Pioneer 300 Review

On first impression, the Pioneer 300 is a stand out of the crowd type of aircraft...The Pioneer 300 that I was lucky enough to experience, was at Lethbridge Airpark with Terry Egan, in his nice new shiny red one.

The Pioneer 300 is a low wing, 2 seat (side by side seating) aircraft, with a mixed build materials made up of composite material and wood structure. Terry's Pioneer 300 has a 6 Cylinder Jab motor (nice purrrrr), Tri-gear undercarriage with an electric retractable undercarriage system, electric flaps, electric trim, the works! 

Getting into the Pioneer 300 is no problem at all, it’s just a matter of stepping up onto the wing, and sliding into the roomy 1.05m wide cabin...I’m no little bloke and I felt as though there was plenty of room in the very comfortable cabin. There is dual floor mounted controls that seem to be right where your hand naturally falls.

One of the first thing that you notice, after closing the clear canopy, sliding it forward, is the awesome visibility of this aircraft!

Terry started the big 3.3lt Jabiru 6 cylinder motor, which jumped into life with a nice purrrr...made the appropriate radio calls and we were off.

Taxi is very easy in this aircraft with the fully steerable nose wheel being very responsive to light pedal touch. Brakes were also very responsive to keep the aircraft at a reasonable taxi speed.
We were lined up with runway 29, Terry opened up the throttle and we were very quickly leaping into the air and climbed away at over 1000' per minute climb rate - that 6 cylinder Jab motor sure sounded reassuringly powerful! The pioneer rode the light turbulence and wind gusts with ease...giving a very smooth ride in all phases of flight.

After take-off, Terry retracted the undercarriage - you can watch it come up through the clear window in the floor of the cabin...nice to be able to visually check that the wheels are coming down when its time too.

Within a few minutes we were leveling off at 3500' and Terry allowed me to take the controls.

We were cruising at 130kts - the controls felt light and responsive, with positive feedback to the stick - it felt very much like a Piper Arrow to me...very fast and very stable!

I tried some 30 degree bank turns, climbing, descending, with very little need for any rudder inputs at all, the Pioneer 300 moved around the turns with crisp positive response and with balance that I haven’t felt in an aircraft of this size/weight before! Truly a nice feeling of confidence with this aircraft for the low time pilot, or the experienced pilot alike - this aircraft has a very impressive 'big airplane' feel!

This is a true cross country aircraft - and while flying for a while in the Pioneer 300, you really appreciate the amazingly comfortable cabin design and seating - 10/10 for comfort, that’s for sure...
The handling and characteristics of this aircraft is pleasant and impressive to say the least.

After entering the circuit, Terry slowed the aircraft to a nice slow speed which is more manageable for circuits, lowered the undercarriage, and landed us back where we began - with a very low stall speed, the approach, flair, and touchdown is nice and slow, very tame and comfortable, Terry touched down with absolute smoothness and with good aileron control right though to the rollout.

RWY 29 at Lethbridge is a fairly rough grass strip - but the undercarriage took it in its stride, making for a very smooth touchdown and subsequent taxi back...

My Conclusion...

I was very impressed overall with the Pioneer 300; I rate it - 10/10 for this type. If you can afford it, you really can't go wrong with the Pioneer 300 - I believe it should hold its value well.
This is a pilots aircraft - and best of all, its a recreational aircraft!

Positives: Ease of controls - very well balanced and reasonably easy to fly aircraft; would suit pilot with a bit of experience right through to very experienced; good economy; great cruise speed @ 135kt, looks awesome; electric trim in all 3 axis; retractable undercarriage. A statesman of RAAus aircraft.

Negatives: Very hard to find a negative - might just add Expensive @ around $130,000AU, has a slight tail wag at times until aircraft settles, lots of electrical systems can be a positive, but, can also be seen by some pilots of ultralights as a negative - especially if something goes wrong. Probably not well suited to the new/inexperienced pilot (maybe the Pioneer 200 would be a better choice for new pilots).

The overall impressions of this aircraft are very impressive - from the look, the feel, the comfort in the air, to the amazing performance.

I really enjoyed this aircraft; I have nothing much at all negative to say about it...it is a very well designed and well thought out aircraft! This is a design that will not date quickly - very nice.

Very Impressed!! Aircraft are like a lot of things in this world - they suit different people for different reasons. This Review is just an over view and my personal thoughts, not meant to be a hard and fast rule. I do hope that this review has been helpful or at least interesting to read, and I ask that you also seek another or even your own opinion and experience on this aircraft.