Today’s Top Pick is a 2022 Vans RV-14.

When the first Van’s RV-14s reached the market about a decade ago, some fans of the company’s long line of aircraft wondered what made this side-by-side two-seater different from others in its fleet such as the RV-7. The two do appear similar, at least to the untrained eye. Closer inspection reveals that the RV-14 is larger, with a more powerful engine and more baggage space.

For people who like to draw comparisons between aircraft and cars, one might call the RV-7 a classic, compact, two-seat sports car while the RV-14 is more of a GT, or grand touring machine. Indeed, the larger aircraft’s wing is designed to operate efficiently on longer cross-country trips. While not all customers had noticed, Van’s felt there was a gap to be filled in the fleet somewhere between the RV-7 and the large, four-seat RV-10. Today the many pilots flying RV-14 appear to agree.    

This recently built RV-14 has an airworthiness date of March 22, 2022, and has logged 65 hours on the airframe, its Lycoming YIO-390-EXP76 engine, and  Hartzell two-blade, constant-speed propeller. The aircraft has a 50-gallon usable-fuel system.

Its panel includes a Garmin G3X IFR avionics suite with dual 10-inch screens, GMC 507 autopilot, GMA 245R remote audio panel, GNX 375 IFR navigator with ADS-B In and Out transponder.

Pilots seeking a high-performance, homebuilt aircraft with decades of development and market experience behind it should consider this 2022 Van’s RV-14, which is available for $298,000 on AircraftForSale.

You can arrange financing of the aircraft through FLYING Finance. For more information, email info@flyingfinance.com.

• FLYING Magazine: We Fly: RV-14A Full Performance
• FLYING Magazine: DeltaHawk Is Developing a Package for Installing Its DHK Engines in Van’s RV-14s
• FLYING Magazine: Buying Experimental Aircraft, Demystified
• KITPLANES: Kitplanes Flies the New RV-14
• KITPLANES: Van’s Introduces New IO-390 Variant for RV-14, Plus Updates to RV-10 Kit
• KITPLANES: RV-14 Passes NKET 51% Rule Evaluation
• KITPLANES: Building and Flying an RV-8

The post This 2022 Van’s RV-14 Is a Homebuilt, Cross-Country ‘AircraftForSale’ Top Pick appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Today’s Top Pick is a 1994 Steen Skybolt.

In the late 1960s, Lamar Steen was a high school industrial arts teacher who was looking for a way to inspire his students. He designed a sport biplane and figured he could teach the kids some serious math and mechanical skills while boosting their confidence. He coached them while they did the building. They finished the project in 1970 and watched as Steen test-flew it. How has no one made a movie about this feel-good story?

Steen performed aerobatics at numerous airshows during the 1970s and sold hundreds of plans for the homebuilt airplane. The airframe is stressed for aerobatics and consists of a steel tube fuselage and wooden wings. The original aircraft used a Lycoming HO-360 engine, but subsequent models used a variety of engines including 300 hp Lycoming 540s. A total of more than 400 were built.   

This Steen Skybolt has 605 hours on the airframe and 605 hours on the engine since factory overhaul. The panel includes a King KT97A comm radio, King KT76A transponder, AV30 PFD, intercom, ADS-B out, and EDM 800 engine monitor.

Pilots looking for a handsome sport biplane that is capable of performing full aerobatic routines should consider this 1994 Steen Skybolt, which is available for $59,000 on AircraftForSale.

You can arrange financing of the aircraft through FLYING Finance. For more information, email info@flyingfinance.com.

• FLYING Magazine: Keeping America’s Largest Vintage Biplane Rides Fleet Flying
• FLYING Magazine: Frank Christensen and the Kit Plane Revolution
• Plane & Pilot: Steen Skybolt
• Plane & Pilot: Pitts S-1S Special
• AVweb:  Bad Mojo No Mo

The post This 1994 Steen Skybolt’s Biplane Proportions Make It an ‘AircraftForSale’ Top Pick appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The weekly tradition started in the mid-’80s when Phillips suggested he and a few friends fly in formation to their favorite breakfast spot. “I did a basic formation briefing,” he says, and sketched their positions on the back of a napkin. During the requisite debrief, Phillips says he made the mistake of saying, “That was the damnedest gaggle that I’ve ever flown in.” To his chagrin, the “gaggle” moniker stuck. “It’s kind of demeaning. But it’s one of those things that got away. You can’t get it back,” he says. Today, the Spruce Creek Gaggle Flight has about 100 members. The Gaggle frequently performs fly-overs for Little League opening days, veterans’ events, honor flights, and city festivals—like Daytona Beach Jeep Week—and has been recognized with multiple proclamations.

A former fighter pilot, Phillips is accustomed to more precise formation flying. He retired from the Air Force in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel and became an aerospace consultant for Litton Industries, General Dynamics, and others. Phillips grew up in the 1940s and ’50s near Maule Field (3NP) in Napoleon, Michigan. At 12, he started working after school and weekends for Belford D. (B.D.) Maule, who invented a light tailwheel, operated a tool milling and sharpening shop, and built TV towers and antennas. Maule later developed his signature aircraft and moved his operation to Moultrie, Georgia. Working there, Phillips learned skills that he still uses today. “I call it people’s liberal arts education. I didn’t learn a lot in school, but I learned a lot at the airport.”

An advocate for the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), for which he served as president of the Daytona Beach Chapter (No. 288) for nine years, he is as passionate about building aircraft as he is about flying them. An FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot and Charles Taylor Master Mechanic, A&P/IA, and EAA technical counselor, he has built a Swearingen SX300, a Pitts Model 12, and a hybrid Wittman Tailwind/Nesmith Cougar. Phillips talked recently with FLYING about his passion for aviation, homebuilt aircraft, and his airpark community.

FLYING Magazine (FM): Describe your early pilot training experience at Maule Field?

Keith Phillips (KP): When you’re around an airport, you know, it’s like a farmer’s kid, you learn to drive by osmosis. You never remember really learning to drive. You’re expected to drive. It’s the same with flying. In those days, the GI Bill was a big thing for learning to fly. In ’46, ’47, ’48, every little town airport, they’d have a fleet of J3 Cubs, or Luscombes, or Taylorcrafts to teach GI Bill flying classes. That gave you ample opportunity to learn to fly. I actually learned to fly without a CFI. They’d [ad hoc instructors] get their GI Bill, they soloed and got their private and said, “Come on kid, help me with this and do that, and I’ll give you a ride in the airplane.” I had a student license but never was signed off.

FM: You have owned quite a few airplanes over the course of your lifetime. What was your first airplane?

KP: When I was a junior in high school, I bought a 1941 J4 Cub. But I, of course, didn’t have the money to buy it, so B.D. [Maule] bought it. It cost $400. I put in $200 and he put in $200 for Shirley, his daughter. She really didn’t have any interest in learning to fly and never did, so I ultimately bought her half out.

FM: What aviation mentors have had the biggest impact on you and how?

KP: I had a couple of schoolteachers who were World War II guys. I basically grew up with no father image; even though my mother got remarried, he was a stepdad and was brand new to me. One of the principals in the high school was a C-47 pilot in World War II [Gordon Smith]. Another teacher was a P-47 pilot [Mr. Goodrich]. They encouraged me. But if you did something stupid, they told you about it. I flew under some wires one time when we went to a football game over in one of the towns. Raymond [Maule] and I flew our airplanes over there and landed next to the athletic field, and when we left, I flew under these wires, and the principal saw that and he really chewed me out. They certainly had an influence on me, but nothing like B.D. [Maule]. He wasn’t a good mentor, but he created the environment that allowed me to fly. I wouldn’t have been able to buy the airplane without him. I was making 35 cents an hour; $400 was a big hit.

FM: As an older pilot (Phillips turned 88 in June), are there any challenges that you’ve had to adapt to?

KP: It’s a hell of problem with things like insurance. They told me last year, “Next year, you must have a pilot.” So, I wrote a little note back to them saying, “What am I?” In order to have my insurance valid, I have to have a pilot in the airplane with me that has 25 hours in type, and he’s got to be this and that, etc. So, in essence, if I’m flying my airplane without anybody on board, I’m not covered. That is the biggest impediment that I find. I feel that my skills are still good enough so that I’m safe.

FM: You’ve built three aircraft of your own, contributed to building countless others, and were honored in 2016 with the EAA Tony Bingelis Award for your contributions to the homebuilt community. Why do you champion homebuilts?

KP: I grew up on a farm and then later the airport, and I was always building or doing something with machinery. I have a passion for it. The flying and the building are fulfilling to me. You can be creative, and one thing that EAA has done is they have deployed a degree of standardization and so forth. Early on, there were some really bad homebuilt aircraft. But over the years, standards have come way up, and thanks to Van [Richard VanGrunsven].

FM: What inspired you to build your first airplane, the hybrid Wittman Tailwind/Nesmith Cougar?

KP: In 1956 or ’57, we were at the Rockford Air Show, and I got a first ride in a Wittman. By then, I was a lieutenant in the Air Force. I was in love with little airplanes. I went over there with B.D. [Maule] in his Bellanca. I had a ride in Bud Harwood’s Wittman Tailwind and I said, “This thing is a performing fool.” When you compared it to an average little airplane of that day, it was 40 to 50 knots faster. Prior to U.S. Air Force flying, I was used to J3/J4Cubs’ performance, and that Bellanca was a rocket, and it was still slower than that Wittman. I said, “Man, I gotta have one of these.” I liked that you could make changes, as long as they didn’t impact the airworthiness.

FM: Which of your homebuilt aircraft was the most challenging to build and why? What’s your favorite to fly?

KP: The SX300, by far. It’s a very complex airplane. It goes fast, it’s got a high wing and the gear retracts. Because it goes fast, it’s more rigid [and] it takes more work. And the way Ed [Swearingen] designed it. Ed’s a good designer, but he didn’t have the genius of Steve Wittman or Van. They build things simple. If you can do something with one piece where somebody else takes 10 to do it; like the landing gear [on a Van’s RV], there is nothing there but apiece of rod. The average homebuilder wouldn’t want to get into an SX300. The SX300 is my favorite [to fly]. It makes me feel like a fighter pilot. It goes fast, [and takes] very little effort to fly, cruis[ing] at about 265 knots.

FM: As a lifetime EAA member since 1959 and the former president of one of the largest EAA chapters (No. 288), what is the secret behind your chapter’s success?

KP: When I first got here [Spruce Creek] in 1985, I joined the chapter. They were having their meetings at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in one of their academic rooms. It was only 15 to 20 people. And then we had meetings out here, hangar tours. We had twice as many people at the hangar tours as we’d have at the meetings. The chapter has 245 paid members and 425 on its roster.

FM: You’ve lived in Spruce Creek in Florida since 1985. What does the fly-in community mean to you?

KP: It’s kind of like heaven. They say when you die here, it’s a lateral move. If you’re an airport bum like I am, I just enjoy airplanes, I enjoy the people, I enjoy helping people, and it’s good flying.

• READ MORE: Paying It Forward

Quick 6

Who is the one person living or dead that you would most like to fly with?

Bob Hoover

If you could fly any aircraft that you have not yet flown, what would that be?

The F-22. It lives in a world of its own. It flies supersonic in military power.

What is one airport you love to fly into?

Umatilla Municipal Airport (X23). It’s a great bunch of people, and they have three airport cars so you can drive to the restaurants.

What do you believe has been aviation’s biggest breakthrough event or innovation?

The jet engine.

If you could build another airplane, what would it be?

Vans RV-15, but it’s not on the market yet. When not flying, I’d rather be…Building an airplane.

This article first appeared in the July 2023/Issue 933 print edition of FLYING.

The post In Depth with an ‘Airport Kid’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The move comes a little over a month after Van’s announced a series of changes designed to combat “serious cash flow issues, which must be addressed quickly to ensure ongoing operations.” According to the company, the problems stem from COVID-related supply chain challenges, faulty primer that led to corrosion problems on quick build kits, and recent issues with defects in laser-cut parts.

• READ MORE: Van’s Updates List of RV Parts Reportedly Forming Cracks

“As a result of this combination of issues, the company experienced serious cash-flow problems from which it could not recover through the normal course of business,” Van’s said in a statement. “During that time, Van’s built up a significant and high-value parts inventory. As we manufacture the additional parts needed to balance this inventory, we will leverage it to fulfill orders for kits and parts over the next 12 to 18 months.”

Van’s is expected to file a proposed reorganization plan with the court within the next 90 days. The company says it will continue to provide parts, service, and support, along with shipping kit orders, during the reorganization. Plans are being developed for customers affected by the Chapter 11 filing, though the company noted that those plans are ultimately dependent upon court approval.

Plans for Existing Customers

For customers who received laser-cut parts, Van’s says it has now “completed a careful, detailed review that delineates the specific list of laser-cut parts for each individual customer kit order.” If approved, the company says it intends to begin contacting impacted customers with detailed information on the parts and its parts replacement program with the goal of beginning to ship replacements this month. Van’s hopes to have delivered replacement parts to all affected customers, estimated to be more than 1,800, by the end of 2024.

Van’s reported that it is also reviewing all open parts orders, some of which will be hit with price increases. “Customers with open parts orders that require updated pricing will be contacted soon and will receive access to a website where they will be able to review and act upon the details of their existing orders and Van’s proposed order modifications,” Van’s said.

In addition, prices for kits and parts are expected to increase. Van’s plans to “begin contacting customers with open kit orders that were placed prior to the filing date within the next 7 to 10 days with an offer to apply the full amount of their existing deposits toward the purchase of the same kit, under new terms and conditions including a price increase.” Customers with deposits on kits should be on the lookout for an email with a link “to a website where they will be able to view the details of their existing order, the amount of their deposit and Van’s proposed order modifications.”

“Van’s expects to resume shipping in-stock kit orders within the next 7 to 10 days,” the company said. “We will do our best to prioritize those who have waited longest, but our kit fulfillment schedule must be financially acceptable to the court, based substantially on cash flow rather than the traditional and historical method of order fulfillment that Van’s customers have experienced in the past. We will be constrained by – and will make prioritization decisions based on – the rate and timing of order renewal, availability of in-stock parts, and our need to ship kits that generate positive cash flow. Where we are able to do so, we will also consider the age of the original customer order.”

The company says it is still working with its engine, propeller, and avionics partners to get a plan in place for customers with deposits on those products. Van’s noted that orders that don’t require modifications will be shipped as usual.

“The purpose of the Chapter 11 filing is to allow Van’s to continue to provide ongoing support for its customers, suppliers, and employees for many years to come,” Van’s said. “We understand that this situation creates a hardship for everyone involved. However, without these changes we do not see a viable path forward that would allow Van’s Aircraft to remain in business and support its customers.”

Editor’s Note: This story was originally reported on by KITPLANES.

The post Van’s Aircraft Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Van’s published a notice about the problem and followed with a live update last week at EAA AirVenture, reported KITPLANES.

The cracks affected certain parts with rivet holes that need to be dimpled for flush riveting during assembly. The company said the defects resulted from changes in the process of laser-cutting parts. During the period from February 2022 through June , Van’s had an outside vendor produce the parts with laser-cut rivet holes instead of using the traditional press-punch method employed previously.

Van’s said the change was meant to boost production and relieve a backlog affecting kit deliveries. Company president and chief engineer Rian Johnson said the company’s  thinner parts were outsourced for the laser cutting and most were in noncritical parts of the airframe. According to Van’s, it has discontinued the use of laser-cut parts and has acquired a new, larger press-punch machine.

Apparently the cutting of rivet holes resulted in overheating of the metal in certain places, Van’s said. Builders reported the defects, including cracks that appeared after the holes were dimpled. 

During his AirVenture presentation in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Johnson described the testing taking place at the factory to address the defects. The company has told customers to stop building with the laser-cut parts for now, and Johnson asked them to be patient for the estimated 45- to 60-day period Van’s will need to finish testing.

The bottom line for builders of the affected kits is that while some parts will be acceptable for low-stress applications, others will have to be replaced. Van’s said it is setting up a process for providing customers with replacement parts.

The post Van’s Updates List of RV Parts Reportedly Forming Cracks appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

So when three LSA pilots from Washington state decided to introduce a fourth sport pilot to the exhilaration that comes from landing on gravel bars in a STOL machine, they named the one-day outing “The Great Gravel Gaggle.”

Zenith CH701 STOL owner/pilot Curt Thompson already knew fellow Zenith owner/pilots John Marzulli (CH701), Walt Cannon (CH701), and Jonathan Fay (CH750) from their involvement in EAA Chapter 84 in Snohomish, Washington, and also the local Zenith builder community. The pilots were instrumental in helping Thompson build his CH701, nicknamed the Clownfish Plane because of its colorful paint scheme that will make you think of Nemo. When they found out Thompson had never landed on the many gravel bars in the area, the Great Gravel Gaggle idea was hatched.

“Jonathan suggested that we get together to introduce me to gravel bar landings,” Thompson said, “and a message was sent out to see if others wanted to join. The weather prediction was very good and the next Saturday looked promising with just a few afternoon cumulus clouds. They all flew in to meet me at my hangar in Arlington [Washington], on Saturday morning and we headed off to the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, only a few miles away. The other three experienced pilots went in first to check the location. Jonathan started his drone to film the other landings, and I had four GoPro cameras on my plane, so the landings were well documented.”

The group also made a second gravel bar landing on a wide spot of the Skagit River nearby.

Safety First

Thompson was taught that the most important aspect of off-airport landing is making sure that the landing surface is appropriate, and a pilot is not going to bend the airplane with obstructions, like rocks, stumps, and driftwood. “I had overflown this spot a few times and it looked great, but I didn’t want to land when I was by myself because if something [went] wrong, it might be tough to get out,” he said.

On his first gravel bar landing, Thompson said he started further from the landing spot than he needed to, and just did some slow flight along the river until he could see the landing spot on the gravel bar, where the other three pilots were down and parked. “I don’t know my landing speeds so I fly by sound and vibration,” Thompson explained. “The Clownfish Plane has the 100 hp Rotax 912 ULS and has some really good cues about what is going on. On this landing, I went a lot faster than I needed to. This was a very long landing spot so no worries about landing long. I have an angle of attack (AOA) sensor with audible feedback in my headset. On the approach, I just fly so the AOA is just starting to beep in my headset.”

If you want to see exactly what STOL operations onto a gravel bar look like, Thompson has a very good YouTube video of the landing on a gravel bar alongside the North Fork Stillaguamish River.

• READ MORE: Legendary Sport Pilot Shares a Lifetime of Great Stories

Building Your STOL LSA

Based at Arlington Airport (KAWO), Thompson holds a private pilot certificate with glider rating and has put about 600 hours in his logbook. He decided to plans-build his CH701 instead of using one of Zenith’s kits, in order to spread the expense over a period of time. He says it did work out to spread out the costs, but it certainly did not save him any money overall. “I generally made each part at least twice before I got one I liked,” Thompson said. “The plans from Zenith are very good, and I was able to lean on the various forums and online sources to answer any questions. I don’t think I ever had to contact Zenith with a question. I spent eight years building the Clownfish plane, but in two of those years, I didn’t touch it. I would not recommend the ‘plan built’ route—just buy the kits from Zenith, because their kits are very good.”

• READ MORE: Flight Simulators Can Bring Sport Aviation to Your Desktop

One of the things Thompson loved about working with Zenith on the build was that the company will sell any individual part from the kit. “I tried to oxy-acetylene weld some of the parts, but just did not like my weld quality. I used a couple of parts I welded, but most of the critical ones I bought from Zenith,” he said.

A challenge Thompson had to overcome in the build was getting the bubble doors the way he wanted. “I made an oven from some parts from a scrapped electric range, and ‘slumped’ the doors in the oven by holding them in a frame and heating them slowly to just the right amount. I bought plexiglass from various sources but the stuff I found at Home Depot worked best. The two doors on the Clownfish plane were trial number 21 and 22,” Thompson said.

• READ MORE: A Major Disability Could Not Stop This Determined Sport Pilot

Gravel Bar Hopping

The Zenith line of high-wing aircraft has a lot of features that fit the mission of landing on short runways, Thompson said, but he added that experience is key to this type of flying. “I know I don’t push the boundaries of the capabilities of the Zenith CH701 as far as others, and I am getting a little more adventurous as I gain more experience and comfort. I spent a lot of time building the Clownfish plane and I don’t want to bend it up. So far, there has not been any place I have shied away from landing, as long as I know others have landed there before,” he said.

Is gravel bar hopping in a STOL LSA fun? Oh yeah, these four pilots will attest, with owner/pilot John Marzulli calling his CH701 “SEVEN-OH-FUN.” That pretty much sums it all up.

The post Friends Enjoy a Different Kind of ‘Bar Hopping’ in Their Zenith LSAs appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“This is the first high-wing design by Van’s,” notes Greg Hughes, Van’s vice president. “We began flying it last month and it flies well, but I want to stress that it is the engineering prototype so it is functionally pretty close to the final design.”

The purpose of the all-metal RV-15 will be backcountry flying. The website touts that this airplane will allow the pilot to “go places, get dirty and catch fish.”

The RV-15 is a clean-sheet design, says Hughes, although Van’s fans may notice a family resemblance to other company designs through the cowling and the distinctive P-51 Mustang-inspired tail. The landing gear of the high-wing is described as backcountry friendly, with an internal shock absorber.

As this story was being prepared, Van’s Aircraft was still test flying the prototype, and had not made a decision as to whether it would make the trip to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, later this month.

“When it’s ready, it’s ready,” says Hughes, emphasizing it is not about a timetable to follow, rather it’s about making sure the engineering and performance aspect of the aircraft meet Van’s expectations.

“What we have learned from the engineering-prototype-article airplane will inform and drive any tweaks and adjustments we will make in developing the kit airplane. The kit airplane needs to be highly buildable. Aesthetic form will follow function, and the engineering prototype’s functionality is pretty close to final design. It is designed and constructed…in a way that allows flexibility in configuration, and ability to make small changes that we would make in the first flying article.”

Hughes added that Van’s is not taking orders for the RV-15 just yet.

Van’s has been very closemouthed on the specifications of the new design, saying they don’t want to give any details until the aircraft is perfect. What they have released thus far: It is a high-wing, backcountry capable, all-metal design that will feature a control stick. According to the website, the engine will be a Lycoming, the aircraft will have seats (“yes”) and “lots” of baggage room. 

The Van’s RV-15 will premier as a tailwheel-equipped aircraft, and a tricycle version will follow.

About Van’s Aircraft

Van’s Aircraft entered the kit airplanes market in 1972 with low-wing, all-metal designs. 

The designs range in size from the single-place RV-3, and several dual-place designs ranging from side-by-side to tandem seating and the four-place RV-10. Van’s designs are known for their versatility. They can be built for aerobatics, cross-country flights, and there is a special light sport aircraft (S-LSA) that can be purchased as a completed build. If the rows and rows of Van’s RVs at AirVenture are any indication, Van’s Aircraft owns the lion’s share of the kitplane market.

The post Van’s Aircraft Celebrates 50th Anniversary With a High-Wing Design appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The new airplane is a development of the single-seat SubSonex JSX-2 that has been flying since 2014, and is meant in part to serve as a trainer for that model and other jets. Indeed, the company says it designed the JSX-2T to be “the lowest cost jet trainer ever.”

Like other models in the line of Sonex aircraft dating to the late 1990s, the latest Sonex jet highlights the continuing evolution and increasing sophistication of modern, experimental amateur-built, or E-AB. Compared with notable earlier homebuilt models like the 1930s Pietenpol Air Camper, which used a Ford Model A car engine, and the Volkswagen-powered 1960s Evans VP-1 Volksplane, many of today’s E-AB’s look and feel more like factory-built, certificated aircraft.

Sonex says it is building the JSX-2T prototype and will display the aircraft at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, which officially gets underway July 25. The company says it plans to begin flight testing this fall and to begin producing the kits during the second quarter of 2023. Deliveries of kits to customers are slated to begin during the fall or winter of 2023.

Sonex should gain some overall marketing momentum from AirVenture’s One Week Wonder project, which this year features a Sonex Waiex that amateur builders plan to complete during the weeklong gathering. Attendees at the show will get to take part in the construction process by taking turns installing rivets on the airplane.

JSX-2T has side-by-side seating, a 21.8-foot wingspan, and uses the same PBS TJ-100 turbojet as the single-seat version. Sonex says it expects the airplane to have wing loading and handling characteristics similar to the single-seater.

The deposit amount to reserve a kit is $15,000 and Sonex says the estimated cost of building the kit, which includes the engine, avionics, and interior upholstery, is under $155,000, compared with about $130,000 for the single-seater. The company says it will charge a $1,500 fee to customers who cancel their reservations.

This Looks Familiar

The Sonex is a v-tail with a single jet engine mounted atop its rear fuselage, a design that draws comparisons with the Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet even though the two are quite different, one being an experimental kit aircraft and the other is a type-certificated aircraft.

Here is a look at some of the ways the two aircraft compare:

The post Sonex Takes Orders for ‘The Lowest Cost Jet Trainer Ever’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The acquisition includes the assets of both Sonex Aircraft, LLC, and Sonex Aerospace, LLC. These entities will combine under the newly formed Sonex, LLC. All of the current employees will be retained in the move, and former owner John Monnett will stay on as a “lifetime emeritus advisor” and part of Sonex’s new advisory board.

“Being the new owner of Sonex is incredibly important to me on so many levels,” said Schaible in an interview with FLYING. “On a personal level, it’s the fulfillment of dreams I’ve had of owning a homebuilt aircraft business since I was a teenager and EAA member making airplane designs on my dad’s old drafting table and building a wind tunnel out of a giant old wooden console TV cabinet. 

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“While I’ve been with Sonex for over 18 years, it’s time to truly run the show.”

Schaible joined Sonex in 2003 packing boxes in the warehouse. He then built the company website, and moved into sales and purchasing. He has since held increasing positions of responsibility within the company.

Keeping the Family Ties

Critical to Schaible was stabilizing the company’s future in a way that allows Monnett to retire yet still be involved in a substantial and meaningful way. 

“That is really important to our staff and their families, to John and his family in the fact that his legacy will continue, and of course it’s important to all of our great customers who have invested in us with their kit orders and rely upon us to support them through completion of their projects and beyond.”

The company was founded by patriarch John Monnett in 1998, and he led Sonex with son Jeremy Monnett until Jeremy’s death in an aircraft accident in June 2015.

Schaible joined Sonex in 2003 as the marketing manager, and he has held increasing positions of responsibility within the company. Heather Zahner—previously Sonex’s customer service and human resources manager—is now the general manager. Zahner has been with Sonex since 2005. Kerry Fores rounds out the new management team as technical support manager.

On Tap for the Future?

Under Schaible, Sonex will continue its plans to develop new kit-built models that expand the company’s reach, rather than competing with what they’ve already presented to the market.

“When it comes to plans for the future, we see some really great things on the horizon,” Schaible said. These include the two-place version of the SubSonex Personal Jet, on track to debut at EAA AirVenture this summer, and the Sonex High Wing concept.

“We are looking forward to expanding our engine installation support for Rotax and UL Power engine options,” he said. “We have some concepts for new products in our AeroConversions product line. And, of course, our Sonex Aerospace product line is set to be an area of explosive growth for our company with production of the Teros UAS and other unmanned vehicles for government and commercial customers.”

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If you’ve ever attended the Stihl National Championship Air Races at the Reno-Stead Airport west of Reno, Nevada, you know the event brands itself as “the fastest motorsport on earth,” with the slogan “fly low, fly fast, turn left.” Low and slow has never factored into the equation since the races began decades ago. But times are changing at the Reno air races with a whole new class: STOL Drag (for “Short Takeoff and Landing”). While these airplanes might not be flying anywhere near 500 mph like the classic Reno racers, they have a knack for getting the crowds going.

What on earth is STOL Drag? Two light airplanes line up side by side in between two vertical flags, scurry off the ground, and fly as fast as they can just a few feet off the dirt along a 2,000-foot straight track. Toward the end of the course, the airplanes quickly slow down by pulling up into a severe slip, then land beyond a line (also marked by vertical flags) that designates the halfway point of the course. The airplanes come to a complete stop (tailwheels down, for those who are so equipped) straight ahead—10 degrees or more off heading results in disqualification—spin around 180 degrees, then fly in the opposite direction and land beyond the start/stop line. The pilot who gets his or her airplane stopped first wins.

STOL Drag was founded by high-adrenaline backcountry adventurer and social media phenom Kevin Quinn. Originally from Alaska, Quinn has operated Points North Heli-Adventures, a heli-ski outfit in Cordova, Alaska, for more than two decades. Quinn is also a hardcore backcountry pilot, with more than 8,500 hours of tailwheel time, and the founder and organizer of the annual High Sierra Fly-In, where STOL Drag was first introduced. High Sierra has become an extremely successful event, and it celebrated its 10th year in October. While there is no limit to the number of attendees, Quinn capped the number of airplane registrations at 500 for this year. About 170 of those were registered to fly in the STOL Drag competition atthe fly-in.

Pilots are initially timed on the course in hopes of qualifying as one of the top 16 pilots. From that point, it’s elimination time. The loser in each heat is eliminated and the winner moves on to the next round. The final round crowns the winner. The heats are often too close to call, prompting a thrilling rerun.

According to the Reno Air Race Association’s chairman and CEO, Fred Telling, the STOL Drag idea was introduced to RARA by secretary of the board Joey Scolari and COO Tony Logoteta after they watched the competition at the High Sierra Fly-In this past year. Telling was enthused by not only the excitement of the event itself but also their social media following. Research will show Quinn and his High Sierra friends, who collectively call themselves the Flying Cowboys, have about 29 million followers combined.

Over the span of several months, RARA, Quinn and the FAA worked out the details for STOL Drag at NCAR, including a plan for the demonstration race in 2019 as part of the accreditation process. Pending the final FAA approval letter, the event will be the seventh official class.

Like all of the racers at NCAR, the STOL Drag pilots had to attend the Pylon Racing School—a nearly weeklong training program that takes place in June each year. Eighteen pilots went through the PRS training and qualified to participate in this year’s demonstration race. However, for various reasons, a few of the qualified pilots were unable to fly.

The Airplanes of STOL

The most disappointing dropout was fan favorite Draco, a PT6-powered Wilga that won the STOL Drag World Championship at the 2018 High Sierra Fly-In. Owner Mike Patey announced on Facebook it would cost him $45,000 to insure Draco for the event, and he decided to pull out. Instead, Patey and Draco were parked in the STOL Drag area taking pictures with their many fans.

Tragically, Draco crashed on takeoff the day after NCAR was over. Crosswind conditions lifted Draco’s left wing, and Patey lost control of his beloved bird. The airplane ended up in the dirt and was severely crunched, but fortunately, Patey, his wife and their passenger walked away unscathed. In a video after the crash, Patey took full responsibility for making the mistake of taking off in the strong crosswind. “I make no excuses,” he said. “Pilot error, pilot error, pilot error. This is going to haunt me for a long time.”

While Draco was one-of-a-kind, the airplane types applicable to STOL Drag are plentiful. Light taildraggers, such as CarbonCubs, Highlanders and Kitfoxes, are the most common, but there are also some benefits to tricycle-gear airplanes, according to Quinn. They won’t nose over if you make an abrupt stop. However, nosewheeled airplanes might not be as efficient as taildraggers at making a 180-degree turn.

One thing that makes STOL Drag particularly compelling is that the value of the airplanes does not correlate with triumph in the heats. Scott Palmer, a crop-duster who flew No. 53 in the STOL Drag demo this year, said in a YouTube video posted by STOL Drag announcer Cory Robin: “I can have a basically stock Kitfox that costs $30,000, and I can go race against these guys in really, really nice backcountry CarbonCubs and Cessna 180s, and all of our times are pretty close.”

Certified airplanes, such as Cessnas and CarbonCubs, also make the event more inviting to general-population pilots. “A lot of people see this airplane and go: ‘It’s a certified airplane. I can go do this.’ And you can!” Bo Ellis said, also in Cory Robin’s video. Ellis was very competitive in his blue-and-white Cessna 180 named STOL80.

The low cost and accessibility of airplanes for the STOL Drag Class were significant parts of the draw for RARA and Telling. “Back when the races were growing in the mid ’60s, when they started up Unlimited racing, the Unlimited racers were going for $25,000,” Telling says. “Things were more affordable for a wider range of people than they are today.” The already-established Formula One Class, Biplane Class, T-6 and Medallion group in the Sport Class are still quite accessible and affordable, certainly more so than the Jets and Unlimiteds and Super Sports.

But it was a goal of Telling’s—who started out as an NCAR spectator in 1984 and, in the early 2000s, moved on to race in and serve as president of the T-6 Class before taking on RARA’s top role a couple of years ago—to make it more inviting for hardcore fans to start racing. “I think the addition of STOL Drag is a great part of that,” Telling says.

Telling also finds the quick pace of the races appealing. “One of the downsides of the races is that there is a lot of downtime in between, but there is no downtime with STOL,” he says. “Once the two airplanes in a heat are done, they clear them and the next two are off.” In fact, Quinn claims the fastest competitors complete a heat in about a minute while the slow ones are about 1 minute, 15 seconds. “We were doing eight to 10 races in the course of 10 minutes,” Quinn says.

Is STOL Drag Safe?

With airplanes flying side by side, sometimes in unusual-looking attitudes and dust swirling in the turns, STOL Drag might, to some, appear to be a bit on the wild side. But according to Quinn, who is hellbent on safety, “The FAA came in and said, ‘This is some of the safest air racing we’ve ever witnessed because it’s straight and level.’” And the skills required for the races can be highly useful in other situations.

“In the backcountry, if you come up short on your spot landing, bad things are going to happen,” Quinn says. “If you can’t land on heading…you’re going to run into a tree, a log, a person or another airplane. If you can’t spin around 180 degrees and maintain directional control and peripheral awareness without going into somebody else’s lane, in the backcountry, you’re going to run into something.”

Quinn is working with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association to develop a STOL Drag-specific training program where pilots can come and learn the skills. “We want to make it so it’s a platform where people can end up coming to Reno and/or High Sierra, which will always be home to what we call our World Championship STOL Drag,” he says.

For pilots who want to race STOL Drag in Reno, there will eventually be several qualifying events around the country during the year. Currently, the only established qualifying event is the High Sierra Fly-In, which just took place in October. Once you qualify, you have to go through the PRS course in June to get your race card before you can officially participate in the competition.

In the end, 15 perky taildraggers got out on the NCAR STOL Drag course, which was set up in the rough dirt area on the crowd side of Runway 08/26. The airplanes taxied out parade-style in sequence for their heats. Two planes lined up along the stretched flags, and Kevin Quinn made a full-body wave while calling: “Three, two, one… See ya!” And they’re off.

The airplanes scuttled along the course with the engines pushed to their limits with Cory Robin at the announcer’s stand getting the crowds riled up. Then the power was pulled to idle, the airplanes pulled up in a slip, then dropped down just beyond a line marked by stretched flags. Dust swirled around the fat main tires as the tailwheels spun around to point the airplanes in the opposite direction. Then off they went again in a low-level dash to the finish line. The crowds in the grandstands cheered on the cartoonlike planes as the pilots fought to get them on the ground and stopped as soon as possible after the start/finish line. It was definitely a fast-paced, exciting thing to watch, and the competition was very tight.

In some heats, one airplane would win on the way out only to get beat by its competitor on the way back, often because of an inefficient turn. It seemed impossible to predict who would win. “Bo Ellis flew his dark-blue-and-white Cessna 180 in Reno against the lightest aircraft we had, Hal Stockman’s Rans S-7,” Quinn says. “So, you have a 650-pound Rans going against a 1,700-pound 180, and they’re within a half a second [of each other].”

The course this year was a bit on the rough side, but it didn’t matter because no results were posted in the demonstration race. Quinn says the field will be graded for next year, and Telling looks forward to an expanded STOL Class next year with a purse and trophies for the winners. The National Championship Air Races in Reno are alive and well, and STOL Drag is another exciting draw that, with its terrific social media following, is likely to invigorate a younger generation of aviation enthusiasts.

This story originally published in the December 2019 issue of Flying Magazine

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