2019
52
AVIATION
of To fulfill this job, it was designed with maximum versatility in mind. If there’s no suitable dry place to land, it can be equipped with amphibious floats, allowing it to operate both from airfields and lakes, rivers or seas. This comes especially handy in heavily forested areas like many parts of Canada or Alaska – or large portions of Russia.
JACK OF ALL TRADES The versatility, of course, is not just about the ability to land or take-off almost anywhere. The Praga Alfa is also designed to carry a vast variety of loads. Its interior can be equipped to serve many different needs. In its base configuration, it is able to carry a pilot, five passengers and their luggage.Naturally, it is also possible to take out the seats (or some of them) and fly with up to 900 kilograms of cargo - or you can order your Praga Alfa in the MEDEVAC version, with two stretchers, 4 seats for patients and one for the doctor. With the optional under-fuselage pod, the plane’s capabilities are increased even further. It can be configured for various uses, from simple cargo storage to more complex tasks like fire-fighting or photogrammetry. The Praga Alfa can be also used for cropdusting, as a tow plane for gliders or for skydiving, with space for up to 10 skydivers and the ability to climb to 4,200 metres and land again in 15 minutes. All of this makes the Praga Alfa a perfect plane for operators in remote areas, who have to cope with all of the various jobs at hand with just one plane.
MODERN TECHNOLOGY IN A RUGGED PACKAGE One of the most important goals of the Alfa’s development was to offer ruggedness and robustness similar to, or even better than, that of all its classic competitors, but at the same time provide the latest technologies on board. From the beginning, the Praga Alfa was designed to require as little care and maintenance as possible, allowing its operators to focus on more important issues than caring for the plane. At the same time, the plane’s technology was upgraded to the latest standards. Besides the modern turboprop engine, the Praga Alfa is also outfitted with state-of-the-art avionics. The “glass display” replaces traditional gauges with a set of large displays. Those provide all the information the pilot needs for their work, from basic stats of the airplane to things like navigation. The operators have a choice between systems made by Garmin, Avidyne or Honeywell, and they can have their cockpit set up to suit their specific needs. With the combination of its abilities, the Praga Alfa is uniquely suited to take over from admired classics like the Pilatus PC-6, the DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver or the Antonov An-2 and become the perfect tool for those who need their planes to do some really hard work. Currently, the plane is going through the process of EASA certification and it is expected to go into production soon.
