Stolp Starduster Starduster Too SA-300
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 Starduster Too SA-300 is Lou Stolp's 1960s two-seat open-cockpit sport biplane, a steel-tube-and-fabric fuselage with wooden wings of 24 ft span, plans-built and stressed to plus and minus 6 g for basic aerobatics; Aircraft Spruce now holds the plans. With a 180 hp Lycoming O-360 it cruises at about 116 knots, stalls at 49 and climbs at 1,500 fpm on a 1,704 lb gross weight.
It is the big friendly biplane of the homebuilt world, with room for a passenger and luggage where a Pitts has neither, and it is also a 1960s plans design that every builder interpreted: engines from 160 to 300 hp, canopies, wing tanks or not, and empty weights that range by hundreds of pounds, so the aircraft's own weight-and-balance and the quality of its woodwork and welding - which an inspector must look at - matter far more than the type figures. Wooden wings and fabric want a hangar and periodic recover. It is a tailwheel aeroplane with limited forward view on the ground and insurers will want a biplane checkout. Flying examples read asked $35,000-65,000, which buys a lot of aeroplane; condition inspections need an A&P, not an IA.
Variants of the Stolp Starduster Too SA-300
- Starduster Too SA-300 · 1965 · 237 active · this page
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TAILFAX SCORE
Among 1–2 seat pistons (319 models)
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What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tailwheel |
| Engines | — |
| Engine | Lycoming O-360 (reference; 160-300 hp fitted) |
| Horsepower | 180 hp |
| Fuel | — |
| Certification basis | amateur-built |
| Production start | 1965 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 116 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | — |
| Service ceiling | 23,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,500 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 49 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 704 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,704 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,000 lb |
| Usable fuel | — |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $35,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $65,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 504 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 237 |
| Median year built | 1979 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 10 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 42.191 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 37.972 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 43 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 18.143 |
| 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 237 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 237 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 237 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 4.8 of 101 |
| Severity | 8.5 of 102 |
| Access | 2.7 of 103 |
| Support | 8.3 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 4.1 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 28.4 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 36.69 · 319 models in class.
- Severity: class median 13.33.
- Access: class median 1,000.
- Support: class median 79.
- Liquidity: class median 19.91.
- 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