Falcomposite Furio

By Rob Neil.

A new company, a new aircraft, a new industry. As Rob Neil reports, all three are combined in the form of the heart-poundingly beautiful Falcomposite Furio—due to fly for the first time before the end of the year.

Without doubt, the Falcomposite Furio is one of the most stunningly beautiful new light aircraft designs in the world. Even more impressive than the Furio’s aesthetic beauty is what the aircraft represents. It is not—as some believe—the resultant product of a new aviation company (Falcomposite) but rather, a glorious figurehead for the company that emphatically demonstrates its capabilities to design from scratch, engineer and build complex machines…like the Furio.

Falcomposite is not only an “aircraft builder”. While it can, and does, design and build aircraft—the fabulous Furio being its first—it is primarily an engineering and design solution provider that specialises in composite manufacture.

Falcomposite is the brainchild of Giovanni Nustrini, who is also the Tecnam distributor for the Australasian and Greater Pacific region. Falcomposite was established in 2005 “with the goal of revolutionising light aircraft construction”—and was initially born of Giovannni’s long-held dream to design and build his own very special aeroplane—an aircraft originally envisioned by his father, Luciano. However, even before the new aircraft’s serious design was begun, Giovanni and a committed team of associates recognised the great potential and the possibilities inherent in the infrastructure that would be required to produce such an aeroplane. There was never any question that the Furio would be built—nor that it wouldn’t be everything Giovanni had dreamed of. However, he and the team recognised that it would not be the sole dedicated “purpose” of the new company.

Falcomposite’s talented and capable team includes Giovanni; his brother Lapo Nustrini, who is the design office manager and the computer modelling “magician” behind the Furio’s systems; and Lapo Ancillotti, the production manager and expert in composite material manufacturing processes. Ancillotti—also a pilot—did much of the initial groundwork with Giovanni and was instrumental in securing the all-important investor funding. The two Lapos share Giovanni’s passion for the Furio as well as his vision for Falcomposite’s future. Indeed, beyond Giovanni’s initial idea—and as he is at pains to point out—Falcomposite and the Furio have since been very much team efforts.

As with everything Giovanni Nustrini sets out to do, the building of the Falcomposite company was a fait accompli from the moment he decided to proceed. However, in true Nustrini fashion, before Falcomposite came into being as a company and long before the Furio was ever publicly announced, he and the team made sure that every detail had been meticulously researched, planned—and funded—well in advance of any fanfare or publicity. Thus, in a world filled with PR hoopla and spin, where every week some new start-up aviation company announces an all-singing, all-dancing “perfect” new aircraft, the Falcomposite Furio was unusual in having already secured adequate investment based on sound analysis and research.

The result of the team’s careful homework was that by the time the Furio was first publicly announced, word of mouth had already resulted in four customers reserving production slots with cash deposits, and scores of serious “expressions of interest” and other enquiries for the new aircraft. This level of interest has continued to increase to the extent that as marketing manager, Giovanni is constantly fielding questions—and offers of money—from buyers and investors around the world who recognise the difference between hoopla and reality.

The reality is that the Furio is not far from its first flight, which will take place before the end of 2007, with the first customers’ kits being delivered in early 2008. In line with their consistent policy of “under-promise and over-deliver”, the team is reluctant to set a specific date for the first flight until they are prepared to guarantee it. However, Pacific Wings has been kept confidentially informed of the Furio’s development for several years and has witnessed every project goal being met or exceeded. Even in confidence, the Falcomposite team do not make promises based on how they “hope” things might work; if they don’t know, then they say so, and make it clear which goals are fixed and which are not.

The Falcomposite website—an example of elegant simplicity that other web designers would do well to emulate—only recently added a new page to allow interested buyers to book and reserve production slots with a 10% (NZ$12,900) deposit, refundable up to 60 days prior to kit production (the introductory price of $129,000 will increase to around NZ$150,000 after the aircraft is launched).

The fact that this page was only added in July 2007, while the website has been running since late 2006, is another example of Falcomposite’s refusal to make premature promises. Anyone ordering a Furio kit now, can do so safe in the knowledge that it will be delivered on time.

The Furio kit comprises fewer than 30 structural components. It has been a deliberate design goal from the start to make the aircraft as simple and straightforward as possible to assemble. No jigs are required to build it and features like its unique “belly lid” allow its builders unrivalled access to the aircraft’s interior throughout construction. The concentrated design efforts to reduce the number of parts to a minimum and simplify construction will result in several benefits to owners; Furios will be completed and fly sooner than most kit aircraft, and the reduction in the variables relating to individual builders’ skills will eliminate construction quality issues. While the aircraft’s structure and design are unique to Falcomposite, equipment and ancillary fittings will all be standard “off the shelf” components familiar and available to aviation suppliers everywhere.

The Furio team considered a number of engine options during the design process, but eventually settled upon the 180 hp Lycoming Y-IO-360 as the standard powerplant, although the Furio will accommodate engines of up to 260 hp (for its test flying programme, the Furio will be powered by a new XP-IO-360 that is being “run in” on Giovanni’s Falco at the moment).

With the standard 180 hp engine, the retractable version is predicted to have a maximum speed of 190 knots with a VNE of 215 knots, and a 75% cruise (at 7,000 ft) of 175 knots. Importantly, this wonderful performance will not be at the expense of the lower end of the speed range because it will stall at 59 knots clean, and at 50 knots with full flap. The fully aerobatic Furio (+6/–4g) is predicted to climb at around 2,000 ft/min and have a range of over 750 nautical miles at 65% power at 9,000 ft.

The fixed-gear version, with the same VNE, is not much slower, with a maximum speed of 178 knots but a similar 75% cruise of 172 knots and a virtually identical range. With an empty weight of 580 kg and a maximum all-up (utility) weight of 980 kg, the Furio has a 400 kg useful load (the maximum aerobatic weight is 792 kg). Both retractable and fixed-gear versions share the same (50 ft) take-off and landing distance of under 350 metres—less than a C172!

Its astonishing performance notwithstanding, Giovanni insists the Furio is not designed to be a fast plane; rather, it is intended to be a comfortable, efficient cruiser. One can only imagine what the team would have come up with had speed been the Furio’s goal!

Modern technology, modern materials and clever design are gradually amending the unwritten “rules” about the degrees of compromise necessary in aircraft design. The Furio is a wonderful example of this. For example, a fast aircraft usually requires a powerful engine, making it thirsty and expensive to run. However, using only 20 hp more than a C172, the Furio will fly 50–60 knots faster and travel around 100 miles further. What is more, although the Furio has only two seats, with a cabin width of 1.1 metres, it is 100 mm wider than the four-seat C172 so its occupants will certainly travel in comfort.

Falcomposite may have come into being to bring a dream aircraft to life, but even before the first Furio is assembled, the company’s expertise is already much in demand, both in New Zealand and overseas. It is currently in discussion with an American company for design and engineering work, and as an example of the company’s versatility, during Pacific Wings’ recent visit to the Falcomposite design office, Lapo Nustrini was using Falcomposite’s computer design facilities to map and draw plans (ready for CNC machining) for an aluminium duct for a customer’s Spitfire that was undergoing restoration.

Complicated, multi-dimensional components with compound curves are no more difficult for its computers to design or re-engineer than flat slabs. New customers to Falcomposite are beginning to understand that it can be cheaper, easier and far more efficient to design and manufacture components from composite than to attempt to re-construct old technology using “conventional” materials. Whatever the requirement or application, if it is capable of being built from composite material, then Falcomposite is capable of producing it; the company can bring intangible ideas to tangible reality quickly and economically.

The writer asked Giovanni Nustrini whether he thought New Zealand’s small population was a barrier to commercial success for a company like Falcomposite. A carefully considered pause from him before he replied: “Maybe—but we don’t want to hide behind that barrier.” He talked about what he described as a Kiwi “syndrome”. “For some reason,” he said, “Kiwis seem to believe that because we are small we cannot become big. As a nation, we need to get past that.” He went on to explain that aviation manufacture has succeeded in New Zealand for a long time—albeit on a small scale. He is very pleased that Falcomposite is involved in New Zealand aviation now when such effort is being put into it, but equally, he is in no doubt that to attempt to copy existing practices using existing technology would be foolish and he is convinced that things can be done far better than they have been in the past.

It is interesting to hear Giovanni talk about Kiwis and New Zealand, because despite his fierce pride in and loyalty to his Italian homeland and heritage, he is equally proud of New Zealand and is a more staunchly loyal “Kiwi” than many who were born here.

Nothing about Giovanni Nustrini is for “show”. He is, first and foremost, a businessman with an incredible work ethic—a shared trait at Falcomposite. His sales of Tecnam aircraft have consistently dumbfounded critics and continue to do so. While Tecnam’s aircraft are very good, there would be few who know him who doubt that it has been Nustrini’s marketing and business acumen that have resulted in their sales success in the Pacific region.

In what is an extremely rare combination, he manages to combine a lifelong passion for aviation with his business skill. It is this combination that resulted in his initial “vision” of the—then un-named—Falcomposite Furio evolving into the more pragmatic and immediately (commercially) viable company that Falcomposite has become.

The company ethos and its direction are the reasons why the Furio is likely to be a success. While many “aircraft” companies come into being with no other “strings to the bow” than having the express purpose of designing and building a specific product, Falcomposite—while 100% committed to the Furio—is not solely dependent upon it to succeed as a commercial enterprise.

It is impossible not to become enthused when one is around Giovanni and the two Lapos. By the time one leaves the Falcomposite offices, the whole world has become a better and more positive place, and it is hard to resist the urges to sing loud cheerful songs and hug people!

This writer has no doubt that 2008 will see a great deal of loud singing and wild hugging by those fortunate enough to reserve early Furio production slots. Equally likely is a fight to the death between Pacific Wings correspondents for the first opportunity to experience a flight in the first completed Furio—Falcomposite’s fabulous figurehead.