Aeritalia G.222

what is it?

The Aeritalia G.222 (formerly Fiat Aviazione, later Alenia Aeronautica) is a medium-sized STOL military transport aircraft. It was developed to meet a NATO Basic Military Requirement 4; accordingly, it was originally designed with lift engines for a V/STOL capability, but these were never fitted to production aircraft. No wider NATO production contact were emerged, but Italy was keen to support its homegrown transport aircraft and issued an order for it in a more conventional configuration.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 turboprops · shoulder wing · retractable tricycle gear · 28.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 540 km/htop speed
• range 1,371 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 53passengers
• size 28 tmax take-off weight
• built 111made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 56 years ago, in 1970.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 28.7 m: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 5 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 1,371 km: 8× Amsterdam to Brussels.

turboprop: A jet-style turbine turning a propeller: efficient on short hops.

spec sheet

first flight

1970

introduced

1978

retired

2012

status

retired

number built

111

role

military transport aircraft

origin

🇮🇹 Italy

makers

Alenia Aeronautica, Aeritalia, Fiat Aviazione

engines

2× General Electric T64-GE-P4D / T64-GE-P4D

crew

3

passengers

53

length

22.7 m

wingspan

28.7 m

height

9.8 m

max take-off weight

28 t

top speed

540 km/h

cruise speed

439 km/h

range

1,371 km

ceiling

7,620 m

wings

shoulder wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family