U-Turn GmbH is a German
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 indust ...
originally based in
Villingen-Schwenningen and later in
Tuningen
Tuningen is a Gemeinde (municipality) located in the Schwarzwald-Baar district in the middle of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The municipality belongs to the administrative authority (''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'') of Villingen-Schwenningen.
Geogr ...
. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of
paraglider
Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like ' ...
s in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft, particularly for
aerobatics
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glide ...
.
[Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 34. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ]
The company was founded by Thomas Vosseler and Ernst Strobl in 2002. One early innovation was offering glider purchase financing through an owners' club.
U-Turn is organized as a
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
A ''Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung'' (, abbreviated GmbH and also GesmbH in Austria; ) is a type of Juristic person, legal entity common in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (where it is equivalent to a ''société à responsabilité limità ...
(GmbH), a German
Limited liability company
A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...
.
The company's first product was the
U-Turn Infinity, an intermediate glider designed for easy handling and safety.
By 2016 they had a full line of gliders for all levels of pilots, plus aerobatics, including a two-place aerobatic glider, the
U-Turn Twinforce.
Aircraft
Summary of aircraft built by U-Turn GmbH:
*
U-Turn Annapurna
*
U-Turn Blacklight
*
U-Turn Blackout
*
U-Turn Emotion
*
U-Turn Eternity
*
U-Turn Everest
*
U-Turn Evolution
*
U-Turn Infinity
*
U-Turn Lightning
*
U-Turn Paramotion
*
U-Turn Passenger
*
U-Turn Redout
*
U-Turn Trinity
*
U-Turn Twinforce
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.u-turn.de/
Aircraft manufacturers of Germany
Paragliders
Companies established in 2002
2002 establishments in Germany
German brands