The Sonex is a two-seat aluminum aircraft designed by John Monnett and sold in kit form by Sonex Aircraft. Like most of John’s designs, the aircraft is aerobatic, easy to build and fun to fly. Today a complete Sonex kit costs $27,670. That includes an 80 hp Aero Vee engine kit. There are two other powerplant options: the 80 hp Jabiru and the 120 hp Jabiru.
When Aaron Knight wrote out a check for his Sonex kit in the taildragger configuration (it can also be ordered as a trike), he opted for the 120 hp Jabiru. He also went for a complete glass panel. In the end, he estimates his project came in just over $50,000. That’s considerably less than any new, two-seat factory-built aircraft out there including the LSAs and that’s what convinced him to build his own. “The used airplanes out there didn’t have exciting features or performance,” he said. “I realized that some of the homebuilt designs offered wonderful benefits at a fraction of the cost if you were willing to build it, so I finally decided that was what I had to do.”
