Tamzin Hindmarch
Small aircraft mean big business for Slipstream president Michael Puhl who has turned his hobby into a thriving enterprise.
The Revelation can be seen sitting pretty in front of the USA conference hall at the airshow like a large model aeroplane, and like a model, can be bought in kit form to build at home.
But the difference is that once you have made this or one of Puhl's other two kits, the Genesis or Dragonfly, you can fly them.
Puhl's background was automation but his heart was in aviation, so he set up a company which would market plans and later sell kits to other recreational pilots.
But his planes have proved so popular that he now intends to target the commercial market with the hope that his aircraft will be used for example for crop-spraying, surveillance or search and rescue operations in remote areas.
Cruise
In flight, the 52hp Revelation can climb at a rate of 1,000ft (300m) per minute, cruise at 55kt (100km/h) and needs just 22m (75ft) to take off or land.
Slipstream is growing so rapidly that it is having to move from its base in Davenport, Iowa, to Wisconsin where Puhl expects to speed up production to cope with the demand. Soon he hopes to establish distributors in Europe too.
"We are doing extremely well, but most of our business is still in the USA, so we are here in Paris to explore opportunities, not just in Europe but in other countries too."
Source: Flight Daily News
