Ace Aircraft Baby Ace Model D
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 Baby Ace is Orland Corben's single-seat parasol of 1929, revived by Paul Poberezny as the Model D in the 1950s and the plans-built aeroplane on which the EAA homebuilding movement was founded: steel tube, wood and fabric, 575 lb empty, 950 lb gross, a 65 hp Continental and figures of 100 mph cruise, a 35 mph stall and 350 miles.
A Baby Ace is about as cheap as a flying aeroplane gets and about as simple: an A-65, no electrics in most, and a structure a competent A&P can read in an afternoon, with the fabric, the wooden wing spars and ribs and the welded cabane and gear fittings being the whole inspection. It is a 75-knot open-cockpit single-seater with 375 lb of useful load, so it is a local-flying machine for a pilot who already has tailwheel skills, there being no two-seat Baby Ace to learn in. Many were built from the 1950s plans with Luscombe or Cub parts, so every example is its own design study and its weight-and-balance is the only figure to trust. The owner may maintain it and the condition inspection needs an A&P or the repairman certificate; plans are still sold by Acro Sport Inc.
Variants of the Corben Baby Ace
- Baby Ace Model D · 77 active · this page
Also consider
TAILFAX SCORE
Partial: 17.4 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)
Among 1–2 seat pistons (321 models)
Compare with…
Put Ace Aircraft Baby Ace Model D side by side with up to three other models.
- Ace Aircraft Baby Ace Model D
Open Ace Aircraft Baby Ace Model D in Compare
Watch this model
One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tailwheel |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Continental A65 (most common; A80, C85 and others fitted) |
| Horsepower | 65 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | — |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 87 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 304 nm |
| Service ceiling | 16,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,200 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 30 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 375 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 950 lb |
| Empty weight | 575 lb |
| Usable fuel | — |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $12,500 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $13,500 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 143 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 77 |
| Median year built | 1979 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 12.99 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 12.99 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 18 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 23.38 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 77 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 77 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 77 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 5.6 of 103 |
| Support | 5 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 6.8 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | Partial: 17.4 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)6 |
- 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 6 · scores Sep 30