However, it was on a public CofA and proved quite costly to operate for such a robust simple aeroplane. G-IDAY was originally on the fleet of Tayside Aviation, who used it as a low-cost hour builder for new PPL holders, and this was where I first encountered it in 1996 at Fife Airport. It is the only example flying in the UK, Europe, and probably the Northern Hemisphere. G-IDAY started life as VH-RCR and was imported to the UK as a demonstrator in 1996. All this on an 80hp Rotax 912 was quite a challenge, however it sold quite well and 76 were produced. In addition, it had a tall tricycle undercarriage that was designed to be able to taxi over irrigation ditches, and folding wings so it could be put into a trailer. It was anticipated that it would be a low-cost alternative to a helicopter, with very low loiter speeds, superb visibility (certified to fly doors off) and very safe low-speed handling. It was then decided that a beefed-up version was needed for ‘flight training and rural property use’, so a Kitfox on steroids was developed and called the CA25N Gazelle. The first aircraft model was the CA22, a lightweight ultralight aircraft which sold quite well. However, after a few false starts with Skyfox Ltd, a start-up company in the Philippines, and then with Calair in Australia, eventually Skyfox Aviation Ltd got off the ground in Australia in 1992. It’s quite a chequered history and it’s still going… As with many aircraft on the LAA register, G-IDAY’s origins can be traced back to the early Avid and Kitfox designs. To get in touch with Project News, and tell your story, report a milestone or just to send a picture, email: Please share your story! G-IDAY (s/n CA25N028) Skyfox CA-25N Gazelle I’m sure parting with a project that has been part of his life for so long will be difficult. There are only a handful of Lancair 320s in the UK and Chris has decided that he’ll need something more suitable for our grass airfield scene when retirement returns him to these shores. I believe there is only one other flying example in the UK and more conventionally powered, so Barrie’s early performance data is interesting for this Rotax 912 powered variant.Ĭhris Skelt started his project in Surrey back in the early 1990s, finished it in Texas nearly 25 years later, and is hoping for one final ‘season’ out there before returning home without his creation. I remember Barrie Towers stating in his report last of last autumn that his Starlet should be finished around the start of this year, and ready for testing in the spring – and he was spot on! The true voice of experience. With the benefit of experience next time around, our answer may well be ‘when it’s finished’. On building one’s first project, people will ask you, “When will it be finished?” and of course we’d trot out some naive response based on hope.
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Graham Johnstone introduces us to his appropriately registered Skyfox Gazelle and his struggle to break free from a CofA would you believe. The Kitfox doesn’t crop up so often these days, due I’d imagine, to the many derivatives available more locally.Īs an Avid owner myself, I thought I was pretty much on top of all of the Avid/Kitfox derivatives, but no, there is yet another from the land Down Under… where beer does flow and men chunder (Men at Work, 1982). There is a healthy mix of New Project registrations this month, at one end of the spectrum is a Replica Sopwith Triplane, at the other a brace of the eternally admired Van’s, the newly popular Sling 4, and not to overlooked, a new start on a Kitfox 7.
FLYING ADVENTURE Projects which inspire others to build their own aircraft Compiled by Mike Slaughter Project News
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