Shark.Aero spol. s.r.o. is a Slovak

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. ...

based in

Senica Senica (; ; ) is a town in Trnava Region, western Slovakia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the Záhorie lowland, close to the Little Carpathians. Etymology The name is derived from the word ''seno'' ' hay' with the suffix ''-ica'' us ...

. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of ready-to-fly

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...

. Its sole product is the Shark.Aero Shark, produced in several models since 2006.

History

The company was co-founded by designers Vladimír Pekár and Jaroslav Dostál and began operations and design work on the

Shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

ultralight in 2006. The company is organized as a

spoločnosť s ručením obmedzeným (abbreviation or ; literal translation: “company with limited liability”) is a Slovak law business entity, the legal structure for a private limited liability company. It is the rough equivalent of United States LLC and United Kingdom ...

, a Slovak

private limited company A private limited company is any type of business entity in Privately held company, "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a Public company, publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Example ...

.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 75. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 79. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. The concept for the Shark aircraft was first announced at the

AERO Friedrichshafen AERO Friedrichshafen is a trade show dedicated to European general aviation. It is held yearly in April on the shores of Lake Constance at the exhibition center of Friedrichshafen, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Ger ...

aviation expo in Germany in 2007. In 2008, the company completed work on the first prototype of its Shark aircraft and it first flew in 2009. In 2011, the company delivered the first three Shark aircraft to foreign customers in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 2012, the company completed the sale of six new aircraft to customers. 2013 saw the company receive the Czech Republic's type certificate LAA ČR, as well as the German type certificate Deutscher Aero club e.V. Six to eight Shark planes were built and sold between 2013 and 2015, with plans to increase deliveries up to twelve a year in late 2016. The Shark aircraft has also received three awards, the Flieger Award 2012, and the Aerokurier 2015 and Aerokurier 2016 awards for "Ultralight of the Future", in two consecutive years.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.shark.aero/ (English version) Aircraft manufacturers of Slovakia Ultralight aircraft Light-sport aircraft Manufacturing companies established in 2006 Slovakian companies established in 2006 Slovak brands