Aircraft model
FLIGHT DESIGN GMBH CTLS
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The CTLS is the developed CTSW, stretched slightly with a longer fuselage and revised tail to address the earlier aircraft's short-coupled handling, plus a better interior and improved landing gear. It is the version most flight schools bought and it is more forgiving to land than the CTSW.
Performance is essentially unchanged — 115 knots on four and a half gallons an hour, which remains the best efficiency in this survey — with slightly less useful load because of the added structure. The ballistic airframe parachute is standard and needs periodic repacking. Rotax maintenance is calendar-based as well as hours-based and requires a trained mechanic, which not every field has. Composite repair is specialist work. Flight Design's 2016 insolvency means factory support now runs through a successor company, which is worth checking before buying.
Compare with…
Put FLIGHT DESIGN GMBH CTLS side by side with up to two other models.
- FLIGHT DESIGN GMBH CTLS
What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Rotax 912ULS |
| Horsepower | 100 hp |
| Fuel | mogas-approved |
| Certification basis | LSA |
| Production start | 2008 |
| Production end | 2016 |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 115 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 700 nm |
| Service ceiling | 13,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,000 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 39 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,000 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 900 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 620 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 416 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,320 lb |
| Empty weight | 700 lb |
| Usable fuel | 34 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 5.6 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $85,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $150,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $18,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $28,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 175 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 142 |
| Median year built | 2010.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 17 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 3 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 119.721 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 84.512 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 48 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 33.83 |
| Airworthiness directives | 1 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 142 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 142 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 142 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 0.4 of 101 |
| Severity | 3.2 of 102 |
| Access | 7.7 of 103 |
| Support | 7 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 9 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 27.3 out of 506 |
These record scores treat FLIGHT DESIGN GMBH CTLS as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 9 aircraft registered under FLIGHT DESIGN GENERAL AVN GMBH. Prices are not combined.
- Accident record: class median 29.1 · 174 models in class.
- Severity: class median 9.09.
- Access: class median 974.
- Support: class median 81.
- Liquidity: class median 20.47.
- 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.