Spirit Engineering

Of course, the cost of gas, for most pleasure flyers, isn't the biggest cost of ownership. So two gallons per hour is nice, but the typical owner will probably pay for for a hangar every year than it costs in gas. My previous hangar cost me $7200/year. That's about four times what my gas cost me, even with a "guzzling" C-85.

Odd story on this airplane. We recently moved, and I debated whether I was going to bring the Fly Baby with me. Told my wife I could just buy a new airplane.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Ohhhh.... a Carbon Cub."

"How much do they cost?"

"About a quarter million dollars."

And that was the end of that. A couple weeks back, though, I showed her some pictures of the Spirit. "And how much is THAT," she semi-growled.

When I told her (about a quarter of a Carbon Cub) she got REAL thoughtful. Got the impression I probably could talk her into it.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Told my wife I could just buy a new airplane.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Ohhhh.... a Carbon Cub."

"How much do they cost?"

"About a quarter million dollars."

And that was the end of that. A couple weeks back, though, I showed her some pictures of the Spirit. "And how much is THAT," she semi-growled.

When I told her (about a quarter of a Carbon Cub) she got REAL thoughtful. Got the impression I probably could talk her into it.....
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Excellent variation on the Macy's ploy: Double the price and then a day later advertise a 50% off sale.
 
Really intriguing! I'll give it a bit to see how it all shakes out over the next couple of years ...
 
I don't remember the details, but the engine made sense to me. It seemed like a simple and straightforward design that they put a lot of effort into. I'd rather have a newly designed aircraft engine than somebody trying to fit something from a car/chainsaw/outboard/whatever into an airplane.

I hope they built a just slightly larger version with 2 seats, maybe tandem.
 
wanttaja said:
Of course, the cost of gas, for most pleasure flyers, isn't the biggest cost of ownership. So two gallons per hour is nice, but the typical owner will probably pay for for a hangar every year than it costs in gas. My previous hangar cost me $7200/year. That's about four times what my gas cost me, even with a "guzzling" C-85.
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And all of that is why this plane's folding wings and trailer-ready design makes it more attractive from a storage standpoint. You could fit this in the corner of a friend's hangar easily.
 
The somewhat breathless title aside, I found this long video very informative. It is also somewhat endearing, as it becomes evident that Spirit Engineering is bunch of engineers who set out to make a very, very thoughtfully designed aircraft and came up with something quite beautiful. Great detail on the "why" of how it is designed, and a great deep-dive into really interesting details about such items as how the metal is formed, the how and why of the wing-fold mechanism, canopy latching, and so forth. There's even news that they're working on an owner-replaceable enclosed canopy. Worth a watch, and left me searching my couch for pennies to save up for this thing.

 
Beautiful airplane and outstanding modern craftsmanship. But I’m struggling to see the target audience. A single-seat taildragger evoking WWI-style aircraft can’t appeal to a large segment of buyers. Maybe the idea is that Cirrus and RV already own the mainstream market, so this is meant to stand apart?
 
sarangan said:
Beautiful airplane and outstanding modern craftsmanship. But I’m struggling to see the target audience. A single-seat taildragger evoking WWI-style aircraft can’t appeal to a large segment of buyers. Maybe the idea is that Cirrus and RV already own the mainstream market, so this is meant to stand apart?
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Not an unreasonable question. I'll give you my perspective (as someone who is becoming increasingly intent on buying one):

This is a joy-of-flying aircraft. That is 100% of its utility. Low, slow, open cockpit, but built to modern standards and for a price that's within reach of the crowd will spend similar coin on ATVs, back-country vehicles, boats, and so forth. It's not aimed at mass-market appeal, and there's no convincing your spouse that it is a useful or wise purchase. Possibly it would be the world's coolest commuter plane, at a stretch.

Other new aircraft are selling for clown-car prices and Experimentals are well into six-digits themselves, with the bonus of taking a chance on the quality of the build. Classic aircraft come with all the AD baggage, wildly expensive Certified everything, and the Annual roulette. Much as we love them, they are just getting tired.

This is a factory-built machine overseen by what, to all appearances, are quality-obsessed individuals. And it's just $65k new. Added to this value proposition is the ability to immediately take it Experimental, allowing the owner to work it on it themselves and, under MOSAIC, to conduct their own condition inspections. The price of the aircraft itself, the ability to use experimental components, the MOSAIC rules for maintenance, and even the ability to fold the wings and trailer it all add up to a pretty attractive proposition if the goal is to just get up in the air and fly.
 
Yeah. What he said. I doubt the company has any illusions about selling thousands per year; I’d bet they have their numbers pretty well figured out. Were I not already hip-deep in an airplane I’m building, I’d probably buy one of these.
 
Put a 20' toy hauler on the back of your RV, stick the Spirit SE-1 inside and travel the USA. When you get where you're going roll the plane out, unfold the wings, and go soak up some beautiful countryside in a low, slow, open cockpit, cruiser burning a whopping 2 GPH of E-free Mogas.

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The only question I didn't find an answer to was about baggage space. With me & full fuel (8 gallons) I'd have a bit over 50 lbs. left for baggage but I didn't see an area pointed out in the video for that (unless I missed it). Presumably it would go behind the seat ...
 
Daleandee said:
The only question I didn't find an answer to was about baggage space. With me & full fuel (8 gallons) I'd have a bit over 50 lbs. left for baggage but I didn't see an area pointed out in the video for that (unless I missed it). Presumably it would go behind the seat ...
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20lbs and 3 cubic feet, per the specs on the main page. No idea where, but yes, presumably behind the seat.
 
AvNavCom said:
The somewhat breathless title aside, I found this long video very informative. It is also somewhat endearing, as it becomes evident that Spirit Engineering is bunch of engineers who set out to make a very, very thoughtfully designed aircraft and came up with something quite beautiful. Great detail on the "why" of how it is designed, and a great deep-dive into really interesting details about such items as how the metal is formed, the how and why of the wing-fold mechanism, canopy latching, and so forth. There's even news that they're working on an owner-replaceable enclosed canopy. Worth a watch, and left me searching my couch for pennies to save up for this thing.

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Some serious capital tied up in that facility. But an interesting video.
 
AvNavCom said:
Not an unreasonable question. I'll give you my perspective (as someone who is becoming increasingly intent on buying one):

This is a joy-of-flying aircraft. That is 100% of its utility. Low, slow, open cockpit, but built to modern standards and for a price that's within reach of the crowd will spend similar coin on ATVs, back-country vehicles, boats, and so forth. It's not aimed at mass-market appeal, and there's no convincing your spouse that it is a useful or wise purchase. Possibly it would be the world's coolest commuter plane, at a stretch.

Other new aircraft are selling for clown-car prices and Experimentals are well into six-digits themselves, with the bonus of taking a chance on the quality of the build. Classic aircraft come with all the AD baggage, wildly expensive Certified everything, and the Annual roulette. Much as we love them, they are just getting tired.

This is a factory-built machine overseen by what, to all appearances, are quality-obsessed individuals. And it's just $65k new. Added to this value proposition is the ability to immediately take it Experimental, allowing the owner to work it on it themselves and, under MOSAIC, to conduct their own condition inspections. The price of the aircraft itself, the ability to use experimental components, the MOSAIC rules for maintenance, and even the ability to fold the wings and trailer it all add up to a pretty attractive proposition if the goal is to just get up in the air and fly.
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To me, this is precisely it.

In a separate thread on this aircraft I cited another reason for enthusiasm: it's ready to go now. It's not an R&D/proof-of-concept prototype aircraft. The company isn't a hype-machine that will generate buzz at OshKosh and then fail to deliver.
Buy it today and you'll have it fully assembled and ready to fly in 6 weeks. That's just enough time to line up storage for it, get your tailwheel endorsement and some hours, buy your red baron scarf/goggles and get excited.

What I love most about it is that it shatters (or should shatter) a lot of the long held beliefs in this hobby that everything just naturally needs to cost a ton of money.
If this aircraft can help people take to the skies without having to shell out insane money for purchase price, storage, annuals (parts), and powerplant overhauls that cost more than the yearly net-income of the average American, then I will be ELATED. Meanwhile it will make me wonder where else a cost-conscious engineering team could trim expenses for our hobby.
 
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Daleandee said:
The only question I didn't find an answer to was about baggage space. With me & full fuel (8 gallons) I'd have a bit over 50 lbs. left for baggage but I didn't see an area pointed out in the video for that (unless I missed it). Presumably it would go behind the seat .
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I would add a second question, when will somebody develop an equally affordable and engineered amphibious float kit for it??! Hop in and fly straight line to the lake of your selection and spend the morning fishing. No hassle of traffic or boat ramps, drastically reduced home to home time, looking good doing it, and all in the price range of high end bass boat…
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Some serious capital tied up in that facility. But an interesting video.
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Yeah, that facility has got to be paid for by other work, aerospace job shop maybe? No way the potential market justifies it. But (speaking as an engineer just retired from a career in production and automation) the engineering that went into the plane and the tooling is very impressive.
 
Dana said:
Yeah, that facility has got to be paid for by other work, aerospace job shop maybe? No way the potential market justifies it. But (speaking as an engineer just retired from a career in production and automation) the engineering that went into the plane and the tooling is very impressive.
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It is extremely impressive
 
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Interesting and informative video, even if the presentation was kinda boring. That company scream engineers doing a project they love, rather than a business.
I hope they make it.

Tim
 
The head of the company was on pilots discretion podcast. interesting guy. was an aerospace engineer at cessna in the 1970’s
 
Good to see his son is working there as an engineer. Someone will need to takeover the company in 10 yrs since the owner isn’t a spring chicken.

I would be interested in flying one for demo purposes. Will gladly show off at fly-ins.
 
texasclouds said:
Good to see his son is working there as an engineer. Someone will need to takeover the company in 10 yrs since the owner isn’t a spring chicken.

I would be interested in flying one for demo purposes. Will gladly show off at fly-ins.
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That’s already being done somewhat in Texas. Two of them were at the Llano airshow.
 
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