OBY1 (a partnership involving Erasam) have released the Alpi Pioneer 400 on the Marketplace

The Alpi Pioneer 400 is a lightweight 4 seat plane with a wooden frame construction and carbon fibre skin. It was developed from the Pioneer 200 (which I've flown IRL) Italian ultralight. On the MSFS Marketplace page for the Pioneer 400, it has a tag labelled "Ultralight", but being a 4 place aircraft, the Pioneer is not an ultralight, under any specification 😉 In Europe it's classified as Experimental, under a Permit To Fly. It's powered in this guise by a Rotax 916is Turbo engine, with a max cruise of 162kts

Image of the real Alpi Pioneer 400

I've just picked the Pioneer 400 up and have take it for a quick flight - I'm impressed initially. Nice flight handling characteristics, a nice, authentic cockpit (double G3X with options for the PMS and TDS GTN650s - which is a common fit IRL, for IFR certified Pioneer 400s.

The only negative I can say so far is that - like all Erasam-developed aircraft - it's still a 2020 aicraft, that is compatible with 2024. I hope Erasam will move to the 2024 SDK soon, so we get things like walkaround interactables.

But I am enjoying this - it is 100% my type of plane ™️ 😎

Edited September 5Sep 5 by JYW

That's unique, never heard of it.

1 hour ago, ryanbatc said:

That's unique, never heard of it.

They're relatively popular in Europe, but certainly not mainstream.

It's best thought of as something similar to a LSA, but with 4 seats - 2 of them for 'occasional' use. I say occasional because leg room in the back is very tight, and as you'd expect useful load isn't that high. The styling was apparently inspired by the Ryan Navion, and you can see that in the front of the canopy 😎

There are even early models flying around with just the 100hp Rotax 912. I think this is perhaps the only application in the world where a single Rotax 912 is used in a 4 seat plane. I doubt those models are speed demons!

From my first few flights with this model, average cruise (between 3500' and 5500') is about 130KTAS. I climbed to 9500' and at standard cruise power settings for the Rotax 916, I got 146KTAS. The 'book figures' claim a max cruise of 162KTAS. I think you'd have to be flat out and up at 17000' to get that!

As per other Erasam addons, it's nothing exceptional, like a A2A or Black Square - it's an average level of GA addon. Most of my appreciation of it is because of my interest in the real aircraft. I think if you own all the high quality GA planes from A2A, Black Square, COWS and FSW and aren't specifically interested in this unusual plane, it could feel underwhelming. Sounds - as with all Erasam aircraft - are the stock MSFS LSA sounds (VL3 or Flight Design) and it's a 2020 model so no walkaround or external interactables. But, it really does fly nicely and feels convincing. The cockpit experience is nice, and a little different too, because you sit fairly high above the panel, but unlike the FS Reborn Sting, the panel is tilted slightly, which makes for a great forward view, combined with a nice panel view when glancing down (TrackIR).

I will definitely get some miles out of it.

Edited September 6Sep 6 by JYW

On 9/5/2026 at 9:20 PM, JYW said:

OBY1 (a partnership involving Erasam) have released the Alpi Pioneer 400 on the Marketplace

The Alpi Pioneer 400 is a lightweight 4 seat plane with a wooden frame construction and carbon fibre skin. It was developed from the Pioneer 200 (which I've flown IRL) Italian ultralight. On the MSFS Marketplace page for the Pioneer 400, it has a tag labelled "Ultralight", but being a 4 place aircraft, the Pioneer is not an ultralight, under any specification 😉 In Europe it's classified as Experimental, under a Permit To Fly. It's powered in this guise by a Rotax 916is Turbo engine, with a max cruise of 162kts

Image of the real Alpi Pioneer 400

I've just picked the Pioneer 400 up and have take it for a quick flight - I'm impressed initially. Nice flight handling characteristics, a nice, authentic cockpit (double G3X with options for the PMS and TDS GTN650s - which is a common fit IRL, for IFR certified Pioneer 400s.

The only negative I can say so far is that - like all Erasam-developed aircraft - it's still a 2020 aicraft, that is compatible with 2024. I hope Erasam will move to the 2024 SDK soon, so we get things like walkaround interactables.

But I am enjoying this - it is 100% my type of plane ™️ 😎

Thanks for your feedback, really appreciated

About moving to MSFS2024 after I'll complete the next one I'm currently involved in that will be the next step to do

Edited September 7Sep 7 by erasam

Being compared to "A2A or Black Square" to be defined "nothing exceptional" is making me proud of my works

On 9/7/2026 at 10:54 AM, erasam said:

Being compared to "A2A or Black Square" to be defined "nothing exceptional" is making me proud of my works

The term Nothing exceptional shouldn't be taken negatively, or to heart.

A2A, Black Square, etc are most certainly exceptional. Most other aircraft addons aren't. 🙂 So it just reflects the reality.

The native MSFS2024 model with walkaround mode, and custom sounds would definitely move the Pioneer 400 up the 'quality league'. But I have flown it a lot since release and you did a good job. It flies very well and I love the cockpit modelling. The sight picture out of the windscreen is very good.