The Wings of Freedom Flitplane is an American single-seat, high-wing, single-engine ultralight aircraft that is available as a kit aircraft or as plans for amateur construction from Wings of Freedom of Hubbard, Ohio.[1] [2] [3] [4]
The Flitplane was designed as a low-cost aircraft with the look of an antique aircraft design for the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles category with its maximum 2540NaN0 empty weight requirement.[5]
In late 2019 the company website had been taken down and it is likely that production had ended.[6]
The Flitplane was designed in 1995 by Ed Fisher who also designed the Skylite ultralight and the Micro-Mong home-built aircraft. The design was acquired by Joe Naylor and Mark W. Klotz who formed Wings of Freedom Aviation Inc. in 1996 to develop the design and market it.[7]
Naylor and Klotz made many changes to the design but retained the antique look of the aircraft and its distinctive large triangular windshield.
The Flitplane's fuselage is fabricated from a welded truss of 4130 steel tubing. The 271NaN1 wings are of aluminum "ladder-type" construction, are strut-braced and utilize jury struts. The fuel tank is integrated into the wing centre-section. The wings and tail are covered in doped aircraft fabric. The engine is mounted in front of the high wing, above the cockpit. The original powerplant was a 350NaN0 Cuyuna 460 engine, with a 400NaN0 Rotax 447 optional. Later engine options added included the 280NaN0 Hirth F-33, the 450NaN0 Zanzottera MZ 201 and the Kawasaki 440 400NaN0 engine.
The conventional landing gear is suspended using fibreglass axles. The tailwheel is steerable. The controls are conventional three-axis and include full-span ailerons. The large, flat-plate triangular windshield protects the pilot from the propeller blast and has distinctive cut-outs for the rudder pedals.
The Flitplane is available as plans, a complete kit, partial kits or as a finished and ready-to-fly aircraft. The company claims that the aircraft can be built from the kit in 100 hours or 500 hours from plans.
