From 2023 (YouTube Edition): An Eagle by Any Other Name Originally developed as the Yuma by Alisport, an Italian aircraft manufacturer based in the Northern Italian city of Cremella, the Aquilae (ACK-will-lay) is a kit-built, STOL-capable, Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) distributed in the U.S. by Kent, Illinois-based North American Eagle. Aquilae is the Latin term for Eagle. As implied by its eligibility for certification as an LSA, the Aquilae’s maximum gross weight is 1,320-pounds. The aircraft is powered by a one-hundred-horsepower normally-aspirated, carbureted, four-cylinder, four-stroke, liquid-and-air-cooled, Rotax 912 ULS engine. Built entirely with 2024-T3 Alclad aluminum fitted over a 4130 steel tube welded frame, the Aquilae can be had with either a conventional (tail-dragger) or tricycle undercarriage. In addition to being eminently conducive to easy storage the Aquilae’s unique, folding main-wing is fitted with electric flaps and houses a pair of 9.25-gallon fuel-tanks to which the aircraft’s advertised range of between 434 and 508-nautical-miles is ascribed, in part.
