While making the rounds of the newer SportPlanes at Arlington 2004, I had the chance to spend some quality time with Pacific AeroSport's Chris Klix. You many remember Chris from his Glasair days and from his work with OMF aircraft, but right now he is importing one of the cutest little single seat composite airplanes we've seen in many years.

The Twister, designed by Silence Aircraft of Verl, Germany, and built by DG Flugzeugbau of Bruchsal, Germany, is to be sold in the USA and Canada in fast-build kit form by Pacific AeroSport, LLC. It is equipped with a BRS 1050 ballistic parachute recovery system, attached to a cockpit "safety cell" using technology borrowed from the Formula 1 racing world.

The Twister's Jabiru 2200 engine, coupled with electrically retractable landing gear, will provide a 146-mile per hour cruise, with a very low fuel burn of only 3 gallons per hour. The carbon fiber and fiberglass structure uses Nomex honeycomb cores for a light and stiff airframe. The wings and tail structure follows DG glider design practice, allowing quick and easy removal for storage in a Cobra trailer. The FAA is in the process of evaluating the Twister fast-build kit for inclusion on the "51%" list, meeting the criteria for Experimental-Amateur built kits.

Quite reminiscent of the highly regarded British Spitfire, the Twister is a lovely little single place retractable geared aircraft powered by a 80 HP Jabiru engine. With incredibly curvy lines, and excellent engineering, the 80 horsepower Twister manages to climb at 1500 fpm and move along at quite a clip -- while burning very little MoGas -- about 3-4 gph. While performance and handling are certainly great concerns when you look at an aircraft, it behooves the erstwhile SportPlane buyer and builder to take a look at the engineering behind the aircraft as well.

Those that take a good hard look at the Twister are going to be amazed. Some of the engineering in this aircraft is quite extraordinary... especially when you consider features that allow the aircraft to break down into lightweight, easily managed subcomponents for transport, in an equally easy, and speedy fashion.

We're also quite intrigued as space by some of the smaller details... such as the LED Nav lights, that are about as "trick" as anything we have ever seen. Developed by the designers of the aircraft, it's one of those little details that lets you know that somebody put a great deal of time and attention into assembling this bird.

The demo bird is still in flight test and the last few issues are getting worked out... but as soon as they do, we're REALLY looking forward to flying this bird. It's high on our "must-fly" list....

FMI: www.pacificaerosport.com