Cobalt, a small aviation company based in California, today introduced its Valkyrie, a five-seat pusher with a canard, a wide bubble canopy, winglets and a twin canted tail. The company has planned a launch party for tonight in San Francisco, where it will roll out the latest version of the design. Cobalt brought an earlier version of the airplane to EAA AirVenture in 2010, which attracted a lot of interest, CEO and chief designer David Loury told AVweb. Since then the company has kept a low profile and focused on the engineering. The airplane will be offered first in an experimental version, at $595,000, Loury said, while the company works toward FAA certification.
The all-composite airplane is powered by a 350-hp turbocharged Continental TSIOF-550 engine and will fly at speeds up to 260 knots with a range of 1,050 nm, the company said. It will have an emergency parachute and Garmin G3X touch avionics. Several prototypes have been test flown as the design evolved, but the airplane unveiled this week has not yet flown, Loury said. He expects to fly it in the spring.
In this 2010 video, AVweb’s Jeff Van West spoke with Loury about the design at EAA AirVenture.
