The Good News Is... That The SportPlane Industry Has Plenty to Be Proud Of!

We thought it was going to be easier than this... but a flurry of highly educational emails, calls and remarks have made this year’s selection of the best SportPlanes of 2017 a pretty intriguing pursuit. To be honest, due to extensive feedback, it's been a bit more interesting this year, than it has in the past...  

While we’re not quite done with the list, a few undisputed leaders have emerged... The Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey has been a consistent leader in these surveys and our own data/experience/flight tests supports that aggressively...  

Another leader was Kitfox... and for a number of different models though their Oshkosh introduction of the Series 7 Kitfox Speedster resulted in huge interest... and based on our data, as well as extensive and aggressive flights in the previous Speedster, this is another bird that will be a list leader.

A consistent leader has been Sonex Aircraft... for many reasons... both in terms of popularity of the aircraft as well as the company’s customer service record... one of the best we’ve detailed. Further; the Sonex designs fly incredibly well.

Two other companies getting a tremendous response were Van’s, of course, whose RV-12 was just upgraded to become the RV-12iS... and The Aircraft Factory Sling LSA series, which has also garnered HUGE interest in their 4-place, Rotax 914 powered Sling 4--possibly one of the best four place values in the SportPlane segment.

The full list is still under consideration and will be unveiled ASAP--though additional input, comments, and suggestions are always welcome.

FMI: I Have Suggestions For ANN's List of the Best SportPlanes of 2017!