Kitplanes

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After a severe accident, Justin Falls persevered to achieve his dream to fly.

Building a kit airplane may be easier and less expensive than you think.

No other airplane I’ve flown can do what the SuperSTOL can. STOL, as you know, stands for “short takeoff and landing.” SuperSTOL, then, implies really short takeoffs and landings, made possible by the airplane’s huge 45-degree fowler flaps and self-deploying leading-edge slats, designs borrowed from the Helio Courier bush plane and scaled to fit this diminutive two-seat experimental amateur-built kitplane.

Let’s get this straight from the beginning: The Van’s Aircraft RV-14A is not an off-the-shelf airplane. Every one of them out in the wild is custom-built. Even its recommended 210 hp Lycoming Thunderbolt XIO-390 engine is hand-assembled, polished and ported by a select team of Lycoming employees. And the “A” denotes a nosewheel version, with […]

Austin, Texas-based Bearhawk Aircraft, a company known for creating STOL kit airplanes, earlier this week announced two company milestones. In one, a Bearhawk Patrol became the first of the company’s airplanes completed in Brazil to take flight, launching from Lontras, Santa Catarina, Brazil. In another, a New Zealand man for the second time took top […]

The three-brother team of Keegan, River, and Ryley Karl came up with the idea to develop a better composite kitplane several years ago while helping Ryley to construct a Cozy Mark IV kit airplane shortly after graduation from college. All three have degrees in the fields of aerospace, electrical or mechanical engineering, and they were […]