SF.260
ICAO F260A tiny Italian trainer with fighter-like handling, still teaching after sixty years. Live SF.260 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No SF.260 is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Leonardo
- Role
- Basic training and light attack
- Class
- L1P — Landplane, 1 piston engine
- Crew
- 2 to 3
- First flight
- 15 July 1964
- In service
- 1966
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the SF.260
The SF.260 was designed by Stelio Frati, an engineer known for making light aircraft look and fly like something much more expensive, and it shows. It is small, fast for its power, and handles sharply enough that air forces use it to screen candidates before committing them to expensive turboprop training.
Belgium is the most visible operator on this feed, using it for basic training at Beauvechain. Italy, Ireland, the Philippines, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and a long list of African and Latin American air forces have flown it, some in an armed light-attack configuration.
It is a piston aircraft, so it is slow and low — expect short local sorties rather than transits.
Callsign prefixes
- BAF
- Belgian Air Force
- IAM
- Italian Air Force
- IAC
- Irish Air Corps
How to recognise it
- —A very small low-wing piston aircraft with tip tanks on the wingtips.
- —Side-by-side seating under a bubble canopy, with room for a third seat behind.
- —A sleek, almost sports-car line — it looks faster standing still than it is.
Common questions
+ Who designed the SF.260?
Stelio Frati, an Italian designer famous for elegant, high-performance light aircraft. The type was originally the Aviamilano F.250 before SIAI-Marchetti took over production.
+ Is the SF.260 armed?
Some versions are. The SF.260W Warrior and later variants carry underwing pylons for guns, rockets or light bombs, and several air forces have used them for counter-insurgency work.
+ Why do air forces still use a 1960s piston trainer?
Cost. Screening students on a cheap, sharp-handling piston aircraft before moving them to a turboprop saves a great deal of money, and the SF.260 handles enough like a fast aircraft to be a fair test.