Sadler Aircraft Company, of Roseburg, Ore., will be at EAA AirVenture next week showing off the latest version of their Vampire airplane. The company has spent three years on research and development to develop a new interior and prepare the design, derived from military aircraft, for the LSA market. “We’re really excited to go from R&D to delivering airplanes,” said company VP David Littlejohn. “This has been a long road, especially in a challenging economy. I think light sport aircraft are going to emerge as true value leaders in the aviation community, and the Vampire should really deliver on that front.”
The Vampire is not your typical LSA. It’s built on a scaled-back air-to-ground fighter plane airframe, stressed to more than plus-or-minus 6 g’s. It’s powered by a pusher prop that sits between twin tail-booms. The wings double-fold vertically, to make it easy to transport on a trailer or to store between flights. And the cabin doors are wide with a low entry point, which the company says makes entry more like stepping into a sedan than climbing into a cockpit. The Vampire LSA will be on display at space 77 at AirVenture. “We took a lot of our cues from the automotive industry when it came to designing the interior of the Vampire,” said Littlejohn. “So wherever we could add creature comforts we tried to do that. We wanted the interior to attract both pilots and potential pilots. And we also wanted to keep it on the lower end of the LSA price spectrum.” While a fully loaded Vampire reaches well into the six-figure price range, you can get a well-equipped model for under $100,000, the company said.
