World Aircraft Spirit

The World Aircraft Spirit is a Colombian/American amateur-built aircraft, designed by Max Tedesco and produced by World Aircraft Company. The aircraft was publicly introduced at AirVenture in 2011 and production is expected to commence in 2014. It is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly aircraft.

Design and development
The Spirit features a strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit that is 48 in wide, fixed tricycle landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.

The aircraft is made from aluminum sheet. Its 32.9 ft span wing has an area of 132 sqft and mounts flaps. The wing is supported by "V" struts and jury struts. The aircraft's recommended engine power range is 100 to 130 hp and standard engines used include the 100 hp Rotax 912ULS, 100 hp Continental O-200 and the 100 hp Lycoming IO-233 four-stroke powerplants.

The aircraft has a design maximum gross weight of 1653 lb, but is restricted to 1320 lb if flown in the US light-sport aircraft category.

The Spirit airframe is constructed in Colombia and then shipped to World Aircraft's facility at Henry County Airport in Paris, Tennessee for final assembly and paint. Kits shipped are fully assembled and then disassembled for customer delivery and may be shipped painted as well. Construction time from the supplied kit is estimated as 110 hours.

As of October 2012, the design appears on the Federal Aviation Administration's list of approved special light-sport aircraft.

Operational history
By December 2011 55 examples had been completed and flown.