The Aviadesign A-16 Sport Falcon is an American

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictions on weigh ...

that was designed by Aviadesign, a certified aircraft modification company based in Camarillo, California. The A-16 was announced at Sun 'n Fun April 2006 and introduced at the LSA Expo held in Sebring, Florida in 2007. The aircraft was to be supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 30. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 32. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

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reports that two prototypes were completed by 2006, but it is not clear if any other examples ever flew before the company went out of business.

Design and development

The aircraft was designed to comply with the US light-sport aircraft rules. It features a strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

enclosed cockpit under a bubble canopy, fixed

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

and a single engine in

pusher configuration In aeronautical and naval engineering, pusher configuration is the term used to describe a drivetrain of air- or watercraft with propulsion device(s) after the engine(s). This is in contrast to the more conventional tractor configuration, wh ...

. The aircraft is made with a welded steel tubing airframe. Its span wing employs a single strut per side. The standard engine for production examples was intended to be the Rotax 912ULS

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

powerplant. Entry to the cockpit is via an airstair door. The design is listed on the

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's list of accepted SLSAs, but as no longer in production.

Operational history

In March 2010 reviewer Dan Johnson reported on a test flight in the prototype:

Specifications (A-16)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Former location of the company official website
from 30 October 2010
Company website archives
on Archive.org
Photograph of the prototype A-16
Light-sport aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft