The Sling TSi is a South African four-seat, single-engine, low-wing

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 ...

sold in kit form by Sling Aircraft of Johannesburg South. It was developed from the Sling 4. The Sling TSi first flew in 2018, with kits being shipped to builders in fall 2018.

Design and development

The aircraft was developed in 2018. The Sling TSi is an all-metal, low-wing, fixed

tricycle 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 ...

. The airplane is equipped with the new Rotax 915iS engine and was the inspiration for the designation of TSi. Parts of the wings and fuselage were reinforced and outfitted with flush riveting for increased strength and reduced drag over the Sling 4. The UK Light Aircraft Association has limited the airframe safe life to 1600 hours due to a stress point in the wing design. Additionally, the LAA has deemed the flight characteristics unsuitable for flight in IMC.

Operational history

The first Sling TSi in the USA was shown at

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at the Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wiscon ...

in 2018. In a review for ''KitPlanes'', writer Paul Dye said, "...it lives up to its design goals. We flew with four full sized adults from a field with a density altitude of 9,000' and had to throttle back to keep from exceeding redline when we leveled off at 10,000. Later, operating off of a dry lakebed in the high desert, with temperatures of 100 degrees, we never had to worry about engine cooling - and it handled like a fine touring machine." A company demonstrator Sling TSi flew non-stop from

Torrance, California Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...

, to

Tampa Executive Airport Tampa Executive Airport , formerly known as Vandenberg Airport, is located in unincorporated Hillsborough County, Florida, six nautical miles (11 km) east of the central business district of Tampa. VDF covers 411 acres (166 ha) of land. The a ...

on its way to

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. Located along Interstate 4, I-4 east of Tampa and southwest of Orlando, Florida, Orlando, it is the List of municipalities in Florida, most populous city in Polk County. As of the 2020 ...

for

Sun 'n Fun Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo (officially styled SUN 'n FUN) is a nonprofit organization in Lakeland, Florida dedicated to the promotion of aviation education. It is best known for the annual week-long fly-in and airshow at Lakeland Linder Intern ...

2019 in 13.5 hours. The aircraft carried an additional of fuel over the normal long-range tanks and benefited from tailwinds en route. In July 2019 the company did a ceiling expansion test and flew non-stop from

Wittman Regional Airport Wittman Regional Airport is a county-owned public-use airport located two nautical miles (4 km) south of the central business district of Oshkosh, a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. A large portion at the south e ...

to attend

for 9.75 hours. The aircraft reached a final height of 27,000 feet.

Variants

During EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2019 the development of a new

high-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...

variant, the Sling HW was announced.

Specifications (2020 model Sling TSi)

References

External links