Avid Flyer (Mk IV STOL figures)
These figures describe a typical build. Each aircraft of this design was built by its owner, and the one you are looking at may differ.
The Avid Flyer is Dean Wilson's folding-wing two-seat kit of 1983, a fabric-covered steel-tube taildragger that was the direct ancestor of the Kitfox, built with STOL or Speedwing wings and as the Mk IV, Heavy Hauler, Aerobat and Magnum until the original company failed in the late 1990s and its successors came and went. The Mk IV STOL with a 65 hp Rotax 582 cruises at about 80 knots, stalls at 28 knots, climbs at 1,000 fpm and carries 640 lb of useful load at an 1,151 lb gross weight.
The registry does not distinguish the variants, and they are different aircraft — the Speedwing is six feet shorter in span, faster and lands faster; the early Flyers carried lighter engines; the Magnum is a bigger airframe built for 115 to 180 hp Lycomings at a 1,750 lb gross — so the first task is to establish which wing, which engine and which gross weight the specific aircraft was built with, and the figures here describe one configuration only. The two-stroke Rotax 582 has a 300-hour overhaul interval with a teardown at 150, needs careful jetting and cooling-system attention, and the Avid's inverted engine mount has shown a higher two-stroke failure rate than the Kitfox's upright one; an aircraft that has sat is an engine rebuild. Fabric age and the welded steel cage are the airframe inspection priorities. Light, slow and with a low stall, it is a fine field-and-float aeroplane and a poor one in wind. Factory support has been intermittent for twenty-five years; parts and knowledge come mostly from owners. The owner may maintain it and an A&P or builder-repairman signs the annual condition inspection.
Variants of the Avid Flyer
- Avid Flyer (Mk IV STOL figures) · 1983 · 124 active · this page
Also consider
- Great Lakes 2T-1APartial 5.6/30 · 2 seats · 77 kt
- Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3Partial 8.6/30 · 2 seats · 80 kt
- Piper PA-18AS-150No overall score · 2 seats · 88 kt
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What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tailwheel |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Rotax 582 |
| Horsepower | 65 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1983 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 80 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 295 nm |
| Service ceiling | 16,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,000 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 28 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 640 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,151 lb |
| Empty weight | 511 lb |
| Usable fuel | — |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | — |
|---|---|
| Price, high | — |
| Prices as of | — |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 365 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 124 |
| Median year built | 1991.5 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 4 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 32.261 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 32.262 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 24 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 19.353 |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 124 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 124 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 124 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 1.9 of 10 · scored on 21 years of events (fewer than 10 in the last 10)1 |
| Severity | 4.2 of 10 · scored on 21 years of events (fewer than 10 in the last 10)2 |
| Access | 9.6 of 103 |
| Support | 6 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 4.6 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 26.3 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 31.56 · 197 models in class.
- Severity: class median 10.
- Access: class median 1,000.75.
- Support: class median 89.
- Liquidity: class median 19.74.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 6 · scores Sep 30