Stoddard-Hamilton Glasair I

what is it?

The Glasair I, originally built as the prototype Glasair TD taildragger, is a high-performance homebuilt aircraft built of fiberglass. Created by Tom Hamilton as a fast, two-seat kitplane, the Glasair TD was derived from the earlier Tom Hamilton Glasair and first flew in 1979. Hamilton formed Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft that year to produce and market the kit, which was the first pre-molded composite aircraft available to builders.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 7.4 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 418 km/htop speed
• size 998 kgmax take-off weight
• built 807made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 47 years ago, in 1979.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1979

introduced

1980

number built

807

role

amateur-built kit airplane

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Glasair Aviation

engines

1× Lycoming IO-360 A1B

length

5.9 m

wingspan

7.4 m

height

1.9 m

max take-off weight

998 kg

top speed

418 km/h

cruise speed

324 km/h

range

—

ceiling

5,791 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.