Italy’s Foremost Aircraft Designer Honored By Seconda Università Of Naples

Italy’s leading university, Seconda Università of Naples (SUN) has conferred on Professor Luigi Pascale, its highest accolade, an Honorary Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering.

Professor Pascale at 92 still actively leads the Tecnam Research and Design Team and is currently working on the production and imminent rollout of his very Tecnam latest aircraft design the next-generation 11 seats P2012 Traveller.

The award ceremony was held at the “Aulario” of the Faculty of Engineering at SUN, Aversa, Italy.

University Rector Giuseppe Paolisso conferred the Honorary Degree on Professor Pascale, “for a career that goes much beyond the excellence”. The ceremony ended with the “newly appointed” Aerospace Engineer Luigi Pascale’s ‘Lectio Magistralis’. Ever forward looking, Professor Pascale’s talk was on the future of supersonic transport after Concorde!

Luigi “Gino” Pascale is a native of Naples, Italy, whose passion for aviation began during the 1930’s when with his brother Giovanni “Nino” they won many model plane races. The two brothers built their first aircraft, the P48 Astore, which flew on the 2nd of April 1951.

At the time the Professor Luigi had just graduated with a Master's Degree as a Mechanical Engineer (the Department of Aeronautical Engineering was created later by the Professor Pascale himself) and started his career at the University of Naples as assistant of Professor Nobile. Umberto Nobile was also an outstanding aviation character, undertaking the first expedition to North Pole with an airship.

Gaining his Pilot’s License is 1951; Professor Pascale designed and built a number of competition winning ‘race’ planes including the P55 Tornado.

Founding PARTENAVIA in 1957 he began building General Aviation planes ‘for everyone’. Aircraft such as the P64 Oscar and P66 became bestsellers and firm favorites as training aircraft and led to his innovative P68 light twin design.

In 1986 the two Pascale brothers founded Tecnam, and Professor Pascale’s first design the P92 has now flown 200,000 hours with over 2,500 in service worldwide.

Professor Pascale has received numerous accolades and awards including the
‘Paul Tissandier diploma’ from Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the ‘Aeroplano d’Argento’ and earlier this year the ‘Flieger Magazin’ Award.

With his timeless passion for flying, today Tecnam is the world’s largest producer of both General Aviation and Light Sport Aircraft and delivers a new aircraft every working day.

(Images provided with Tecnam news release)

FMI: www.tecnam.com