Sonex Aircraft, LLC is an American
kit aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...
manufacturer located in
Oshkosh,
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, producing kits for four all-metal homebuilt
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
s. The company was founded in 1998 by John Monnett, who has designed the
Monnett Sonerai
The Sonerai is a small, Volkswagen air-cooled engine, VW-powered homebuilt aircraft,["The ...](_blank)
sport aircraft series,
Monnett Monerai
The Monnett Monerai is a sailplane that was developed in the United States in the late 1970s for homebuilding. It is a conventional pod-and-boom design with a V-tail and a mid-mounted cantilever wing of constant chord.
The kit assembles in app ...
sailplane,
Monnett Moni __NOTOC__
The Monnett Moni is a sport aircraft developed in the United States in the early 1980s and marketed for homebuilding.
Designed by John Monnett, who coined the term "air recreation vehicle" to describe it, it is a single-seat motorglid ...
motorglider, and
Monnett Monex
The Monnett Monex is a single seat, all-aluminium, Volkswagen powered, homebuilt racer.
Design and development
The Monex shares the same aluminium construction and basic fuselage shape as the Monnett Moni and the later Sonex Aircraft Sonex
...
racer. Monnett designs are displayed in the
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous e ...
of the National Air and Space Museum near Washington D.C.
In June 2018, John Monnett announced his plan to retire and sell the company.
In January 2022, Sonex employee and general manager, Mark Schaible, purchased the assets of Sonex Aircraft LLC and Sonex Aerospace LLC, forming them into a new company, Sonex LLC. Schaible will be owner and president of the new company.
Aircraft
In 2013, the FAA National Kit Evaluation Team (NKET) approved fast-build "51% rule" versions of the Sonex, Waiex, and Onex.
In December 2019 the John Monnett-designed
Sonerai
The Sonerai is a small, VW-powered homebuilt aircraft,["The Sonerai I,"](_blank)
GreatPlai ...
was acquired by Sonex Aircraft.
Engines
Company subsidiary AeroConversions manufactures the
AeroConversions AeroVee Engine
The AeroConversions Aerovee Engine is a kit-built engine for homebuilt aircraft based on the Volkswagen air-cooled engine.
Design and development
The AeroVee engine is manufactured and marketed by AeroConversions, a part of Sonex Aircraft
...
, a custom aircraft implementation of the
Volkswagen air-cooled engine
The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is an air-cooled, gasoline-fuelled, boxer engine with four horizontally opposed cast-iron cylinders, cast aluminum alloy cylinder heads and pistons, magnesium-alloy crankcase, and forged steel crankshaft and co ...
.
Hornet's Nest
The Hornet's Nest is the research and development arm of Sonex LLC.
E-flight
At
AirVenture
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, ...
2007, Sonex Aircraft announced a project to work on innovative technologies in aviation. The E-flight projects includes using an
electric motor
An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...
,
ethanol-based fuels, and other
power plant
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many pow ...
alternatives. In December 2010, an all-electric Waiex was test flown from Wittman field in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh.
History
Oshkosh was ...
. The aircraft was flown with a brushless DC electric motor, managed by a newly designed controller. Power is from a collection of 14.5 kW-hour lithium polymer batteries, giving the aircraft an endurance of one hour at low-speed cruise or 15 minutes of aerobatics.
This was the beginning of the development of the
Sonex Electric Sport Aircraft
The Sonex Electric Sport Aircraft (ESA) was a two-place (one place with additional batteries) aircraft design that was under development by Sonex Aircraft, using the Sonex e-Flight electric system for thrust. Sonex designed this aircraft as a ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Monnett aircraft
Aircraft manufacturers of the United States
Monnett aircraft
Aviation in Wisconsin
1998 establishments in Wisconsin
American companies established in 1998
Manufacturing companies established in 1998
Oshkosh, Wisconsin