SOCATA Horizon

what is it?

The GY-80 Horizon is a French four-seat touring monoplane of the 1960s designed by Yves Gardan and built under licence, first by Sud Aviation, and later by that company's SOCATA subsidiary.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 9.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 250 km/htop speed
• range 1,250 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 3passengers
• size 1,150 kgmax take-off weight
• built 273made 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 66 years ago, in 1960.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 9.7 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 1,250 km: 7× Amsterdam to Brussels.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1960

number built

273

role

four-seat light aircraft

origin

🇫🇷 France

makers

Daher-SOCATA

engines

1× Lycoming O-360-A

crew

1

passengers

3

length

6.6 m

wingspan

9.7 m

height

2.6 m

max take-off weight

1,150 kg

top speed

250 km/h

cruise speed

245 km/h

range

1,250 km

ceiling

4,700 m

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