Best Off Skyranger
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 Skyranger is a French-designed two-seat high-wing kit of 1990, a bolted aluminium-tube structure under pre-sewn Dacron covering with tricycle gear and a Rotax 582 or 912, 551 lb empty and 1,235 lb gross, with Jane's quoting 81 knots maximum cruise, a 35-knot stall and 900 fpm; the Swift is the shorter-span US light-sport version.
A Skyranger is bought as a cheap, quick-to-build, easy-to-fly two-seater with ultralight manners, and it is exactly that: a 75-knot aeroplane with a 13-gallon tank, a fabric envelope rather than doped fabric, and handling that forgives students. The fabric envelope and the aluminium tubing have finite lives in sun and weather, so hangarage and the covering's age matter more than hours; a two-stroke 582 example needs an owner who understands two-stroke maintenance, while a 912 example is heavier and far longer-lived. Kit built, so the assembly quality and the aircraft's own weight-and-balance are what count, and the Vfun, V-Max and Swift differ in fin and span. The owner may maintain an amateur-built example and the condition inspection needs an A&P or the repairman; a factory-built Swift S-LSA follows LSA rules.
Variants of the Best Off Skyranger
- Skyranger · 1990 · 90 active · this page
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What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Rotax 912 UL (80 hp; 582, 912 ULS, Jabiru 2200, HKS 700E options) |
| Horsepower | 80 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1990 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise (75 % power) | 81 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range (75 %, standard fuel, 30-min reserve) | — |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | 900 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 35 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 684 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,235 lb |
| Empty weight | 551 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 | 119 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 90 |
| Median year built | 2005 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 5 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 55.56 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 55.56 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 11 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 12.22 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 1 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 90 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 90 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 90 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 2.1 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 | 8.7 of 103 |
| Support | 5.5 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 1.6 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 22.1 out of 506 |
- 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