Sonex Aircraft has presented its first high-wing design, expanding its range with a new single-engine, piston-powered configuration.
The company debuted the design on its website on Tuesday. Flying spoke with Sonex Aerospace CEO Mark Schaible about the news.
“We’ve been working hard to finish the two-seat jet—it’s a natural evolution for us, with niche demand,” said Schaible. “Now we’re going into a bigger market with the high-wing design,” and planning to deliver it with a quick-build kit.
The high-wing design has been Schaible’s “pet project” for about five years.
“We’ve known for a long time what it’s going to look like. And we have 20-plus years of bringing aircraft to market,” he said.
The company is getting a pretty strong signal in terms of demand on its current product line, particularly with the quick-build kits it offers for all models. In fact, Sonex is aggressively looking for folks to join its workforce, particularly in the shop.
The high-wing design will accommodate most of the engines offered now. Schaible says it’s possible that the normally aspirated AeroVee won’t provide enough climb performance, but that remains to be seen in testing.
Sonex also announced that it will provide the featured aircraft—a Waiex B—for EAA AirVenture 2022′s “One Week Wonder” program, in which hundreds of volunteers cooperate to complete an airframe within the week of the show.
