Shark Aero Shark ZK-SAS/2 First Flight on 11-12-2024

Yesterday I was fortunate to be able to be at Kaipara Flats airfield to help Bruce Stevenson with pulling a couple of aircraft out of the hangar to enable him to release his new Shark 600 microlight out into the wild.  It is the first of this type of microlight to arrive in New Zealand and it comes with serious credentials as it is the same type of microlight that Zara Rutherford flew solo around the world in 2021/22 to become the youngest female pilot to do so at 19, and her little brother Mack Rutherford also flew around the world in 2022 in another Shark becoming the youngest earthrounder at age 17.  The Shark is unique among microlights in New Zealand to date (I think) by being a tandem 2 seater.  (Actually that is not true because the barber Snark was a tandem 2 seater).

The Shark is manufactured by Shark Aero of Slovakia and is of all carbon fibre and kevlar construction, and as mentioned above is a tandem 2 seater.  It has side stick controllers for both cockpits.  Its length is 6.7 metres and its wingspan is 7.9 metres, with a wing area of 9.5 square metres.  The empty weight is around 300 Kg and MAUW in New Zealand is 598 Kg.  The Shark is powered by a Rotax 912 ULS of 100 HP and that power gives incredible performance with a Shark in France holding the FAI Speed record for its class of 303 km/hr set in 2015.

Bruce's Shark ZK-SAS2 (c/n 067) is a factory re-manufactured example that has flown for 5 years as OM-5333 in Slovakia.  Its trim and registration are of silver reflective material which can make it hard to photograph the registration on the curved fuselage side.  You really need it to be reflecting something dark which I managed to do with the hanger in the above photo.

But not in this photo in the open air!

The take off roll was short with only Bruce on board, and I just managed to get this uncropped shot as he whizzed past.  You can see the trailing link main undercarriage and big flaps well in this shot.

And in this shot you can see the narrower fuselage with the tandem seating configuration, which no doubt helps with its performance.  A mean machine!