Airdale Backcountry

The Airdale Backcountry is an American amateur-built aircraft that was designed by Brett McKinney and based upon John Larsen's Avid Mk IV design. It was produced by Airdale Flyer Company, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, but the company went out of business in 2017 and production ended. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.

Design and development
The Backcountry features a strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit with doors for access, fixed conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.

The aircraft fuselage is made from welded 4130 steel tubing, while the wing is of aluminum construction, with all surfaces covered in doped aircraft fabric. Its 30 ft span wing has an area of 123 sqft and flaperons. The Backcountry was designed to use the 100 hp Stratus EA 81 automotive conversion four-stroke powerplant.

The improvements over the Avid design include redesigning the aircraft to comply with the European Joint Aviation Requirements at a gross weight of 1400 lb, including stretching the fuselage by 16 in, changing the main landing gear legs to aluminum gear with a track of 74 in, increasing the angle of the windshield, simplifying the control system and designing a differential flaperon system, redesigning the structure in the cockpit area to improve baggage access, adding new seats, increasing cockpit headroom and legroom, introducing wider cockpit doors and more cockpit width, modifying the tailwheel spring for more strength and designing a new engine cowling to accommodate the Subaru engine and other engine designs.

The company also offered a conversion kit for existing Mk IVs.