AMS Flight is a manufacturer of

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

motorglider A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight ...

s and

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

aircraft. It is based in

Begunje na Gorenjskem Begunje na Gorenjskem (; german: Vigaun''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146.) is a village in the Municipality of Radovljica in the ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

History

In 1978 the first DG-100 license-built for the ELAN company, a single-seat

sailplane A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailpla ...

, was built by a team of Elan employees at the German company Glaser-Dirks in Bruchsal, Germany. Long-term licensing with Glaser Dirks and later

DG Flugzeugbau DG Flugzeugbau GmbH is a manufacturer of sailplanes and other composite parts based in Bruchsal near Karlsruhe, Germany. History The business was founded in 1973 by Gerhard Glaser and Wilhelm Dirks as Glaser-Dirks Flugzeugbau GmbH. In 2018 th ...

continued. In the then ELAN factory at Begunje glider models DG-100 Elan, DG-300 Elan, DG-500 Elan and DG-1000 were made. The company AMS Flights d.o.o. was established in 1999 to continue the existing aircraft production and took over the entire ELAN FLIGHT division of Elan on 1 September that year. The company's manufacturing facilities are located at Begunje, in the northwest part of Slovenia, close to the borders with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. On 14 November 2001 AMS took over from Technoflug GmbH the production of the Carat

. The Carat is a single-seat, powered glider with the engine in the nose. The Carat was designed in Germany for long-range cruising flights and for soaring. The Magnus, a two-seat, side-by-side version of the Carat is under development by AMS. The AMS product range expanded with the acquisition of the Apis ULA / Sport Class motor-glider program of the Slovenian company Albastar on 30 July 2003. Manufacturing of the Apis continued in AMS until serial number 52. In 2005/06 AMS took over the license for the German-designed sailplanes

Rolladen-Schneider LS4 The Rolladen-Schneider LS4 is a Standard Class single seat glider manufactured by Rolladen-Schneider Flugzeugbau GmbH between 1980 and 2003. Development The LS4, successor to the LS1 in the Standard Class, made its first flight in 1980. It ...

and LS6. These types and their planned developments replaced the manufacture of the DG-300 and DG-500, which was being run down. In 2007 production of the Apis and Bee gliders was transferred to

Pipistrel Pipistrel d.o.o Ajdovščina is a Slovenian light aircraft manufacturer established in 1989Or 1989... --> by Ivo Boscarol and based in Ajdovščina. Its facilities are located in Ajdovščina, Slovenia, and near the town of Gorizia, Italy. By ...

Aircraft produced

To July 2008, Elan and AMS had built the following gliders and aircraft parts: * DG-100 ELAN: 58 sailplanes * DG-101 ELAN: 164 sailplanes * DG-300 ELAN: 444 sailplanes * DG-303 ELAN: 67 sailplanes * DG-500 ELAN: 139 gliders * DG-505 ELAN: 121 gliders * DG-1000S, DG-1000T: 48 sailplanes (AMS works: fuselage lamination and complete sailplane: rough assembly, surfaces finish and final assembly) * Carat A: 26 motor-gliders * Apis, Bee: 40 gliders * LS4-b: 2 sailplanes * Composite components: wings, tailplanes, rudders: over 230 sets for Sky Arrow 450, Sky Arrow 650TC/TCN, Sinus, Virus

Production line

AMS is the sole owner and manufacturer of the Carat. A family of light aircraft and

motor glider A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight ...

s are under development with the names of Magnus, Mingus and Maxus. AMS is continuing{{when, date=November 2019 to supply spare parts to the DG-300, DG-500 and Apis.

External links

AMS flight home page
Aircraft manufacturers of Slovenia Slovenian brands