Explorer Ellipse

The Explorer Ellipse is an American homebuilt aircraft that was designed by Dean Wilson and produced by Explorer Aviation of Grangeville, Idaho. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.

Design and development
The Ellipse features a strut-braced high-wing that has an elliptical planform, a four-seat enclosed cabin with doors, fixed conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.

The aircraft fuselage is made from welded 4130 steel tubing with a wooden wing. The aircraft is covered in doped aircraft fabric. Its 36.62 ft span wing, mounts flaps and has a wing area of 128.0 sqft. The wings can be folded in five minutes by one person to facilitate ground transportation or storage. The cabin width is 43 in. The acceptable power range is 125 to 200 hp and the standard engine used is the 150 hp Lycoming O-320 powerplant. With this powerplant the aircraft has a cruise speed of 150 mph.

The Ellipse has a typical empty weight of 1177 lb and a gross weight of 2200 lb, giving a useful load of 1023 lb. With full fuel of 41 u.s.gal the payload for crew/pilot, passengers and baggage is 777 lb.

The kit originally came with the complex wings already built and as a result the designer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 1000 hours. Float and ski fittings were included in the kit as standard equipment.

Operational history
By 1998 the company reported that three kits had been sold and one aircraft was flying.

In December 2013 two examples were registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration, although at one time four had been registered.