American Sportscopter, Inc., also called American Sportscopter International, Inc., was an American

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry. ...

based in

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s in the form of the Ultrasport line of kits for amateur construction in the homebuilt aircraft and the US

FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles Ultralight aircraft in the United States are much smaller and lighter than ultralight aircraft as defined by all other countries. In the United States, ultralights are described as "ultralight vehicles" and not as aircraft. They are not requ ...

categories.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', pages 318-319. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page F-6. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. Downey, Julia: ''2005 Trikes 'Chutes and Rotorcraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 22, Number 2, February 2005, page 54. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851 The company was formed before 1998 and seems to have gone out of business by 2010. The company's first product was the

American Sportscopter Ultrasport 254 The American Sportscopter Ultrasport 254 is an American helicopter that was designed and produced by American Sportscopter and first flown in July 1993. The aircraft was produced by Light's American Sportscopter Inc from 1999. The aircraft was ...

, a single-seat helicopter with an empty weight of for the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles category. This was followed by a heavier and more capable single-seat design for the homebuilt category, the

American Sportscopter Ultrasport 331 The American Sportscopter Ultrasport 331 is an American helicopter that was designed and produced by American Sportscopter of Newport News, Virginia. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur c ...

. There was also a two-seat trainer, the

American Sportscopter Ultrasport 496 The American Sportscopter Ultrasport 496 is an American helicopter that was designed and produced by American Sportscopter of Newport News, Virginia. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur c ...

. All models were named for their empty weight, in pounds.

Aircraft

References

External links

Official website archives
on

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{American Sportscopter aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Helicopters