At Sun N Fun in 1984 I had the pleasure to interview an aircraft
designer and manufacturer called Dan Denney. He was at the show with his
new Kitfox. Dan and his Kitfox became one of the leaders in light aircraft
manufacturing in the world. Dan has since sold the factory and design to
move on to other things. The factory continues to build the Kitfox in a
number of models. This year they introduced their latest design the Kitfox
Lite squared. The Kitfox Lite squared is being introduced primarily as
an ultralight trainer, and to fit into the new sport pilot program.
According the factory "about 2 months before Sun N Fun the decision
was made to offer the Kitfox Lite in a trike configuration."
"The reason for this was that research has shown that a lot of pilots
are intimidate by tail draggers add to this that most conventional
training facilities are training on tri-cycle gear style aircraft."
Another consideration was "the additional cost of insuring tail
dragger aircraft." "Buy coming out with a tri-cycle geared
aircraft we have been able to get around the sales objections of a tail
wheeled aircraft" Until the Sport Pilot Program is accepted the
Lite squared will be only offered as a ready to fly aircraft to ultralight
flight training schools, but it is also available to the schools in kit
form, or can also be built and flown under the experimental category. "In
the case of the Light Squared we have it down to a 400 hour build
time" this is possible because"we have prebuilt the frame, and
wings, and rigged the wings to airframe, leaving you with simple nut and
bolt construction to finish off the airplane." "Once up and
flying the Light equipped with a 503 Rotax engine, will give you between a
500 and 700 per minute climb rate, cruise at 80 mph." With a 912
Rotax engine the performance figures for climb will nearly double and
cruise will increase to over 100 mph." The Lite Squared like all
Kitfox models has folding wings for quick and easy storage. For short
trips the wings can be folded and the craft pulled along the highway on
it's own gear, using a special tow bar. There are also a number of
trailers available specifically designed to allow transport of a 'wing
folded Kitfox." For more information contact:
SkyStar Aircraft Corporation
3901 Aviation Way
Caldwell, ID 83687
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