Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly is an Australian two-seat tandem hang-glider tug designed by Bob Bailey and in production since 1990, built in the United States as a light-sport aircraft by Pitman Air (now Bailey Moyes Dragonfly of Dunnellon, Florida), with over 150 delivered. It is a strut-braced high-wing of 34 ft span with full-span Junkers flaperons, a Rotax 582 of 64 hp or a 912 of 80-100 hp, a 1,200 lb gross weight and a 6-gallon tank; the handbook quotes a 65 mph cruise, a 40 mph stall at gross, 350 fpm at gross on the 582 (800 on the 912ULS) and 50-78 statute miles of range.
This is a tow tractor, not a touring aeroplane: it climbs steeply at 35-45 mph, stalls below 40, cruises at 65 and carries less than six gallons, so a buyer wants it for towing hang gliders, agricultural spraying in Rancher form, or slow low flying over a ranch, and for nothing else. Most US examples are E-LSA kits at the 1,200 lb light-sport weight (earlier aircraft 1,080 lb), a few are factory-built S-LSA and must be maintained to the Pitman Air manuals by an A&P or LSA repairman, and the type carries factory safety directives on the wing and towing gear that an owner should hold. Weight-and-balance is unusually tight: the handbook requires a front-seat pilot of at least 143 lb (582) or 187 lb (912) without ballast, and solo flight is from the front seat only. The two-stroke 582 needs oil mixing and frequent decarbonising; the 912 costs more and tows harder. Towing for hire needs the S-LSA version and a sport-pilot certificate or better with the proper endorsements. No used asking price could be found; the factory's 2024 list runs from $59,995 for a 582 kit to $99,995 for a 912ULS S-LSA.
Variants of the Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly
- Dragonfly · 1990 · 18 active · this page
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What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tailwheel |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Rotax 582UL (64 hp; Rotax 912UL 80 hp, 912ULS 99 hp, 914 and 915 iS options) |
| Horsepower | 64 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | LSA |
| Production start | 1990 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise (75 % power) | 56 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range (75 %, standard fuel, 30-min reserve) | 43 nm |
| Service ceiling | 15,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 350 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 35 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 686 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,200 lb |
| Empty weight | 514 lb |
| Usable fuel | 5.9 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 4 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $79,995 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $99,995 |
| Prices as of | 2024 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 19 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 18 |
| Median year built | 2007 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 4 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | — |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | — |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 0 |
| Transfers per 100 active | — |
| Airworthiness directives | 1 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | none |
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 0.2 of 103 |
| Support | 1.9 of 104 |
| Liquidity | —5 |
- Accident record: class median 36.69 · 321 models in class.
- Severity: class median 13.04.
- Access: class median 1,000.
- Support: class median 77.5.
- Liquidity: class median 20.
- 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 8 · scores Sep 30