Kolb Flyer and Sport 600

Kolb Flyer Powered Parachute

Pelican Sport 600

The New Kolb Aircraft Company has already gone through a few interesting phases since acquiring the company from second-generation owner Dennis Souder (who for years was associated with founder and namesake, Homer Kolb).
First, the Kentucky company took over building the several models from Souder’s Kolb. These included the FireStar, FireFly, SlingShot, and Mark III. Kolb and then Souder worked on and flew the low-wing Laser but it never came to market.
Shortly after acquiring the business, The New Kolb Aircraft Company relocated all production from Kolb’s farm factory in Pennsylvania. The process appeared to go smoothly – models continued to be delivered as
though little had changed. Then it started.

In the second phase of The New Kolb Aircraft Company ownership, company owner Bruce Chesnut hired West Coast aerodynamicist Barnaby Wainfan to redesign the company’s Mark III. He created the Mark III Xtra with a significantly enlarged and restyled nose fairing. Buyers got sharper lines and more foot room. Wainfan’s second project was a stretching and enlargement of the SlingShot to become the Kolbra and King Kolbra (the latter being primarily a larger engine configuration).
Phase III is the acquisition era of The New Kolb Aircraft Company. Chesnut went shopping up north, adding the Canadian Powered Parachutes design to his collection. They cleverly renamed the powered parachute as the Kolb Flyer in a nod to one of Homer’s original designs. The old model was a predecessor to the FireStar but the new powered parachute promotes ultralight flying in the same low-and-slow way of the earlier Kolb Flyer.
Chesnut was evidently satisfied enough with his Canadian purchase to continue his buying spree, adding the distribution rights to another Canadian project in anticipation of the proposed Light-Sport Aircraft rule: Ultravia Aero International’s Pelican Sport 600. The New Kolb Aircraft Company appears to have one of the most complete model lines in light aviation.
The New Kolb Aircraft Company will manufacture some parts of the Pelican aircraft and will buy other parts from the Canada-based supplier as part of their distribution agreement. New Kolb owner Bruce Chesnut is building a taildragger version of the Sport 600 for himself. Brown reports it will be all dressed up with appealing features for the company’s use at airshows.
From a powered parachute (the Kolb Flyer), to a Part 103 entry (the FireFly), to a more powerful Experimental ultralight (the FireStar), to two pairs of 2-seaters (the Mark III Classic and Xtra plus Kolbra and King Kolbra), and an entry to FAA’s proposed Light-Sport Aircraft category (Pelican Sport), The New Kolb Aircraft Company becomes close to one-stop airplane shopping.
Better keep an eye on The New Kolb.