RANS S 17 Stinger(s) of New Zealand

The RANS S 17 Stinger replaced the single seat S 14 Airaile in the RANS lineup, first appearing in September 1999.  It had parts of the S 14 but it reverted back to the S 4 wing of 127 square feet (there is a lot of mix and match with the various RANS wings).  It was 17 feet 4 inches (5.28 metres) in length and had a wingspan of 29 feet 6 inches (8.99 metres).  Empty weight was around 252 pounds (114 Kg) and MAUW was 628 pounds (285 Kg).  It could have a nose pod or be flown exposed to the wind.  Power was from either a Rotax 447 or 503 which gave a cruise speed of around 60 mph, and the stall speed was around 28 mph.  Production ceased in June 2006.

We have had only one S 17 Stinger in New Zealand, as below:

ZK-EEE was first registered to Greg Burt of Queenstown on 22/6/07.  It is photo'd above on 18/12/11 by Blue Bus at Rangitata Island, where it is currently based.

We probably won't see more S 17s in New Zealand, but you never know.