The Pietenpol Aerial was conceived as a biplane adaptation of the Pietenpol Air Camper parasol wing homebuilt design. The design work was completed in 1974 and the first example flown in 1977, with the plans as supplemental drawings to the Aircamper plans. The resulting aircraft features a biplane layout, two separate tandem open cockpits with individual windshields, fixed conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.
The aircraft is made from a combination of wood and welded steel tubing, all covered in doped aircraft fabric. Its 29.51NaN1 span wing has four ailerons and has a combined wing area of 250square feet. The lower wing is removable, allowing the aircraft to fly as an Aircamper parasol monoplane. The cabin width is 24inches. The acceptable power range is 85to and the standard engine used is the 1250NaN0 Continental O-240 powerplant.
The aircraft has a typical empty weight of 700lb and a gross weight of 1300lb, giving a useful load of 600lb. With full fuel of the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage is 450lb.
The designers estimated the construction time from the supplied plans as 1200 hours.
Flight testing showed that the aircraft has shorter take-off and landing distances that the standard Aircamper, a lower stall speed and better stability in turbulence. The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a 1250NaN0 engine is 2000NaN0 and the landing roll is 4000NaN0.
By 1998 the company reported that 400 sets of plans had been sold.
In February 2014 one example was registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration.[2]