Zenith Aircraft Hosts Fly In to Summer Open House

By Carmelo Turdo

Zenith Aircraft Company held their Fly In to Summer open house on Saturday at their Mexico, MO Memorial Airport facility. Those new to Zenith Aircraft toured the factory and checked out the aircraft on display, including the low-wing, bubble canopied CH650 and the very popular, slatted-wing CH750 STOL that can take off and land from almost anywhere. Current builders and owners traded stories and picked up tips of the trade learned through their own experience. 

Zenith Aircraft Company owner, Sebastien Heintz, was on hand to meet with visitors throughout the event. He is optimistic about the experimental and light sport aircraft market, and the demand for Zenith products remains strong. Zenith Aircraft recently completed an expansion of their factory that will allow additional space for kit manufacturing, builder construction stations and a showroom for new aircraft and exhibits. Heintz believes that the expansion of the light sport aircraft category as defined in the pending MOSAIC regulations will expand access to aviation, and that current light sport aviation aircraft types will still provide the best combination of economy, performance and modern avionics available into the future. 

Zenith demo aircraft were parked outside of the factory hangar, and more were flown in by their owner/builders. Special guest National STOL Series Sport Class pilot Justin Tisdale arrived with his CH750 STOL No. 18 with an un-cowled Viking 130 engine and Alaska bush tires. 

The Zenith Aircraft Company was formed in 1992 to manufacture kit-built aircraft in their Mexico, Missouri facility featuring the Zenair designs from Chris Heintz. In addition to the excellent design of the aircraft models offered in kit form, the company maintains generous customer service and building assistance programs that make the purchase and building processes more successful. Advanced technology manufacturing techniques have made the parts relatively easy to assemble, and the numerous hands-on workshops give ample opportunity for new kit owners to assemble one sub-assembly at a time as they progress through the building process.  Each aircraft is designed to offer ease of assembly, fuel economy and desirable flight performance envelope.  

The Aero Experience thanks Zenith Aircraft for hosting their summer open house and fly-in, and we look forward to visiting with them again later this year.