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Flight Design USA is the importer of CT, the top selling Light-Sport Aircraft. CT is a 98% carbon fiber design with superb performance, a roomy cockpit, great useful load, and a parachute as standard equipment.

One of the first Light-Sport Aircraft to win approval, CT quickly moved well ahead as the most popular model in the USA. Over 1,300 of this 12-year-old, well-evolved design are flying worldwide. Born of aeronautical genius, CT has a unique shape (with a "safety cell" cabin) and smooth exterior finish that allows it to hit the LSA speed limit of 120 knots. Yet CT can also cruise with 75% power at a respectable 112 knots (129 mph) while sipping fuel from its large 34 gallon fuel tanks that allow a non-stop flight over 1,000 miles.

CT boasts an impressive 15:1 glide yet it slows well for landings with full flap stalls at only 39 knots. Takeoff requires only 300 feet and climb reaches 1,000 fpm. The new CTLS has electric flaps (-6 to +40 degrees), three-axis trim, cabin heat, and more. Occupants have 49 inches of width; space in the cockpit for items needed in flight, and can each carry 55 pounds of luggage, easily accessed through dual exterior doors.

Loaded with extras that cost more on other designs, every CTLS comes equipped with a BRS High-Speed 1350 emergency airframe parachute. Addionally all CTLS aircraft come standards with dual Dynon electronic flight info system and engine monitoring screens. You can also have TruTrak autopilot and the new panel-mounted Garmin 696 GPS to make long cross-country flights a breeze.

In 2008, Flight Design introduced the nose-to-tail-new CTLS that is sold fully loaded with only a few options available. The company's market-leading sales have continued and CT remains far ahead of the next closest Light-Sport Aircraft (according to FAA registration data). Flight Design further unveiled their MC (Metal Concept) model at AirVenture Oshkosh 2008. While it looks much like the CTLS, it is made mostly of metal -- the CTLS is mostly carbon fiber -- and MC carries a price starting at only $98,000.

Flight Design USA

Web Site:	www.flightdesignusa.com
eMail:	fstar@rcn.com
Address:	91 Route 169 P.0. Box 325
City:	South Woodstock, CT 06267 USA
Phone:	(860) 963-7272
Fax:	(860) 963-7152

List of Aircraft and Article links

MC Add to favorites list
		SPLOG Sebring Day Two: Flight Design Update, 01/22/2010 SPLOG begins: I was lucky enough to get Matthias Betsch , Flight Design 's CEO , all to myself for a few minutes and here's what he had to say: *** General update: "A hard year but better than we expected . In the last two to three months, we've had quite a pickup
		SPLOG Flight Testing Light-Sport Aircraft; How It's Done, 01/08/2010 SPLOG begins: Much has been written about Cessna's Skycatcher incidents, those spin investigations that caused the loss of one airplane and a parachute deployment from another. Of course, the giant producer knows well the design of light aircraft so it was only a matter
		SPLOG Hanging with the Jet Crowd; LSA at NBAA, 10/07/2008 SPLOG begins: Earlier it appeared that the Flight Design MC would be the first Light-Sport Aircraft ever displayed at the giant National Business Aircraft Association show. NBAA is the organization representing business jets plus a large range of exhibitors serving
		SPLOG Flight Design Unveils Second New LSA in 2008, 07/28/2008 SPLOG begins: OSHKOSH UPDATE -- At a ceremony on EAA AirVenture's show-center location, AeroShell Square, Flight Design unveiled another new LSA, their second of 2008, the first being the CTLS which debuted at Sebring in January. Amid opening day excitement, numerous
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		Flight Design -- CTLS The leading seller of Light-Sport Aircraft is Flight Design and CTLS is their third-generation of the popular CT series. Not only geared to American pilot interest, CTLS added many new features including a more spacious cabin with greater visibility (though it was already huge). CTLS comes standard with a full glass panel, ballistic parachute and more.
		Dynon Avionics -- SkyView 10-inch Dynon Avionics has arguably become the largest supplier of LSA avionics in the form of computer screen displays of engine monitoring and flight instruments. At AOPA 2009, they introduced their impressive new SkyView synthetic vision system. In this video at Sebring 2010, we look at one of the first installations of this big-screen setup in the Flight Design CTLS.
	R	Flight Design CTLS (05/08) "Redesigned Flight Design CTLS" by Ed Downs . Published in EAA Sport Pilot & Light Sport Aircraft Magazine, May, 2008. Pilot Report begins: All photos by EAA Chief Photographer, Jim Koepnick This article appears on ByDanJohnson.com thanks to permission granted by EAA and the willingness of author, Ed Downs. I've had the pleasure to fly with many expert pilots but the very best aircraft checkout I've ever received came from Ed. He's a good pilot, that's a given. But he is also very adept at giving you a solid expectation of what to expect. I think you'll agree after you read this article. --Dan Johnson *** Note this article is presented
		SPLOG The Mid-Year View, 07/13/2010 SPLOG begins: I had some fun today talking with Jim Sweeney , guest host of Roy Beisswenger's Ultraflight Radio Show . *** Our first topic was the state of the LSA industry. I first picked my pal Dan Johnson 's satellite-view brain of the LSA Big Picture to glean we're
		SPLOG They're Home! Twin Solo Round-the-World Flights, 06/21/2010 SPLOG begins: Two Swiss pilots embarked on a round-the-world flight on April 30 and 51 days later they are back home in Switzerland. Yannick Bovier , 37, and Francisco Agullo , 41, created an expedition they call "Azimut 270" to celebrate 100 years of aviation in Switzerland
		SPLOG CT Hauls Ash, 06/04/2010 SPLOG begins: Here's a hot item that should shake the dust off the notion that LSA are little toy airplanes. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) *** With all the concern recently over ash cloud emissions from Iceland's Eyjafajallawhatever volcano that disrupted global air transportation
		SPLOG Twin Solo Round-the-World Flights Land in Miami, 05/16/2010 SPLOG begins: As they connect the dots of their plan to circumnavigate the world in celebration of 100 years of aviation in Switzerland, Yannick Bovier and Francisco Agullo have now spanned one immense body of water. The pair of twin Flight Design CTLS "Ecolight" aircraft
		SPLOG CT Circles the Planet... Again!... in Pairs!!, 05/03/2010 SPLOG begins: Way back near the dawn of Light-Sport Aircraft... in 2007, two Indian military pilots flew a CT around the world to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Indian Air Force . (CT later became one of the first LSA used in an Indian flight school.) ***
		SPLOG Lower-Priced LSA Coming to Sun 'n Fun, 04/03/2010 SPLOG begins: After a tough winter in most parts of the USA, spring evidently arrived early with 80-degree temperatures as far north as Minnesota... all before Sun 'n Fun. More good news: After its coldest winter since the early 1980s Florida is extremely pleasant
		SPLOG Sebring Day Two: Flight Design Update, 01/22/2010 SPLOG begins: I was lucky enough to get Matthias Betsch , Flight Design 's CEO , all to myself for a few minutes and here's what he had to say: *** General update: "A hard year but better than we expected . In the last two to three months, we've had quite a pickup
		SPLOG Flight Design... "Has a Map for That", 12/20/2009 SPLOG begins: If you study FAA's registration database as I do, you'll quickly discover that Flight Design and its various CT models have a strong presence in the USA (the world for that matter, with 1,500 flying, according to the company). Since CT was first certified
		SPLOG Flight Design Out West, 12/15/2009 SPLOG begins: I was out in L.A. last week and had the distinct pleasure to hop a flight out of Santa Monica Airport , an old haunt of mine, with Flight Design USA 's California sales rep, Karine Noel . *** Karine was a perfect hostess. She's just set up shop to demo
		SPLOG Changing Times...and Light-Sport Aircraft's Future, 10/10/2009 SPLOG begins: Word of a few interesting developments arrived in my inbox, bringing with them new questions. *** Point One -- EAA announced it will cease publishing Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft magazine. LSA content will be merged into their flagship Sport Aviation
		SPLOG LSA Attain New Plateau in Aviation World, 08/05/2009 SPLOG begins: Viewed from the LSA Mall, AirVenture 2009 was much more than the summer's big celebration of flight. Several important events tell a story of growing acceptance of LSA. Here's a short list: LAMA hosted a meeting of G10 (the 10 largest LSA producers) and
		SPLOG New LSA Milestone; CT Delivers 300th, 07/12/2009 SPLOG begins: Sales are subdued all over aviation but it isn't stopping the top performers in the Light-Sport Aircraft marketplace. As our last market share update illustrated, Remos , Tecnam , SportCruiser , and Jabiru have all done reasonably (or very) well in the
		SPLOG Strong Survive Tough Economy...Some Repositioning, 05/12/2009 SPLOG begins: We continue to see the effects of the last year of economic turmoil in Light-Sport Aircraft market shares. The chart accompanying this SPLOG tells the numbers as always presented, with total market share since the first deliveries in 2005 based on carefully-reviewed
		SPLOG Heart of Texas LSA Expo Judged a Success, 03/09/2009 SPLOG begins: Exhibitor Chris Regis of Paradise USA (representing the P-1) reported "good visitor traffic" and "excellent organization" from the people behind the Heart of Texas LSA Expo . The new event, held over March 8 & 9 is one of two planned shows following
		SPLOG 2008 In Review; a Look at the Year for LSA Sales, 12/12/2008 SPLOG begins: With one month to go (and it's hard to imagine a big December), we have figures to report for this most extraordinary year. We're all (painfully) aware of the economic predicament, but how has this impacted light-sport aviation? Here's my observations.
		SPLOG LAMA Pushing Hard to Provide Audit Oversight, 10/24/2008 SPLOG begins: These days, "oversight" is a heavily used word on national media. But far from the strangeness of government bailouts is the world of Light-Sport Aircraft. For the new aviation sector, industry oversight is seen as critical by LAMA and many aviation leaders.
		SPLOG Aircraft Sales through April '08 Reflect Economy, 05/14/2008 SPLOG begins: I can identify four factors in the economy presently affecting airplane sales : Potential customers (often with plenty of assets or creditworthiness) see the value of their stock portfolio going up and down like a roller coaster; worry over their once-soaring
		Sidebar SLSA Service After the Sale, 05/01/2008 Sidebar begins: Most folks have probably never heard of ASTM International document F2295, Continued Operational Safety Monitoring of a Light-Sport Aircraft. But Tom Peghiny, president of Flight Designs USA, is intimately familiar with it. As the former chairman of the
		SPLOG Big Crowds at the Sun 'n Fun LSA Mall, 04/20/2008 SPLOG begins: Sun 'n Fun 2008 is history, but planning is already underway for the 2009 event . Event boss John Burton confirmed we will again have the LAMA-hosted LSA Mall right at the front gate next April 21-26. A major success at this year's Lakeland, Florida airshow,
		SPLOG High Priced Light-Sport Aircraft; What's Going On?, 03/15/2008 SPLOG begins: Lots of folks are wondering about, or complaining about, the seemingly high prices of Light-Sport Aircraft. Recently a prior editor-in-chief of EAA publications, Scott Spangler , wrote a blog on JetWhine . Scott focused on expensive avionics as one reason
		SPLOG Third Generation CT; Flight Design Announces LS, 12/10/2007 SPLOG begins: Flight Design leads the LSA flock maintaining a market share of more than 20% since the start of SLSA certifications almost three years ago. Their first American export was CT2K, fine tuned in 2006 for U.S. pilots as the CTSW . Now sport pilots around
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		Flight Design -- CTsw While Flight Design has released two newer models (the CTLS and all-metal MC), it was the CTsw that helped the German Flight Design company continue to be the market leader, even after four years and nearly 100 new models followed the CT series into the American market. CTsw is one of the fastest and longest flying LSA in the U.S. fleet.
	$4.95	Flight Design CTsw (8/06) "CT 2006...Second Generation Light-Sport Aircraft" by Dan Johnson. Published in EAA Sport Pilot & Light Sport Aircraft Magazine, August, 2006. Pilot Report begins: In the 15 months since the first two special light-sport aircraft (S-LSA) were introduced at the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In in Lakeland, Florida, a wave of S-LSA have taken to the sky. The number delivered to customers is approaching 500 aircraft -- and climbing as quickly as factories can produce and deliver them. The years ahead should see a sharply increasing number of LSA flying in America. The good news for pilots is we won't just have more LSA, we'll have better ones as designers modify and improve
		SPLOG LSA Dominate $300,000 NASA Challenge 2008, 07/22/2008 SPLOG begins: Amid furious preparations for Oshkosh, CAFE Foundation , the efficiency folks, announced teams that will vie for a second year of prizes. CAFE has a $300,000 purse thanks to their partnership with NASA, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2008.
		SPLOG AOPA's Hartford Expo Has Generous Count of LSA, 10/04/2007 SPLOG begins: Most pilots know AOPA , the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, has been fighting the user fee battle...and they've been doing well resisting the might of the U.S. government. But they must also have a connection with Mother Nature as warm, beautiful
		SPLOG Come See LSA at AOPA's 2007 Expo in Hartford, 09/16/2007 SPLOG begins: At Oshkosh I took the chance to speak with several general aviation leaders -- CEOs of top general aviation companies and presidents of leading membership organizations. All have been kind to me with their time and generous with their support for the
		SPLOG Flight Design Delivers 200th CT in USA, 08/28/2007 SPLOG begins: Market leader Flight Design seems hot as a pistol and appears to be validating their plan to substantially increase production. South Central U.S. distributor Airtime Aviation delivered N200BL to Brian Longwill, their new dealer operating under the name
		SPLOG First LSA Flown Around World; Claims New Record, 08/20/2007 SPLOG begins: Many other airplane categories have tried round the world flights, but it's now been done by a Light-Sport Aircraft. Flying a Flight Design CT , Indian Air Force Wing Commanders Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar will claim a new record by successfully flying
		SPLOG LAMA Audits of SLSA Continue; Board Expanded, 08/04/2007 SPLOG begins: In a year of facilitating independent audits for Special Light-Sport Aircraft, LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, completed reviews of six companies: IndUS (Thorpedo); Jihlavan (Kappa KP-5); Aeropro (EuroFox); Flight Design (CT); Czech
		SPLOG LSA Euro-Factory Tour: Flight Design, Ukraine, 06/25/2007 SPLOG begins: The Czech Republic featured in the last few SPLOGs may not be well known to Americans, but Ukraine seems yet another world away. Indeed, our jetliner flew almost two hours further east to Odessa and then we took a three-hour car ride to Kherson , home
		SPLOG Light Sport Airplanes West Officially Opens, 04/29/2007 SPLOG begins: Within 24 hours of getting home from Sun 'n Fun, several industry leaders including Evektor America's Jeff Conrad , Flight Design USA's Tom Peghiny , Jabiru USA's Ed Ricks , and BRS parachute's Gregg Ellsworth packed up and headed off to California. What
		SPLOG LAMA to Announce New Consumer Program, 04/04/2007 SPLOG begins: Odds are you've heard of LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association , founded in the earliest days of ultralights and gaining renewed importance in this era of Light-Sport Aircraft. Most leading LSA businesses (not only manufacturers) are members;
CT2K Add to favorites list
CT Add to favorites list
	$8.95	Flight Design CT (12/03) "Composite Two-seater (CT)" by Dan Johnson. Published in Light Sport and Ultralight Flying, December, 2003. Pilot Report begins: In the fall of '01, I wrote in Ultralight Flying!, "The CT is the tip of an iceberg, in my opinion." When I flew that first CT in the USA, few Yankees had seen the aircraft. I felt the German design represented the beginning of a flow of European aircraft coming to America. What a difference a couple of years make! Thanks to adept and steady promotion, Americans may best identify the coming breed of proposed Light-Sport Aircraft by pointing to the Flight Design CT2K. While this means no disrespect
	$4.95	Flight Design CT2K (2/03) "Flight Design CT2K" by Dan Johnson. Published in Experimenter Magazine, February, 2003. Pilot Report begins: A Bold Yet Efficient Euro-Designed Light-Sport Aircraft Flightstar imports the CT2K in anticipation of the light-sport aircraft rule. As FAA’s proposed light-sport aircraft rule looms ever closer, one of the first aircraft that will likely fit the field and be recognized by American pilots is Germany’s CT. For the U.S. market, and with a nod to the new millennium, producer Flight Designs has renamed the model as the CT2K. “CT” stands for Composite Twoseater. It is certainly
	$8.95	Flight Design CT "Fixed -Wing or Flex-Wing" by Dan Johnson. Published in Light Sport and Ultralight Flying, October, 2001. Pilot Report begins: This month I wrote a pilot's report about two widely different aircraft, both of which are imported by Rollison Airplane Company. Here's how I handled it. Every "Ultralight Flying! Pilot's Report" has common elements: a main article, photos and photo legends, specifications, and our exclusive "Report Card." Because the two subject flying machines are so different this month, I've prepared a "Report Card" for each aircraft. I did the same for specifications as the standard and optional features obviously
		SPLOG Flight Design Surveys Sport Pilots; Offers Prizes, 09/04/2006 SPLOG begins: I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day holiday. Over this long weekend Randee and I headed to Boston for the EAA Sport Pilot Tour on Sept. 9th. At that event, visitors can complete a survey . Not only is it a chance to tell the leading seller of LSA what type
		SPLOG Light-Sport Aircraft Massing for Sun 'n Fun, 04/01/2006 SPLOG begins: Lots more fun than a military build-up but bearing some resemblance, companies across the USA are preparing for Sun 'n Fun starting Tuesday the 4th . I was on the grounds today and it already looks busy. I also traveled to Lockwood Aviation at the Sebring,
		SPLOG CT to Offer BRS Parachutes as Standard in U.S., 10/04/2005 SPLOG begins: Flight Design of Germany -- in cooperation with U.S importer Flight Design USA -- just signed an agreement with emergency parachute maker, BRS, to provide the 1350 LSA ballistic system on all CT aircraft sold in the USA. The importer, a related business
		SPLOG Special LSA Certificate Given by FAA, 04/11/2005 SPLOG begins: Sun 'n Fun 2005 started off with a bang when Flightstar Sportplanes' Tom Peghiny heard the Flight Design CT he imports was one of the first Special Light-Sport Aircraft to be given its airworthiness certificate. (S-LSAs are fully built and can be used