You're Invited to the Zenith Builders Banquet!

Hello everyone!

We're just over a week away from one of the highlights of the convention—our Zenith Builders Banquet at The Mineshaft in Oshkosh! Join us for a fun and relaxing evening filled with great company and some of the best food in town.

Date: Thursday, July 24th (during Convention week)

Location: The Mineshaft, 2041 S Koeller Street, Oshkosh, WI 54902

(Located at the end of Runway 9)

Schedule:…

Fellow Zenith Builders,

It's time once again to announce the Zenith Aircraft Builders Banquet for 2018! Our event will once again be held at the Oshkosh Elks Lodge, 175 West Fernau Ave, in Oshkosh, on Thursday, July 26. As always we have very comfortable seating, our own private bar, award winning food, and door prizes! The full bar will open at 5:30 PM for people that would like to come and relax early. Dinner starts at 7:00 PM. Tickets are once again available at the door…

Here's my report of the 2017 Sun'n Fun fly-in held last week (April 4 - 9) in Lakeland, Florida, with photos and videos of the trip to and from Lakeland from the Zenith Aircraft factory in Mexico, Missouri. Watch the videos for additional info (with narration) and check out some of our Facebook…

We're sharing the following safety alert, that has been published on the Zenith Aircraft website builder and owner resources, to better circulate it with the Zenith flying community.

• Horizontal-Stabilizer-inspection-mandatory-Jan-2017.pdf

The safety alert is based on the…

Today, November 21, is Chris' 78th birthday. While most of you know Chris or are familiar with him and his work, I know many new Zenith builders and owners are not as familiar (since his retirement about six years ago) so below I am sharing an article written by aviation writer and friend Jim Cavanaugh in 2011 for the "Zeniths to Oshkosh" celebrations honoring Chris Heintz at EAA AirVenture.…

If your finished Zenith aircraft isn't flying quite hands-free and is consistently demonstrating a "heavy wing," Roger and Steve from the Zenith Aircraft kit factory provide an easy fix:

Share with us your additional comments and suggestions below, and let us know how this worked.

Here's a brief overview of the pre-flight of the main spring gear of the Zenith STOL CH 701 - to make sure that the aluminum spring gear is properly tightened between the two polyurethane spacers (on both sides).  This is a quick and easy item to check for regularly (and especially after a rough landing):

Older STOL CH701's used pieces of…

Since announcing that we'd purchased the assets of SAM Aircraft earlier this year, Zenith Aircraft demo pilot Roger Dubbert and I recently traveled to Zenair Ltd. in Midland, Ontario, Canada to fly the prototype aircraft (that my brother Nicholas had previously flown back from Quebec). The purpose of…

Zenith Aircraft now supplies its proprietary rivets and riveting system through Aircraft Spruce and Specialty:

The 1/8-inch (A4) and 5/32-inch (A5) blind rivets are available through Aircraft Spruce in batches of 100 each.  The riveter tools, supplied…

Zenith Banquet for 2014

One week to go! With the huge pre-sale response for the Zenith Banquet it looks like this will be a blockbuster! Just a quick recap. The Zenith Builders Banquet will be held on Friday, August 1st at the Oshkosh Elks Lodge. More information can be found on the attached brochure. If the brochure did not attach to this post, you can request one by sending an e-mail to backstagelive@gmail.com and I can E-mail you one.

It's easy to get…

Last Saturday was Zenair's 40th Anniversary Fly-in and Open House, with special guest Chris Heintz, Zenair founder and designer of the CH series of kit aircraft. View photos and details on the event! 

Zenair Marks 40th Year in 2014

One of North America's leading manufacturers of recreational aircraft kits is turning 40 this year. Zenair Limited was founded by Chris Heintz in his 2-car garage in 1974; the company…

Here's the follow up report on a successful 2012 EAA AirVenture "Oshkosh" Fly-In Convention.  Attendance appeared to be good, with strong interest in our aircraft.  We enjoyed meeting with both new and old Zenith builders!

Zeniths at AirVenture 2012 - Summary Video Clip:

Flight to Oshkosh: Roger flies the Zenith CH 650:…

We're ready for our next big adventure at "AirVenture!  - Here is a summary of some of the planned Zenith activities.  We hope you can join us!

I'll be updating this page as I receive new information.…

Download the full issue of the Newsletter (12 pages): ZenairNews190.pdf (May - June 2012)

It is Time for a little…

This is a continuation (See the first post for Day One and Two)

Day #3: First job on Wednesday morning was drilling through all the pilot holes on the main wing. Generous use of clecos ensured…

The following article was published a few years ago in Kitplanes magazine.  While all of us may not agree with all of the author's observations, it's shared here to help Zenith builders, owners and pilots increase their awareness of safety issues in operating their homebuilt kit plane.  We invite you to share your comments below.

Here's a nice series of photos showing a unique banner towing arrangement from this STOL CH 701 light sport utility plane in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean:

#1:  Take-off from water:

#2: The folded banner is on the floating platform, with the towline hanging between the pick up gates on the platform, and a grapple hook trailing behind the airplane:…

Hi Everyone,

Here is a summary of the Zeniths to Oshkosh events:

The Banquet

The Zenith Builder’s Banquet to honor Chris Heintz will be held on Wednesday, July 27th with cocktails starting at 6:30 and dinner following at 7:30.  We have 155 people as of today that have pre-registered. Banquet tickets are still available. If you want to purchase your tickets by mail, please don’t send your money past Thursday, July 21. I can set…