Mary Jones
Jim Raeder
LoPresti Swift Fury
Sneddon M7
Phil Weston
Vinyl-wrapped Pulsar
engine, Sensenich ground-adjustable propeller, and
components to install. This is the last of six kits needed
to complete the aircraft and establishes the cost of a
complete RV- 12 kit, including avionics, at $59,335.
www.VansAircraft.com
LoPresti Swift Fury
LoPresti Aircraft displayed the Swift Fury and offered
the first 60 production aircraft for sale. The Roy LoPresti
design features a 48-inch-wide cabin with loads
of legroom and boasts a 10. 5 gph fuel burn with its
Lycoming IO-360-A1B powerplant at 75 percent power.
With lots of LoPresti attention to detail, including faired
gear doors and a retractable tail wheel, the Fury has a
cruise speed of 215 mph. It sports a useful load of 850
pounds. www.LoPrestiFury.com
Furio
Falcomposite displayed its composite look-alike to the
classic all-wood Falco homebuilt. Called the Furio, it
will be distributed in the United States by Scion Aircraft
of Fort Collins, Colorado. With fewer than 30 structural
aircraft components, assembly should be quick, with no
Bear 360
specials tools required. Performance is projected at a 200
mph cruise, and the aircraft will be fully aerobatic. www.
ScionAviation.com
Bear 360
From Bear Aircraft Sales came the Bear 360, an all-metal
two-seat tandem aircraft with a 360-hp M14P engine.
Resembling the Grumman F8F Bearcat, the Bear 360
was designed by Russian Sergey Yakovlev, with guidance
from Reno racer Skip Holms. Rated to 6g’s, the aircraft
is expected to be sold in the experimental exhibition
category. www.BearAircraft.com
Ravin 500
The Ravin 500 is a four-place composite airplane kit
offered by Ravin Aircraft of Llano, Texas. The conventional-looking, retractable-gear airplane sports impressive
cruise specs, appealing aesthetics, and a somewhat
familiar profile. It looks more than a little like a Piper
Comanche. Does it fly like one? Check out Ed Kolano’s
flying qualities report in an upcoming issue. www.
RavinAir.com
Jay Tolbert
Jim Raeder
Snedden M7
Hands down, the Snedden M7 was the talk of the
Ultralight/Lightplane area at AirVenture 2009. Designed,
built, and flown by Andrew Snedden, the four-wheel
vehicle featured an aluminum tube frame covered with
fabric attached via black zip ties (tie wraps), leading
many to nickname the machine “Zippy.” Adding to the
M7’s unusualness was its inverted V-tail that acts as both
a rudder and elevator.
Snedden definitely earns the honor of having the
most unusual airplane on the field…well, other than
WhiteKnightTwo, perhaps…and was recognized with
the reserve grand champion ultralight award. More
coming on this machine in an upcoming issue of EAA
Sport Pilot. www.SneddenM7.com
Vinyl-Wrapped Airplane
Another unusual idea—wrapping your aircraft in vinyl
rather than painting it—was displayed by Alex Kozloff
on his Pulsar. After reading about new vinyl appliqué
technologies for creating graphic designs on airplanes,
he decided to try that as a finish instead of paint. He
says the cost was about 10 percent less than a paint
job, was done in one-tenth the time, weighs about half
as much, is eco-friendly, is more impact resistant, and
offers unlimited graphic options. Unless one examined
the plane closely, the sleek taildragger appeared to
have an intricate hand-painted and air-brushed graphic
scheme, a scheme that Kozloff estimated would have
cost $25,000 to $30,000 to apply. We’ll check back
with Kozloff in a few months to see how the covering is
handling wind and weather.
David Berkley, Jeffrey Berlin, Budd Davisson, Jeffrey
Decker, Rose Dorcey, Mary Jones, Ed Kolano, Peter Lert,
Kelly Nelson, Kent Misegades, Lynne Wainfan, and
George Wilhelmsen contributed to this report.
