Steen Aero Lab Skybolt
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 Steen Skybolt is Lamar Steen's 1970 two-seat aerobatic biplane, plans-built from a steel-tube fuselage and wooden wings of 24 ft span, stressed to +6/-4.5 g and designed for 180-350 hp. Steen's sheet gives 150-180 mph cruise, a 55-60 mph stall and a 1,800 lb gross with an empty weight anywhere from 980 to 1,280 lb depending on how it was built.
The Skybolt is the Pitts S-2's homebuilt cousin with a wider range of engines and a bigger spread of outcomes: a 160 hp example and a 300 hp IO-540 example are both Skybolts and the register cannot tell them apart, nor can this row, so the engine, propeller, empty weight and the builder's workmanship - all in the aircraft's own documents - are what a buyer is actually pricing. Steen Aero Lab still sells plans and components, which keeps the type supportable. Wooden wings and fabric want a hangar; a biplane tailwheel checkout and acro-capable insurance are the entry requirements. Asking prices read ran from $35,000 for a 160 hp aircraft to $125,000 for a show-standard IO-540 one, which is the span of the design itself. Condition inspections need an A&P rather than an IA.
Variants of the Steen Skybolt
- Skybolt · 1970 · 198 active · this page
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TAILFAX SCORE
Among 1–2 seat pistons (321 models)
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What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tailwheel |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Lycoming IO-360 / IO-540 (180-350 hp) |
| Horsepower | 260 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1970 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 143 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | — |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | — |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 50 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 670 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,800 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,130 lb |
| Usable fuel | — |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $35,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $125,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 405 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 198 |
| Median year built | 1983 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 8 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 2 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 40.41 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 30.32 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 26 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 13.133 |
| Airworthiness directives | 16 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 198 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 198 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 198 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 2.8 of 10 · scored on 21 years of events (fewer than 10 in the last 10)1 |
| Severity | 1.1 of 10 · scored on 21 years of events (fewer than 10 in the last 10)2 |
| Access | 1.8 of 103 |
| Support | 7.9 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 2 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 15.6 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 6 · scores Sep 30