Skiliar was a Colonel in the USAF and an aeronautical engineer and test pilot. He designed the Aqua Glider to be towed behind a boat, taking off from the water, releasing the tow rope and then gliding to a landing on the water.
The Aqua Glider is made from wood and covered with doped aircraft fabric. The landing gear is fixed and consists of a pair of water skis. The aircraft uses spoilers instead of ailerons for roll control and features an all-flying tail and a trim system. The biplane wing employs a NACA 4412 airfoil.
The aircraft is towed behind a ski tow boat, lifting off at 350NaN0 and climbing to about 2000NaN0, depending on the length of the tow rope used. The aircraft does not stall, but enters a nose-high mushing condition with a slow rate of descent.
Plans were sold for US$25 by Corben Development Corporation of Venice, Florida and completed aircraft cost about US$800 in materials in 1983.
Skiliar made several modifications to the design, experimenting with landing gear for land use made from automobile leaf springs. He also created a powered version with two McCulloch MC-70 go-cart engines mounted in the aft fuselage behind the wing spar, with the propeller above the engines on a streamlined pylon that housed the drive chains. The powered version was not successful and was returned to glider configuration.
By 1983 the prototype had flown over a thousand flights and plans had been widely sold in the United States and many other countries.