Spartan DFS Trike

The Spartan DFS Trike is an American ultralight aircraft designed and produced by Spartan Microlights. The aircraft was the first ultralight introduced that could be flown with a hang glider-style wing as an ultralight trike or with a powered parachute wing.

The designation of DFS stands for Dual Face System, referring to its ability to mount either hang glider or powered parachute wings.

Design and development
The aircraft was designed to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of 254 lb. The aircraft has a standard empty weight of 212 lb with a Daedalus 190 hang glider wing. It features a cable-braced hang glider-style high-wing, weight-shift controls, a single-seat open cockpit, tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration. In powered parachute mode it uses a Shuttle GRX canopy and is controlled with aerodynamic brakes.

The aircraft fuselage is made from aluminum tubing, while the hang glider wing is made from bolted-together aluminum tubing and covered in Dacron sailcloth. The hang glider wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame control bar. A fiberglass cockpit fairing, windshield, brakes and floats are optional. The original engine supplied was the Rotax 277 single cylinder, two-stroke, air-cooled aircraft engine of 28 hp, which is now out-of-production. Present engines available include the 28 hp Zanzottera MZ 34, 28 hp Hirth F-33 and the 40 hp Rotax 447.

In 2012 the aircraft was marketed under the name DFS Single.