New American-made LSA in the works

Texas Aircraft Manufacturing has introduced the Colt Light-Sport Aircraft, which will feature an aviation-grade aluminum airframe, solid metal rivets, welded chromoly passenger safety cell, and a ballistic parachute system.

“It is our belief that the LSA market is in need of a new American made airplane that delivers the safety, strength, comfort and quality that we are building into the new Colt,” said Matheus Grande, CEO of the Hondo, Texas-based company.

The Colt is based on the INPAER Conquest 180, a Brazilian LSA.

“While this wonderful airplane is the culmination of seemingly endless hours of work by an extremely dedicated team, none of it would have been possible without the guidance of our chief design visionary, Caio Jordão,” he said. “For over 12 years Caio was at the helm of Brazil’s popular INPAER family of aircraft before joining Texas Aircraft.”

“To many of us, Caio is truly the godfather of personal aviation in Brazil,” Grande added. “Caio’s efforts helped a lot of pilots in Brazil realize their dream of aircraft ownership. And that’s what we want to do for the rest of the world with the Texas Aircraft Colt.”

“The Colt was inspired by the INPAER Conquest 180 LSA, so there is a lot of proven engineering and manufacturing behind it,” Jordão noted.

“My son, Diego, our Chief Test Pilot, just loves flying the Colt. He said it is the most fun and easy to fly airplane of all of our designs,” he continued. “And with over 400 INPAER aircraft flying and accumulating more than 150,000 hours of flight time in Brazil, that is saying quite a lot about what an amazing airplane the new Colt really is.”

Grande said that now that the company is up and running in its new production facility based at South Texas Regional Airport in Hondo, Texas, they can concentrate on working the Colt prototype through the requirements to earn ASTM certification.

“We are extremely optimistic that we will have all of the certification requirements completed in time for our official introduction at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh,” he said.