APEV (''Association pour la Promotion des Echelles Volantes'', English: ''Association for the Promotion of Flying Ladders'') is a French

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

, founded by Daniel Dalby in 1997 and based in

Peynier Peynier () is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône department The following is a list of the 119 communes of the Bouches-du-Rhône department of Fran ...

. The organization specializes in the design and manufacture of very light and inexpensive

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 122. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485XBayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 14. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', pages 97 & 98. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. The original design, the

Pouchel The Pouchel (also known as the Ladder Flea) is a single-seat ultralight aircraft designed by Daniel Dalby and produced by APEV. The aircraft was designed for amateur construction and first flown in 1999.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''Wor ...

, was based upon the 1930s

Henri Mignet Henri Mignet (19 October 1893 – 31 August 1965) was a French radio engineer who became well known as an aircraft designer and builder.Ellis & Jones (1990)Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 142. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Mon ...

-designed

Mignet Pou-du-Ciel The Flying Flea () is a large family of light homebuilt aircraft first flown in 1933. The odd name comes from the French nickname for the Ford Model T automobile: ''Pou de la Route'', or "Louse of the Road", because Henry Ford's economy car ...

(Flying Flea), but constructed using three commercial household

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

ladders to save construction time, cost and weight. The aircraft first flew on 14 March 1999 and 120 sets of plans were quickly sold. When the ladder manufacturer no longer wanted to sell ladders for aircraft construction, due to liability concerns, Dalby redesigned the aircraft to use aeronautical rectangular aluminium tubing instead, which resulted in a lighter and cheaper aircraft, the Pouchel II. This was further refined into the

Pouchel Light The APEV Pouchel Light () is a French amateur-built aircraft, designed by Daniel Dalby and produced by APEV of Peynier. The aircraft is supplied as plans or as a kit for amateur construction.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World D ...

and an electric powered version, the

Pouchelec The APEV Pouchelec () is a French amateur-built electric aircraft, that was designed by Daniel Dalby and produced by APEV of Peynier. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as plans or as a kit for amateur construction.Bayerl, Robby; ...

. Further designs followed these, including the two seat Bipouchel and the Pouchel Classic.

Aircraft

References

External links

* {{APEV aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of France Companies based in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur