Stoddard-Hamilton GlaStar
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 GlaStar is a two-seat high-wing utility kit from Stoddard-Hamilton, first flown in November 1994 and sold until 2005, with a welded steel-tube cage inside a fibreglass fuselage shell, aluminium wings that fold for trailering, and gear that converts between tricycle and tailwheel. On the 125 hp Continental IO-240 of the prototype it cruised at 131 knots, stalled at 39 knots and carried an 800 lb useful load at 1,900 lb gross.
Few were built with that engine: most carry a Lycoming O-320 of 150–160 hp or an O-360 of 180 hp, some had Subaru conversions since replaced, and the finished aircraft weigh 1,200–1,400 lb empty against a 1,960 lb gross and cruise about 130 knots with an O-320 or 140 with an O-360, which is the first illustration of why the type numbers cannot describe the aircraft for sale. Each builder chose the engine, the gear, floats or wheels, and how much of the useful load disappeared into paint and panel, and the record of that aircraft is the only reliable guide; a pre-buy should show the yoke, tail-reinforcement, fuel-starvation and weld-inspection service bulletins complied with. The strengths are a steel-caged utility structure with short-field ability, docile handling, and a wing that folds, though few owners ever use it. The weakness is the company's history: Stoddard-Hamilton was bankrupt by 1999–2000, its assets passed in 2001 to Glasair Aviation, which replaced the GlaStar with the Sportsman, supplies only the parts the two types share, and has paused and restarted operations since 2020, so support rests on the owners' association's knowledge and a few independent shops rather than a production line. Owner maintenance is permitted, with an A&P signing the annual condition inspection without an IA.
Variants of the Glasair GlaStar
- GlaStar · 1994 · 272 active · this page
Also consider
- Aviat Aircraft A-1C-200Score 29.9/50 · 2 seats · 130 kt
- Piper PA-18-180No overall score · 2 seats · 105 kt
- Varga Aircraft 2150APartial 19.8/30 · 2 seats · 120 kt
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What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Continental IO-240 (Lycoming O-320 160 hp common) |
| Horsepower | 125 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1994 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 131 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | — |
| Service ceiling | 17,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,000 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 39 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 800 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,900 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,100 lb |
| Usable fuel | 33 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $19,900 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | — |
| Prices as of | 1995 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 357 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 272 |
| Median year built | 2004.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 14 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 4 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 51.471 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 51.472 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 56 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 20.593 |
| Airworthiness directives | 10 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 272 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 272 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 272 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 1.7 of 101 |
| Severity | 1.7 of 102 |
| Access | 5.1 of 103 |
| Support | 8.1 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 5.2 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 21.8 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 31.56 · 197 models in class.
- Severity: class median 10.
- Access: class median 1,000.75.
- Support: class median 89.
- Liquidity: class median 19.74.
- 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