powered by engines up to 300 HP, and with a 180 HP IO-360 it can cruise at around 200 mph and the climb is around 2,000 feet per minute.

There was a project by an English company to build a Furio with two elecrtic motors of 300 HP and twin counter-rotating propellors but again I don't think this has progressed very far.

We have had four Furios completed in New Zealand to date, and one has flown in America.  It was expected that more kits would be sold but the 2008 Global Financial Crisis got in the way.

ZK-LLG (c/n 001) (for Lapo, Lapo and Giovanni) was first registered on 14/12/07 to Falcomposite Ltd of Auckland, with whom it is still current.  It first flew at Ardmore on 6/2/08 and it is photo'd above at the 2008 SAANZ flyin at Tauranga, on 6/2/08.  It flew the Tasman to exhibit at the 2009 Avalon Airshow, and later that year was displayed at Oshkosh.

 A neat touch is the name Furio embedded in the finish of the wing.

The second Furio to fly was ZK-NJS2 (c/n 002) which was registered to Neil John Sutherland of Dunedin on 5/6/08.  Neil built his aircraft in the Falcomposite hangar at Ardmore and its first flight was on 30/7/10.  It is fitted with a 210HP IO-390 engine and as befitting an "Italian" thoroughbred it is finished in Ferrari red.  It is photo'd above at a flyin at North Shore airfield on 26/2/11.

And it is photo'd above at the 2014 SAANZ flyin at Bridge Pa airfield on 7/3/14, with a smaller registration on the tail.

The next Furio to fly was ZK-WBW2 (c/n 003) for Woody A Rouse of Queenstown, and it was registered on 10/10/11.  It was mostly built by Bill Barber (of Barber Snark fame).  It is photo'd above at the 2014 Wings Over Wanaka airshow on 18/4/141.

And the final Furio to fly here (for now) is ZK-PPK (c/n 007) which was registered to Peter P Kreiger of Waitoa on 28/4/17.  It was also built at Ardmore over an extended period of time and first flew in early 2018.  It was caught above at its home airfield of Waharoa by Richard Currie on 10/8/18.