Uncommonly Thrifty Four-Seater May Change A Significant Light Aircraft Market Dynamic

ANN’s annual report on the best values in the SportPlane market remains one of our most interesting... and difficult... efforts of the year -- especially in a year where a number of aircraft have really started hitting their stride.

While SportPlane design activity is not as prolific as it once was, the quality of that activity continues to impress... more and more each year... with recent offerings like the Pipistrel Alpha Electro, the updated Kitfox S7 Speedster, and RANS S-21 Outbound (among others) drawing rave reviews and lots of interest from the sport flying community.

While the announcement of our Master List of over a dozen recommended SportPlanes is still a few weeks off, one new aircraft has easily risen to the top of the list reserved for NEW offerings in the VERY competitive sport aviation landscape.

This year; the best new SportPlane is The Airplane Factory’s Rotax 915-powered Sling TSi. A reasonably aggressive test flight at the close of AirVenture 2018, proved that this four place kit aircraft is more than a  pretty face, while the 141HP Rotax drove the bird along quite handily between 2500-and 4500 AGL at rough cruise speeds exceeding 135-140 knots. And while our test bird had all but a handful of hours on it at the time, the experience already showed off enhanced efforts in stability and control, solid cockpit ergonomics, and delightful handling that made this trike-geared low-winger a serious ball to fly.

Most important, though, the Sling TSi is a four seater that offers unparalleled operating and ownership economics that maximizes one’s hard-earned flight bucks... and as a result, has earned our recommendation as 2018’s Best New SportPlane. More info and and a more extensive test flight analysis to follow.

FMI: http://www.airplanefactory.com/