Starfire Firebolt


The Starfire Firebolt, sometimes called the Starfire Firebolt Convertible, due to its removable canopy, is an American homebuilt aerobatic biplane that was designed by G. H. "Mac" McKenzie and produced by Starfire Aviation of Tempe, Arizona. When it was available the aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction, with some pre-fabricated parts available.

Design and development

The Firebolt was developed from the Steen Skybolt and features a biplane layout with interplane struts, cabane struts and flying wires, a two-seats-in-tandem open, or optionally, enclosed cockpit under a bubble canopy that slides back, fixed conventional landing gear with wheel pants and a single engine in tractor configuration.
The aircraft is made of mixed construction, with a welded steel tubing, aluminum and wooden structure, all covered in doped aircraft fabric. Its span wing employs a NACA 63A015/0012 airfoil and has a wing area of. The cockpit width is. The acceptable power range is and the standard engine used is the Lycoming IO-540 powerplant. With that engine the aircraft has a cruise speed of and an initial climb rate of 4,000 ft/min.
The Firebolt has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of, giving a useful load of. With full fuel of the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage is.
The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a engine is and the landing roll is.
The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied plans as 3000 hours.

Operational history

By 1998 the company reported that six aircraft were completed and flying.
In March 2014 eight examples were registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration, although a total of nine had been registered at one time.

Specifications (Firebolt)