Aero: Flight Design Announces New F2 And F4 Models

Under reorganized management from its parent Lift Air, Flight Design announced a new four-place aircraft at Aero on Wednesday, with ambitious plans to certify in about a year. It also announced a recasting of the existing CTLS line that will include a new modular model capable of being an electric aircraft.

The new four-place model is called the F4 and will be powered by the Rotax 915iS turbocharged engine. It will be certified under FAR 23—CS23 to the rest of the world—and will be based on a stretched, modified and beefed-up version of the CTLS airframe. The panel area will be redesigned and made shallower and the wingspan and fuselage length will be increased slightly. Gross weight is set at 1100 kg (2420 pounds) and performance is predicted to be in the 150- to 160-knot range. No price has been set yet, but Flight Design's Matthias Betsch said the target is under $300,000.

Does this mean the long-delayed C4 model that Flight Design announced in 2011 is now a goner? Nope, says Betsch, that remains an aspirational product, but is more of a clean sheet than the F4 is. That aircraft is expected to be powered by a Continental engine if and when it ever graduates from development. The F4, meanwhile, will be a full-up IFR airframe, with Garmin G3X touch avionics. It will also have a ballistic parachute.

Because Flight Design still wants to remain in the entry-level market, it will continue to produce two versions of the CTLS, which has proved a popular seller in the U.S. market. The Supersport CTLS will sell for a about $145,000 fully equipped and CTLS GT will carry a $180,000, fully equipped. Extending that model line, says Flight Design, is the F2, which the company has dubbed an MACCS for modular airplane construction and certification system. That means one base model can accommodate several equipment levels and powerplants.

Flight Design says it will produce an F2 version as a European ultralight, an LSA and an EASA TC. The F2e will be an electric version, eventually, and could be a flight school trainer. Look for a video on the F4, which is on display at Aero, later in the week.