Stopping by Sonex Aircraft the morning of January 28, Mark Schaible greeted me with the news that its single-seater, the Onex, had made its first flight the day before. It passed its FAA inspection just after noon, added Sonex Founder John Monnett, and Jeremy Monnett lifted it from Runway 27 at Oshkosh’s Wittman Regional Airport just after 3 p.m.
“It was a cold, gray day with low ceilings, and Onex was at the back of the hangar, so we just folded the wings and rolled it by the other airplanes,” said John. “It just takes two seconds to fold and unfold, and it was well worth the effort to build the mechanism.”
Clearly a proud father, John said the Onex project was conceived and led by son Jeremy, Sonex’s general manager and CEO. “Not that we all didn’t have some input, but he’s the main guy on it.” On the test flight, Jeremy said the Onex indicated 165 mph. Finishing the sentence, Mark said that they hadn’t yet calibrated the pitot/static system, so the figure, while close, was not official. Still, it’s not bad for a VW powered single-seater, John said.
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