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Several years ago a new company came to
Oshkosh with a brand new design - the Skyraider by Flying K Enterprises.
At that time I did an interview with Stace Schrader about his craft that
looked a lot like a single place version of the venerable Kitfox.
Stace is no longer with Flying K - he and his father have started a new
company called "Rocky Mountain Wings, LLC and are now supplying the
light plane market with a new design called the Ridge Runner.
Over the past 12 years Stace has worked
for Avid Aircraft, Kitfox, and himself building kit planes. He credits
his success to Dan Denny, Dean Wilson, and Phil Read - and with the
knowledge and experience developed from them has now gone out, and with
his father has started "Rocky Mountain Wings, LLC."
The Ridge Runner will follow the lines
of the "Skyraider" in that it will be a single place tail
dragger, featuring a 4130 chrome-moly powder coated steel airframe, with
metal leading and trailing edge spars and wood ribs, covered in 1.7 oz
fabric. It will use standard stick and rudder controls, have folding
wings, and be trailerable for short distances.
A completed plane in the ultralight
configuration should take about 300 hours to build, come in at 250 lbs
with a gross weight of just over 500 lbs. The experimental version will
take about the same time to build but
will have a gross weight of just over 900 lbs. When equipped with the
503 Rotax the Ridge Runner should cruise at 85 mph with a climb rate of
over 1400 feet per minute. Initial pricing at the show was pegged at
between $8,000 and $9,000.
For more information contact:
Rocky Mountain Wings LLC
PO Box 1188 Nampa ID 83653-1188 |
