The Liberty 181 was designed as a bushplane for hauling heavy loads into unprepared airstrips. It features a strut-braced high-wing, a four-seat enclosed cabin with doors, fixed conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.
The aircraft is made from mixed metal and composites and features extra large doors for loading bulky items. Its 401NaN1 span wing mounts flaps, has a wing area of 200square feet and is supported by two parallel lift struts per side, with jury struts. The cabin width is 48inches. The acceptable power range is 230to and the standard engine used is the 2300NaN0 Continental O-470 powerplant, with a constant speed propeller. With that engine installed the take-off distance is 200feet and the landing distance is 250feet.
The aircraft has an empty weight of 1890lb and a gross weight of 3200lb, giving a useful load of 1310lb. With full fuel of the payload is 710lb.
Factory supplied options included floats and skis. The manufacturer estimates the construction time from the supplied kit as 2000 hours.
By 1998 the company reported that 7 kits had been sold, with one aircraft flying.
In October 2016 no examples were registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration, although one had been previously registered and exported to Canada. In October 2016 one was registered with Transport Canada, having been built in the US in 1996 and imported in 2008.[2] [3] [4]
