Zenith Aircraft Company is a designer, developer and manufacturer of kit aircraft.
History
The independent, privately owned company was formed in 1992 in Mexico, Missouri, and is based in 20,000+ sq. ft. production facilities at Mexico Memorial Airport. Zenith Aircraft Company has acquired the rights to manufacture and market Zenair kit aircraft designs from designer Chris Heintz of Zenair Ltd. His son Sebastian is listed as the owner of Zenith Aircraft Company.[1]
Kit designs manufactured by the company include the original two-seat STOL CH 701, a high-wing all-metal short take-off and landing design, the larger STOL CH 801 four-place aircraft, the STOL CH 750 light sport utility kit airplane, and the two-seat CH 650, an all-metal low-wing cruiser. Other than the 801, these designs may be built to meet the FAA's light-sport aircraft (LSA) definition for operation by Sport Pilots.
Zenith Aircraft designs may be built from plans-only (blueprints), selected parts, and from complete kits typically in a few hundred hours.
The company holds two-day hands-on workshops at the factory every month to allow potential builders to gain building experience, tour the factory, and go up for a demo flight in the airplane.
In February 2014, the company announced that it had shipped 10,000 sets of plans to aircraft builders in over 50 countries.[2]
In January 2016, Zenith Aircraft announced that it had purchased the intellectual property including the Sam LS design previously produced by Sam Aircraft, and was planning to produce kits alongside the existing Chris Heintz designs.[3]
