Starfire Firebolt

The Starfire Firebolt, sometimes called the Starfire Firebolt Convertible, due to its removable canopy, is an American homebuilt aerobatic biplane that was designed by G. H. "Mac" McKenzie and produced by Starfire Aviation of Tempe, Arizona. When it was available the aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction, with some pre-fabricated parts available.

Design and development
The Firebolt was developed from the Steen Skybolt and features a biplane layout with interplane struts, cabane struts and flying wires, a two-seats-in-tandem open, or optionally, enclosed cockpit under a bubble canopy that slides back, fixed conventional landing gear with wheel pants and a single engine in tractor configuration.

The aircraft is made of mixed construction, with a welded steel tubing, aluminum and wooden structure, all covered in doped aircraft fabric. Its 24.00 ft span wing employs a NACA 63A015/0012 airfoil and has a wing area of 150.0 sqft. The cockpit width is 29 in. The acceptable power range is 180 to 300 hp and the standard engine used is the 300 hp Lycoming IO-540 powerplant. With that engine the aircraft has a cruise speed of 202 mph and an initial climb rate of 4,000 ft/min (20 m/s).

The Firebolt has a typical empty weight of 1325 lb and a gross weight of 2000 lb, giving a useful load of 675 lb. With full fuel of 39 u.s.gal the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage is 441 lb.

The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a 300 hp engine is 400 ft and the landing roll is 800 ft.

The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied plans as 3000 hours.

Operational history
By 1998 the company reported that six aircraft were completed and flying.

In March 2014 eight examples were registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration, although a total of nine had been registered at one time.