Watching Just Aircraft's new SuperSTOL descend onto
the Sun 'n Fun International Fly-In and Expo's Paradise
City Runway 9, I thought everything about the plane
screamed rugged! Huge tundra tires complemented
sturdy main-gear struts and high-lift devices extended
from the leading edges. Barn door–size Fowler flaps
and long-chord ailerons reinforced the aircraft's own
dramatic statement of purpose.
For years Just Aircraft's resident designer, Troy Woodland, watched partner Gary Schmidt fly his Helio
Courier from tiny patches of ground—often from Just's
own tiny runway. The Helio Courier inspiration seems
apparent in the execution of the SuperSTOL.
When the Helio Courier showed up in the aviation
marketplace, it deepened the meaning of "short" in the
short takeoff and landing acronym "STOL." Woodland's
latest design for Just Aircraft raises the bar even
further by shortening the runway needed to a level rare
in real-world operations. Watching it land and take off
left little to be surprised at in the runway-performance
arena when it came time to fly. In fact, the most surprising aspect of the SuperSTOL emerged in flight,
EAA Experimenter
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