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Flight Design Bankrupt (and restarted)

Sadly, it appears Flight Design is filing or has filed for bankruptcy in Germany.

Since Flight Design was leading in sales for SLSA this bodes badly for the SLSA niche in general and of course for the C4 which was going to redefine price/performance and panel for the 4-seater Part 23 certified market.

So now they have something in common with Piper, Mooney, Extra, Eclipse, Beechcraft, …. and almost every other company that tried it’s luck in the aviation sector. I am pretty sure that they will re-emerge in due time like all the others. I knew the CEO ca. 1984 when I did my hang glider beginners course with him (he had just started a hang gliding school then). A real nice guy who will have no trouble at all finding new investors.

EDDS - Stuttgart

USflyer – isn’t that the maker of your plane?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

The URL came from another aviation site.. I didn’t want to paste the text, but since the URL doesn’t work, here it is:

Peter wrote:

USflyer – isn’t that the maker of your plane?

Yes, I own a 2015 FD CTLSi….I also own a 2016 Cirrus SR22T. I do have the FD for sale but didn’t want to advertise it on this site. Not sure how this is going to affect selling the plane.

Last Edited by USFlyer at 16 Feb 19:53
The URL came from another aviation site

which one?

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

Jan_Olieslagers wrote:

which one?

www.ctflier.com It’s a non official site where Flight Design and other LSA are discussed.

what_next wrote:

So now they have something in common with Piper, Mooney, Extra, Eclipse, Beechcraft, …. and almost every other company that tried it’s luck in the aviation sector. I am pretty sure that they will re-emerge in due time like all the others.

I imagine you’re probably correct about that, but there’s an additional issue for owners of any US LSA aircraft with a bankrupt manufacturer. No PMA parts can be used, no FAA field approvals, no repairs by standard methods under AC 43.13 and etc. My two FAA certified aircraft have been maintained without manufacturer support for decades, and those are essential factors if for any reason the manufacturer becomes non-operational. AFAIK used parts are OK under LSA, but everything else is dependent on the original airframe manufacturer.

The possible good news for LSA is that Flight Design sold more FAA LSAs than most other manufacturers and some of those logistics issues may get worked out or changed now. Some LSA manufacturers are obviously going to go bankrupt over time, and its not reasonable that their aircraft become legally unsustainable. This seemed to be swept under the table when LSA rules were formulated and maybe now it will get some beneficial attention.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 16 Feb 22:24

This seems rather relevant…

Not many people in Europe know that, as one of the advantages of a certified N-reg.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Naah… You have plenty “Orphaned” aircraft without TC holder flying around. From Wassmers, Socatas (ST-10), PZLs, Speed Canards, Beagles to a whole bunch of gliders (Breguets, Piks, Slingsbys… )

mh
Aufwind GmbH
EKPB, Germany
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