Fellow BTers, I would love to get a small taildragger plane to gain some experience with that type of flying. I got my tail wheel endorsement (and first 8-10 hours) in Alaska, and I was hooked on that style of airplane. I have been looking in the loght versions of this with a ROTAX or similar power plant. I’ve been seeing the Avid planes come up every now and again at pretty reasonable price points. Is this a dumb plane to buy? What are the pros and cons? Hopefully y’all have some experience and are willing to share

No direct experience but met the Reader brothers in ID years ago and they are huge fans of the design. Jim Reader is a world class aviation photographer and Brian is equally talented. If those guys like it, it’s worth taking a closer look. Good luck.

Some Avids have plywood flaperon hinge hangars. These are extensions of the wing ribs. Moisture can run off the wing top or internal structure and rot the plywood. The wing has a curving wire trailing edge so it directs any moisture to these spots. Check there carefully.

Kitfox had a straight trailing edge and aluminum hinges externally mounted.

I do not have experience flying the Avid, my experience was with early Kitfoxes. But I believe it will be similar to fly. Here are some notes from the early Kitfox. Model 4 and earlier. Model 3-4 did have a stronger wing that bent less in cruise. Avid may have a similar design evolution and certain models may be better to look for.

The elevator effectiveness was limited due to the sizing of the elevators to make a trailerable horizontal tail span. This made 3 point landings a bit odd because the elevators deflect far enough to stall the surface. The later models had a longer tailwheel spring to attempt to fix the problem. Stick travel in pitch was excessive and the gearing of the surface meant the amount of travel needed and forces did not match up with the aileron forces very well.

Some have no elevator trim system so adding full flaps also adds full down trim. Pitch forces are light so it's not that bad but a bit odd.

Rudder centering can be an issue. It's not yaw unstable but the surface will not center. If in cruise you tap one rudder pedal the pedal will suck to the floor and stay there. You get used to it eventually but I never liked that.

In level flight the wings bend upward from fuselage to jury strut in a bow then upward again outboard of the main wing strut attach point

Seating is a bit odd with legs out flat to the rudder pedals. Stick is well forward and neutral stick position is about where full down would be on other airplanes. Passenger not flying has trouble finding where to put their feet and be off the pedals. Flat on the floor is not easy due to the flat floor making your ankles over extended forward.

Early Matco brake master cylinders were incredibly cheap with just silicone plugs for check valves in the cylinders. Not real effective. The shaved down ATV tires worked pretty well.

Fiberglass seat pan needs to be checked because if it falls down your sitting on the elevator linkage. It is usually zip tied to the fuselage tubes and the holes in the fiberglass pan can get torn out at the edges. They take the full occupant weight.

Check various parts were not chromed by the builder. Hydrogen embrittlement of pushrods and tail struts may be an issue.

There are various schemes for door catches to hold the doors open. See how they drilled them into the spar and that there are not a bunch of holes.

Fiberglass fuel tanks may not be ethanol compatible. These may be in the wing and fabric covers them.

Check various rubber and Tygon fuel lines and header tank vent connections. Also normal ROTAX service bulletins and carb base rubber couplers for replacement time and condition.

DO NOT fold the wings and trailer without adding the small struts to support the rear wing spar to the horizontal tail attach point. The fuselage upper longerons will kink from the highway stresses even riding in an enclosed trailer and buckle the fuselage behind the cockpit.

I've got a little bit of time in an Avid. One lives in my hangar and I get full access to it when I want to fly it.

Fun little planes. They tend to be cheap to maintain and can take a beating. A lot of the quality will depend on the original builder or how subsequent owners maintained the plane.

Some of the things to look out for: check the spar under the seat. If someone has had a few hard landings on unimproved runways, there could be some cracking. The tail has the same issues. Usually guys are sleeving cracked tubes and adding gussets. The spring tailwheel sucks. Throw that out and get an aftermarket shock and coilover type. Night and day difference.


Performance will depend on powerplant and wing design. The one I fly has a jabaru motor and the stohl wing. Flies about 105 mph and stalls at 32. You can watch the wing flex during turbulence. Always makes me a little uneasy but apparently that's how it was designed. I would stay away from anything with a 2-stroke motor. Just as a rule of thumb, they tend to be lesser build quality. I'm sure there are exceptions to this, just an observation.


They can do light aerobatics but making it do an aileron roll takes just about everything it can do to make it happen. Lots of parasitic drag.


If you plan to fly with folks in the plane, it won't be comfortable for either of you. It's a 1.5 person plane with the width. Control deflection becomes limited with anyone sitting passenger.