The CEI Free Spirit Mk II, also called the Cabrinha Free Spirit Mark II and the Cabrinha Model 423, is a three-seat American

homebuilt 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 ...

that was designed by Richard Cabrinha and produced by CEI of

Auburn, California Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Placer County, California, United States. Its population was 13,776 during the 2020 census. Auburn is known for its California Gold Rush history and is registered as a California Historical Landmark. Au ...

, introduced 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, Wisconsi ...

in 1995. The aircraft was intended to be supplied as a kit for amateur construction, but only prototypes seem to have been completed.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 131. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Design and development

The design goals of the Free Spirit Mk II included long range, high speed and a high rate of climb. The aircraft features a cantilever

low-wing 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 ...

, a two-seats-in-

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

, plus a

jump seat In aviation, a jump seat or jumpseat is an auxiliary seat for individuals—other than normal passengers—who are not operating the aircraft. In general, the term 'jump seat' can also refer to a seat in any type of vehicle which can fold up out ...

in an enclosed cockpit, retractable

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...

. The aircraft is made from lightweight pre-molded composites. Its span wing employs a NASA NLF(1)-0215F natural laminar flow airfoil, mounts flaps and has a very small wing area of , giving a high wing loading of 25.0 lb/sq ft (122 kg/m2). The cabin width is . The acceptable power range is and the standard engine used is the

Lycoming IO-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 producing ...

powerplant. The Free Spirit Mk II has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for crew, passengers and baggage is .

Operational history

In 1998 the company reported that two aircraft were flying, but by December 2013 only one example remained registered in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

Specifications (Free Spirit Mk II)

References

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External links

Photo of the prototype Free Spirit Mark II at AirVenture Oshkosh, 1995
Free Spirit Mk II 1990s United States sport aircraft 1990s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft