Kitfox Model I
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 Kitfox Model I is the original 1984 Kitfox, Dan Denney's development of the Avid Flyer into a folding-wing two-seat fabric kit with a radial-style cowl and a 64 hp two-stroke Rotax 532; 257 kits were produced before the wider Model II of 1989.
A Model I is the earliest and lightest Kitfox and the one with the least published data, so a buyer is assessing a forty-year-old homebuilt entirely on its own records: the weight-and-balance, the two-stroke engine's history (the 532 is long out of production and most have been re-engined with a 582), and the condition of welded tubing, wood or aluminium wing structure and fabric that have had four decades to age. It is a very light, slow aeroplane that is honest in handling and quick to trailer, and it has little useful load for two people. The owner may maintain it and the condition inspection needs an A&P or the repairman certificate; expect to source parts from the owner community rather than the factory.
Variants of the Kitfox
- Kitfox Model I · 1984 · 34 active · this page
- Kitfox Model II · 1989 · 82 active
- Kitfox Model IV (4-1200 / Classic IV figures) · 1991 · 370 active
- Kitfox Series 5 · 1994 · 111 active
- Kitfox Series 6 · 2000 · 21 active
- Kitfox Light Sport · 2004 · 30 active
- Kitfox Series 7 Super Sport · 2004 · 236 active
- Kitfox Model III · 115 active
Also consider
TAILFAX SCORE
Partial: 15.9 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)
Among 1–2 seat pistons (321 models)
Compare with…
Put Kitfox Model I side by side with up to three other models.
- Kitfox Model I
Open Kitfox Model I in Compare
Watch this model
One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tailwheel |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Rotax 532 (64 hp standard; 582 fitted) |
| Horsepower | 64 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1984 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | — |
|---|---|
| Range | — |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | — |
| Stall speed (Vso) | — |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | — |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | — |
| Empty weight | — |
| 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 | 66 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 34 |
| Median year built | 1994 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 3 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 88.24 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 88.24 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 7 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 20.59 · 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 34 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 34 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 34 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 7.9 of 103 |
| Support | 2.7 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 5.3 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | Partial: 15.9 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 7 · scores Sep 30