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Aircraft buyer's guide


Rev. 80 — page content last changed
26 December 2009
  

Content

Aircraft acquisition options

The ultralight aviation community encompasses:
  • The grassroots scratchbuilders who design, fabricate and fly their own truly experimental aircraft or build from — or adapt — commercially supplied plans.

  • The kitbuilders who partially fabricate and assemble their own aircraft from a commercially supplied, and RA-Aus accepted, aircraft component kit.

    Building and operating an aircraft as an RA-Aus amateur built (CAO 95.55 para 1.5) utilising a local or imported kit is totally the responsibility of the amateur builder not RA-Aus or the kit supplier or the supplier of any other component or material. The kits are not 'approved' by CASA or RA-Aus — they are 'accepted' if considered to be eligible for amateur building under the major portion rule. Prospective kit purchasers must do all the research necessary to ensure they are getting both what they need and value for money. It may not be wise for an inexperienced homebuilder to undertake construction of a newly released type or variant until a reasonable number of that model have been completed by others and flying.

  • Those who prefer to purchase a new certificated, commercially built aircraft.

  • And those many enthusiasts who choose to buy a pre-owned aircraft, whether factory or homebuilt. Such aircraft are advertised for sale in the member's market.
More information about building your own design aircraft, building from plans or from a parts kit can be found in 'Homebuilts — building your own'. The sources for ultralight aircraft plans are not provided in this web service except to note that the plans for John Corby's internationally popular Starlet are available from jcorby@tpg.com.au. A general listing of kit and plan aircraft can be found on the homebuilt.org site.

Only certificated factory-built aeroplanes can be used for flight training except that "if a person has wholly built or assembled an aeroplane to which (CAO 95.55) applies, or a group of persons has wholly built or assembled such an aeroplane, then, that person, or each of those persons, may use the aeroplane for their personal flying training". Of course, such training is controlled by a Chief Flying Instructor. This privilege does not pass to subsequent owners of the aircraft.

Commercially supplied aircraft and aircraft kit categories

The listings in the following sections (referenced to paragraphs in subsection 1 of CAO 95.55) show factory-built aircraft and factory-supplied aircraft kits currently being manufactured or distributed in Australia and issued with an Acceptance Certificate (or an Eligibility Certificate if a kit aircraft) for registration by Recreational Aviation Australia Incorporated. Links are provided to the Australian manufacturer's or distributor's website — if such has been advised to this author. Some Australian manufacturers and distributors — who choose to provide the required performance and other data — maintain a standard page within this web service; that page also contains a link to information in the manufacturer's or distributor's website, if such exists.

Category headings:
  • Australian factory-built aircraft — aircraft from Australian manufacturers who currently build CASA certificated 'fly-away' aircraft for local and international markets and accepted for RA-Aus registration within the various categories shown.

  • Imported factory-built aircraft — aircraft purchasable from Australian companies who distribute imported, overseas certificated, factory-built 'fly-away' aircraft, accepted for RA-Aus registration under CAO 95.55 paragraphs 1.6 and 1.8.

    (For such aircraft RA-Aus will only accept the aircraft for registration at an operating MTOW which is the lowest of the RA-Aus operating standard MTOW, design MTOW or the Type Certificate MTOW set by an overseas national civil aviation authority. Thus the RA-Aus accepted MTOW for such aircraft is often 450 or 472.5 kg — much less than the normal CAO 95.55 para 1.6 class MTOW of 544 kg or the CAO 95.55 para 1.8 class MTOW of 600 kg

    Most of the imported aircraft built from composite materials have an empty weight between 260 kg and 300 kg with a fuel capacity between 45 kg and 90 kg This has the effect of considerably reducing the aircraft's legal payload such that, with full fuel and a pilot and passenger each of the average 77 kg weight, the operating MTOW will be exceeded. Such RA-Aus specific acceptance information is unlikely to appear in an overseas manufacturer's website. If an aircraft is only accepted by RA-Aus at a MTOW less than the generic 544 kg or 600 kg the accepted MTOW is shown.)

  • Australian kit aircraft — aircraft kits for amateur builders from Australian manufacturers who produce for local and international markets and accepted for RA-Aus registration within the various categories shown. Note that a kit manufacturer may also manufacture the aircraft as a certificated 'fly-away'.

  • Imported kit aircraft — aircraft kits for amateur builders from Australian companies who distribute imported ultralight kits, accepted by RA-Aus under CAO95.55 paragraph 1.5 — RA-Aus Amateur-built ultralight or 'light sport aircraft' accepted under paragraph 1.9.

Please note: each off-site selected link in the following listing will open in a new browser window.

Australian factory-built aircraft

CAO95.32 powered 'chutes & weight-shift controlled aircraft 32–xxxx registration CAO95.55 para 1.3 55–xxxx registration CAO95.55 para 1.4 25–xxxx registration
[340 kg MTOW single place or 450 kg two-place unless noted otherwise]
CAO95.55 para 1.6 24–xxxx registration
[544 kg MTOW for landplanes unless noted otherwise]
CAO95.55 para 1.8 'light sport aircraft' category 24–xxxx registration.
[600 kg for landplanes MTOW unless noted otherwise]

Imported factory-built aircraft

CAO95.32 weight-shift controlled aircraft 32–xxxx registration CAO95.55 para 1.6 24–xxxx registration
[544 kg MTOW unless noted otherwise]
CAO95.55 para 1.8 'light sport aircraft' category 24–xxxx registration.
[600 kg MTOW for landplanes unless noted otherwise]

Australian kit aircraft

CAO95.10 single-seat 10–xxxx registration CAO95.55 para 1.5 RA-Aus amateur-built category 19–xxxx registration
[544 kg MTOW for landplanes unless noted otherwise]
CAO95.55 paragraph 1.9 'light sport aircraft' category 19–xxxx registration.
MTOW 600 kg unless otherwise stated.

Imported kit aircraft

CAO95.55 para 1.5 RA-Aus amateur-built category 19–xxxx registration.
[544 kg MTOW for landplanes unless noted otherwise]

Note 1: The page in the RA-Aus site for these aircraft also contains a link to the Australian manufacturer's or distributor's website.

Australian-built aircraft engines

Imported aircraft engines

Australian-built propellers





CAUTION: RA-Aus do not warrant that the physical and performance figures stated in the individual company web pages — or our own — are either complete, accurate or even applicable to the particular version of the aircraft accepted by RA-Aus for registration. Manufacturer's or distributor's claims should not be relied upon without making your own enquiries to validate such claims.

As a demonstration of the minimum performance information that a manufacturer/distributor should make available to an enquirer, RA-Aus has collected some data from an aircraft manufacturer and presented it in tabular style on this site; see Sapphire data.

We also strongly recommend you review the following documents before commencing enquiries:

| Take–off distance | Stall speed claims | V–speeds | MTOW |  Load limit factor |

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Links check 26/12/09: lines 119, 194 http://www.silverwing.com.au/ redirected to http://www.foxbat.com.au/2007/ ?