Spirit Engineering SE-1

I will admit to having a weak spot for polished aircraft, particularly vintage aircraft, whether it be a DC-3, an original Electra, a P-51, a P-38, you name it. Throw in some Art Deco styling, and I’m a goner. Also looking at you Globe/Temco Swifts, especially polished ones. 

So it should be no surprise that around a year ago, I was absolutely captivated, gob-smacked, and smitten with the new Spirit Engineering SE-1 airplane that it made its debut with a four-aircraft appearance at EAA Airventure. Unlike most new aircraft offerings, there were no preliminary sketches or a static prototype to generate interest. Instead, like the Greek goddess Athena, the SE-1 sprang forth fully formed and ready to go, the result of nearly ten years of careful development. Unfortunately, I was not at Oshkosh to see it, which is why the SE-1 was on the short list of aircraft I was really hoping to see this past spring at Sun n’ Fun. In the meantime, I had been following Spirit Engineering on social media and consuming everything I could find on the airplane. Yeah, smitten.

I had no idea when it might be there, and quite literally stumbled across the SE-1 in front of the vintage aircraft cabin. It did not disappoint. This is a jewel of an airplane, in the manner of a fine Swiss watch. I appreciate clever, and there is a lot of clever engineering in the SE-1.

I did not have the opportunity to fly the airplane, but I did get to spend quite a few minutes poking around on it, and even had the opportunity to sit inside. Thank you to designer and company owner Steve Wood for that. 

Where to even start with rhapsodizing over this airplane? The first thing you notice, besides the gorgeous 1930’s air-racer looks, is the diminutive size (in a good way), and with the wings folded, it is really compact in the manner of a Lotus Elan or original Miata. The SE-1 is all-metal in fabrication, and the skin is unmarred and unblemished; assembling this with no scratches or even tiny dings is no mean feat.  I spotted only a few pull-rivets, with the rest being AD3 solid rivets, which make for a clean appearance.  As Woods noted, they are squeezed, not driven, which means no “quilting” or other surface deformation, all of which contributes to the overall tidiness of the construction.  Woods also mentions that he looks for employees with attention and dedication to precision and detail, and from there will teach them aircraft construction, as it is much easier to do that than the other way around. That philosophy is evident in the fit and finish of the delivered product. 

The airplane is “ate up with clever,” as some of my relatives would say. For instance, the special tool used for removing the locking pin that secures the wing in the flight position looks remarkably like a ball lock pin (I’m pretty sure it is), which is used to extract the aforementioned wing pin for folding. Very clever. Stowed in the wing leading edge is a rod-type brace used to secure the wing tip to a fitting built into the vertical fin. Again, more cleverness. The wing-fold itself is very reminiscent of the manual mechanism on a Grumman Wildcat and is accomplished in just a few minutes. Per Woods, “If it takes more than 5 minutes [to fold the wings], it is a failure, it won’t get used.” Well said, given how it is more theoretical than practical for some aircraft with “folding” wings (glaring over at my Spezio…). Very nifty.

Look closely at the tips of the wings, the horizontal tail, and vertical fin and you’ll see the wing skins are attached to curved tubing. The ends of the wing skins have gentle scallops between the rivets, allowing the skins to lay flat to the tubing without puckering in between. As a friend of mine astutely pointed out, most of the sheet metal is actually flat-wrapped such that it looks like a compound curve, but it’s not. That isn’t to say that there are no compound curves on the airplane, but they are far fewer than you think at first glance. Again, very clever.

Looking at in-flight photos or standing outside the parked airplane, the cockpit opening looks impossibly small because, well, it is. If someone is inside, what you see is the pilot’s head behind a small windscreen, but that isn’t the full story. Actual ingress and egress come from flipping up the whole top part of the cockpit, which has the surrounding structure, and the windscreen, plus two side windows for additional visibility. With the top open, there is plenty of room for climbing in and out.

At the top of the panel is a substantial looking leather strap which Wood will tell you is not cosmetic and is there to grab onto for getting out or lowering oneself into place. Indeed it is, and well placed. Once seated, the cockpit is plenty roomy for yours truly’s size 11 sneakers and fat muscular legs: ditto on shoulder room. With the cockpit closed, you find yourself with your head poking up behind the windscreen, but not feeling confined. The windscreen is shaped such that, according to Wood, if one were so inclined, one could probably smoke a cigarette due to the lack of turbulence inside the cockpit. As it is, wearing a ball cap in flight is not a problem, based on his comments and seeing in-flight photos and video. It looks cozy and makes me think of driving a British sports car with a tonneau cover, leaving just the driver’s upper body exposed.

Instrumentation is a number of 2-1/4 inch diameter electronic instruments with a large space in the middle of the panel for an iPad mini to be used for navigation or other purposes. As can be seen in the accompanying photos, elevator trim and the small number of switches are located on the right, with throttle and mixture on the left.

I did not have an opportunity to fly the aircraft, but a few numbers from the company website: 100 mph cruise at 75% power, with 1.8 to 2.2 gph (not a typo!) fuel consumption on 42 horsepower. Again, that is not a typo. Not wanting to be dependent upon a third-party for their power plant, Spirit Engineering designed their own engine in house, and it is a two-cylinder inverted-V engine displacing 79 cubic inches.  The result is sufficient ponies for the 740 pound gross weight and a rather pleasant sounding exhaust note, based on listening to online videos.

And if you’re wondering “Is that sufficient enough?,” it should be noted that the airport in Grand Junction Colorado has a field elevation of 4,861.

My only issue with this airplane is that were I to procure one, I would want to share the flight experience with others. Listening to conversation and comments around me, I was not the only one at Sun ‘n Fun asking about the possibility of a two seater, but Wood commented that they are selling every SE-1 they can build right now. I can certainly believe it, but hopefully if there is enough demand, their second model will be a similar looking two seater.

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This feature first appeared in the 2026 September Issue of KITPLANES magazine.