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Pegazair, so little known

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Wrongway John

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
230
Location
Wichita Falls, TX
Back to searching for a bush plane to build, with Bearhawk still the leading contender for my tastes, but haven’t put any money down yet. The Pegazair certainly intrigues me, but good luck getting much info on this plane. One can easily cull through the entire internet, youtube and all, and have pretty much everything read and video seen by it in one short evening. I have yet to read from the Yahoo boards, I hear there is a group there that has contributed the most info, but for some reason, I have hell getting on to Yahoo. Signed up one day for it, only for the next day for it to tell me it had been too long since my last visit, and therefore my account is being recycled. A week later, still having issues.

Anyone that is familiar with Zenith 701’s and 750’s, probably have heard of Pegazair. They have the S-100 and then the SP-100. Upon first glance, it’s easy to mistake the Pegazair for a clone of these particular Zenith aircraft, and while they look similar, they are definitely built along different lines. And with Zenith opting for nearly all tri-cycle gear, while all the Pegazair I am seeing are tailwheel.

As some know, Pegazair had the original wings that automatically retracted on Zenith aircraft. For whatever reason, Heinz opted out and decided to go with the fixed slats, and took a huge cruise penalty along with it. Pegazair decided to build their own plane around their original wings. They also went with what many traditional bush planes go with, and decided on a 4130 chromoly frame for the fuselage, covered with fabric, while Zenith went aluminum frame and skins for the fuselage as well. For the wings, Pegazair went with aluminum framework and skin. Bearhawk planes and others also go this route. Pegazair planes generally go with traditional engines like Continental and Lycoming, although some have went with Rotax.

I’ve been to the Tapanee Aircraft site which is apart of Pegazair. Not all that much on it as well. Michel is up in Canada, and spends most of his time in the shop, but he does get back with you in e-mail, just give him a few days. Anyway, I’m curious if anyone can attest to the quality of their kits? They certainly are affordable enough. You can also opt for the plans version, but with this plane, since he only sells plans without a construction manual, and with the lack of info on this plane, this looks like a project for somebody that has already built another plans built aircraft before.

I got a chance at Oshkosh in 2009 to take a good look at the 701’s and 750’s by Zenith. They were beautifully done for the most part, but one thing I certainly didn’t like was the top part of the wings. I distinctly remember this on the 750, (can’t remember on the 701) certain parts of the wing were wavy up top, and this from a professional shop that had put the planes together. What gives? Do others go a different route, maybe slightly thicker skins here, or has come up with something else? I’ve heard they use only .016 skin up there. Does Pegazair go with the same thin skins? If so, are they as wavy? I’ve only seen one good pic shot of the Pegazair on top of their wings, and that is the one on their home page, and at least there, it looks smooth and tight.

Pegazair has been in business a long time, but only have maybe a dozen of their planes in the states, and I think I heard 50 or more in Canada. Another told me Michel says he stresses quality over quantity. That may be, but I guess he’s never heard of Dick VanGrunsven. You can have both, but I guess Michel likes a slower approach to things, and nothing wrong with that, but he sure has cut out a lot of his viable market.

I’ve did search engines on this site for Pegaziar as well, and there are very few threads, with the posts very few as well. Has anyone learned anymore about this plane? Ever seen one up close? I know there are going to be a few Pegazair SP-100’s at Oshkosh this year, no word yet on any of the S-100’s which is the one I’d like to take a closer look at.
 
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