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The J-3 Kitten is a cub inspired US Ultralight with an empty weight of under 254 Lbs. It features a single seat and tube and fabric construction. First Flight was in 1986.
Power comes from a Rotax 277 / 28 hp or similar power.
The Sling High Wing is a recent E-AB kit plane available from Sling Aircraft. First Flight was at the end of 2020. The first time it actually cut through the noise is when I saw it in a recent Trent Palmer video where N669JP was flying along with Trent’s new Cub on an Idaho adventure. An N number look up let me know the aircraft make & type. Being very familiar with the general Kit Plane offerings this one was rather unique having a slick fuselage, a Tail Wheel configuration and fairly new construction. I knew it was way to big to be a Jabiru and not the right shape to be a Glasair 2+2.
MoJoGrip’s YouTube Channel has been a great ambassador for the Sling TSi where I learned a lot about there low wing aircraft.
The HW is offered in a tail wheel or nose wheel configuration. uses a Rotax 915 iS for power.
Going through some old videos and found one of me flying my Century Hawk .30 at the ERAU Soccer Field in 2003. Had the training gear on to prevent tip overs.
The Bellanca Viking was developed in the late 1960’s and with 1,356 aircraft produced they can still be seen at some airports and there are usually a few at the major air shows. It’s DNA can be trased back to the Cruisair that first flew in the late 1930’s. Production run was 1968 – 1975
I found this great exposed view on the https://aerospaceblog.wordpress.com web site. Much thanks to there information for putting this article together.
While its contemporaries at the time from Piper, Cessna and Beechcraft where all Aluminum, the Viking featured a welded steel tube fuselage, wood wings and fabric covering. Unfortunately wood wings require TLC storage or long term environment to last compared to all Aluminum aircraft that are still flying 6 decades later and are still in production.
Viking’s do come up for sale on the various aviation used aircraft web sites. If you have serious interest in one I highly recommend a prebuy with an A&P with wooden aircraft experience.
Likely because of its lower production numbers & a mid 70’s end of production it seems to have a style that is lost in the see it every day PA-28’s & 172’s.
The Lionheart Creations Viking 58 page POH pdf for the MS flight sim can be found on: https://downloads.justflight.com/support/manuals/SV_300_Super_Viking_POH.pdf PDF looks like it could offer good pointers on flying the actual thing as it has a very accurate 3D interior with functioning buttons and controls.
Windows 10 end of service is in October of 2025, Tariff wars are the hot new trend, Windows 11 is very picky on what hardware it will accept for an install.
The Integral R is a recent 2 seat acrobatic training aircraft from France. It’s powered by a Lycoming AEIO-390. I think its a fairly sharp looking acrobatic aircraft for a side by side configuration and it reminds me of a CAP 232 also from France. The Integral R is available in a tail draggier and nose wheel config.
Gould Aero 