SE-1 Was Kept Hush-Hush to Make Its Debut at AirVenture

In classic AirVenture ‘spirit’, every year brings an abundance of fresh designs for visitors to ogle at. It’s not as common, however, that exhibitors show up with a fully certified and unbelievably affordable S-LSA that has been completely kept from the public eye… and Spirit Engineering has done just that with its SE-1.

The single-seat SE-1 was deliberately kept off the radar until it arrived in Oshkosh, where four aircraft made the cross-country trip from Grand Junction, Colorado… and burned just 88 gallons of gas between them.

Spirit Engineering made the aircraft basic in all the right ways. From the engine to the airframe, the SE-1 is a completely clean-sheet, American-made design with no plans for deluxe packages or luxury variants. It features MGL digital instruments, basic VFR capability, and folding wings that function like the Grumman Sto-Wing to tuck against the fuselage with just a couple minutes of work.

And yes, you did read that right: Spirit designed a completely new engine to fit the SE-1’s unique requirements. The Spirit V2 is a two-cylinder, four-stroke, inverted V that runs on mogas or avgas. It claims to have been tested far beyond the minimum ASTM requirements and to meet the company’s target of 100 mph cruises at 2 gallons per hour.

“We started with a different engine; we had an airframe we liked. We ultimately decided, the only way we were going to have a reliable source of an engine for our airplane was we’re going to have to be in control of it,” said Spirit Engineering President Steve Wood. “That means we had to design and develop it, and that’s what we did.”

Spirit received S-LSA approval for the build on July 8 and flew the first set of production aircraft just three days later. The plant is already tooling up for multiple aircraft per day, with 21 airframes already built. Spirit is slated to open its books in fall 2025 at a ready-to-fly price of $69,500.

The company’s collection was seen at its AirVenture booth, #218 near Hangar D… and trust us, this was not one to miss.

FMI: https://spiriteng.com