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Texas Colt: Big Airplane Handling

So in a market already choked with more choices than even the most diligent buyer can sort through, how can a late entrant hope to distinguish itself from the crowd? Texas Aircraft appears to be charging into the market with a two-place LSA that aspires to eventually achieve Part 23 certification and a follow-on four-place model, an ambition expressed by at least one other manufacturer-Flight Design-but thus far not achieved. Yes, Tecnam is noted here, but Tecnam began life in the world of certified aircraft and morphed downhill into the ultralight/light sport world.

Paul Bertorelli
Verified

The idea behind the light sport aircraft rule was to stimulate new designs at affordable prices. “Affordable” is arguable, but the new designs are out there in such volume that few models have been able to rise above the noise as standouts.

The latest effort comes from a new company called Texas Aircraft with a design called the Colt. Priced at $167,000, the aircraft itself is what you’d expect of an LSA-100-knot cruise, adequate climb, sub-500-pound payload and a price that puts it in the middle of the light sport spectrum. A basic Colt model, the S, sells for $10,000 less.

Paul Bertorelli

Paul Bertorelli is Aviation Consumer’s Editor at Large. In addition to his valued contributions to Aviation Consumer, his in-depth video productions on sister publication AVweb cover a wide variety of topics that greatly contribute to safety, operation and aircraft ownership. When Paul isn’t writing or filming, he’s out flying his J3 Cub.