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Brazil's Wega debuts

wega

Fresh from a 4,000-nautical-mile shakedown cross-country flight, Brazil’s brand-new Wega is attracting a lot of attention at the Sun ’n Fun International Fly-In & Expo in Lakeland, Fla. The Wega is an all-composite, experimental-category airplane built in the Santa Catarina district in Brazil. Inspired by the Falco series of piston singles created by the design legend Stelio Frati, the Wega uses a single-piece wood spar reinforced by a carbon fiber outer layer. Its cabin and exterior dimensions are larger than the Falcos. Even so, to look at the Wega is to summon up a single word: slippery.

Powered by a Superior XP360 engine of 180-horsepower and an MT three-blade composite propeller, the two-seat, retractable-gear Wega turns in max cruise speeds of 190 knots on a fuel burn of just 8 gph. Maximum endurance is listed as 6.5 hours. A Dynon Skyview avionics suite consisting of a PFD and an MFD is standard.

Two Wegas made the 24-hour trip to Sun ’n Fun from Brazil, and these demonstration models are now up for sale at a price of $250,000 apiece. According to company representatives, two orders have been placed. For the rest of us, we’ll have to wait a year before the factory can make up the first kits, which will sell for $200,000. Construction time is estimated at 2,000 hours. Visit the website for more information.

Thomas A. Horne
Thomas A. Horne
AOPA Pilot Editor at Large
AOPA Pilot Editor at Large Tom Horne has worked at AOPA since the early 1980s. He began flying in 1975 and has an airline transport pilot and flight instructor certificates. He’s flown everything from ultralights to Gulfstreams and ferried numerous piston airplanes across the Atlantic.
Topics: Navigation, Training and Safety, Sun 'n Fun

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