Carlson Sparrow


The Carlson Sparrow is a family of American, high wing, strut-braced, single engine, ultralight aircraft that was designed by Ernst W. Carlson and produced by Carlson Aircraft of East Palestine, Ohio and later Skyline Technologies of Salem, Ohio for amateur construction.

Design and development

First flown in 1987, the original Sparrow Ultralight is a single seater designed as an FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles compliant aircraft with an empty weight within that category's empty weight limit, when equipped with a light enough engine. The Sparrow can also be built in the US homebuilt and light-sport aircraft categories.
The aircraft has a 4130 steel tube frame fuselage and a wing constructed with dual aluminium I-beam spars, with stamped aluminum wing ribs, all covered in doped fabric. The wings are supported by V-struts and jury struts. The landing gear is bungee suspended. The Sparrow has a fully enclosed cockpit design, allowing flying in cooler weather. The Sparrow was available as a kit that includes a pre-welded fuselage and quick-build wings. The power range is and the original standard engine specified was the Rotax 277 with the Rotax 503 as an option, although the additional weight puts the aircraft in the US homebuilt category. Other lightweight engines employed include the Zenoah G-25 and the 2si 215.
The Sparrow can be equipped with skis for winter operations. Construction times from the kit are reported to be 400–500 hours.
The design was named Grand Champion at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh upon its introduction in 1987.

Variants

;Sparrow Ultralight
;Sparrow II
;Sparrow Sport Special
;Sparrow II XTC

Specifications (Sparrow Ultralight)