AIRCRAFT

Logo-Norden-blue
The most “Advanced”
LSA in the STOL market

Backcountry Flying

To be able to land “anywhere”, in ridiculously small spaces, with maximum safety, at very low speeds, with an airplane that enables you to overcome the most demanding rough terrains, cannot be only reduced to a number of technical aspects. Because there is simply nothing more emotional and engaging than leaving your daily routine, finally flying to the mountains, reaching that remote valley, to then land beside a twisty river. You jump out of the plane, starting to breathe deeply, after that incredible landing. What a wonderful place, all around you... Instead of the smog and the noise of the city, you now scent pine trees flagrance while the fresh and clean air, simply floods your lungs. You arrived into an unique place, nobody is around you and the only sound is now coming by the smooth flow of that river. You might as well spend a couple of nights there, sleeping inside your own airplane… Why not?
To live this kind of freedom and to offer this kind of performances, represent our vision and what we mean for "Backcountry flying”…

Are you ready to enjoy your next adventure?

LATEST NEWS

SOCIAL

6 days ago

Zlin Aviation
Experimental Amateur Built Category (E-AB) Given the constant demand from potential customers in various Countries, seeking an advanced kit of our Savage Norden, we have finally decided to enter the "Experimental Amateur Built Kit" market. This initiative will not only allow to deliver much faster than the standard production ready-to-fly Nordens, but also offer the possibility of customization (primarily regarding the engine, avionics, and finishes) not achievable with our normal series production.Currently, in the United States, we are working with STOL Creek Aviation LLC to get the kit on the 51% approved list. Our aim is to deliver the plane with the wings pretty much finished, still being of course within the 51% rules, remaining at the same time fully competitive from a price point of view, with our main competitors. Feel free to contact our two American dealers for more news since the first Norden kit has already landed there, followed soon by a second one. The same is already happening in Australia with the help of our local dealer Mr. Leo Moras, who fully understood the potential of this decision for the Australian market too. We will announce something “very soon" also about the South African and British markets, so stay tuned, but we are open of course to fill the desires of all other pilots coming from all over the world.A “Factory build assist program” is planned too, for those who wishes to get this kind of assistance and we will cover at 100%, the Airline Flight Expenses for the first trip up to our factory, to encourage the first 5 customers who will order a kit, in each market.We already made some experience in the past, delivering few kits, with the aim to learn as much as possible, since until today we were mainly focused on the production of ready to fly planes and now finally is the time to launch this new program..Some of these kits are already flying with engines up to 250 hp without any issue so try to imagine your Norden now, with the engine of your dreams (we have already some requests coming from Europe about the Turboprop version of the Norden) and contact us directly for more specific news ...Experimental Amateur Built Nordens are finally available... ... See MoreSee Less
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3 months ago

Zlin Aviation
Post-AERO 2026 considerations, Mosaic 800 kg, DULV Certification, UK Market, Norden "Bobber," and new Dealers...AERO 2026 just ended, and we can draw some final conclusions, knowing that some of these may help to better understand our goals, our construction philosophy, and our overall targets. We also take this opportunity to thank all our customers, dealers, and visitors for the meetings at our stand...The bushflying sector has certainly become much more popular in Europe than ever before, although it still remains a relatively niche sector. If we look at the true masters of bush flying, present for decades in Alaska and Canada, the king of this sector is certainly and will always be the legendary Piper Super Cub, for technical and construction reasons that are more than obvious to us experts…Analyzing the offerings on the LSA and ULM market (not just those on display at the show), we can confidently say that aircraft of this type, "tandem and Rotax-powered," offered in the LSA/ULM sector are actually very few and specifically in Europe, due to regulations on the empty weight of aircraft, they are limited to "perhaps" just a couple of planes, including our one.If we then also analyze the performances and specifically the maximum cruising speed (increasingly important even for a STOL aircraft as it is capable of expanding operational horizons) or the minimum flight speed, not to mention the aircraft's agility, another factor often overlooked in this sector, for tandem aircraft configuration, it is clear once again that the Norden aircraft we presented has a flight envelope that is practically unique and with a ratio between minimum flight speed and Vd of over 6, a value practically unheard of in this specialized LSA/ULM bush plane category. We would also like to point out, after this international exhibition, that our all-metal wing is currently still the only one in the sector with fully retractable, interconnected, electrically controlled slats, offering an additional safety factor in certain delicate phases of flight.Analyzing the market, at least from a European perspective, we can confirm after this German show that not only our aircraft is capable to offer an unique balance between technology and performance, but is also way less expencive in Europe (-130.000 euro at least) than our direct competitor, taking into account an average VAT rate of 21% across various European countries, and still with the same engine and technical equipment, but without offering slats and double-slotted flaps that are standard on the Norden.Considering all this and confident in our ambitions, we will be present at AERO 2027 next year in an even more significant way, to underscore our clear presence in the European market, also confident in the fact that we can "legally" enter, in terms of empty weight, all European markets that currently allow 600 kg MTOW.Final considerations regarding some markets of immediate interest to us and upcoming programs. Regarding the German market, we can confirm that if everything technically goes according to the plans discussed in person at the show with the German certification team, we will be legally authorized to make the first deliveries in Germany very soon. Regarding the LSA market in general and the American market in particular, we are preparing all the necessary technical modifications to offer the official version of the Norden with a maximum takeoff weight of 800 kg (1,760 lbs) in compliance with the new MOSAIC regulations.Agreements have also been made to begin certification in the UK in the 600 kg class as soon as possible, given the strong demand coming from that Country. Finally, for enthusiasts of the genre, we confirm that by late summer, we will put the first Norden Bobber ever into production, an aircraft that will recapture the charm of our Savage Bobber, combining it with the unique performance and the “physique" of the Norden 916iS. A perfect advanced bush plane for some markets, not forgetting that the cabin, with a specific kit, will allow to fly also during winter time...See you at AERO 2027video credits: Arturo Polo Ena , Gary Green ... See MoreSee Less
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3 months ago

Zlin Aviation
Second day at AERO...Pics before opening and after, at our booth "B2-512"...Even today plenty of visitors and nice meetings..We will be here until Saturday afternoon, drop a visit if you wish ... See MoreSee Less
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3 months ago

Zlin Aviation
We will attend AERO 2026, starting from next Wednesday 22nd up to Saturday 25th.Visit us at booth B2-512, to discover the latest news about our production and future projects. ... See MoreSee Less
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9 months ago

Zlin Aviation
Finally we got the permission to test fly this first German Norden. We are very happy with the results, considering that we have installed the Rotax 915iS and a ground adjustable prop on this plane. This particular plane has for the first time a shorter wing span (4 kg lighter due to this mod) and has shown to be more agile above 110-120 km/h (not forgetting that the Norden is already an agile machine), sligtly faster in cruise and with a stronger climb speed, being this the major result! For our customers, we will offer by next Spring a kit to retrofit all the previous wings too. Today we decided to test the plane also with the 31” Alaskan bushwheels, to verify the performances on the same day, with the same pilot and plane, simply because on some markets, where there are less strict limits about the max allowed empty weight, our customers could install them too. Here the results with a single pilot on boardCruise Speed :4.600 rpm with 22” tires : 155 km/h - 96 mphwith 31” tires : 152 km/h - 94 mph4.800 rpmwith 22” tires : 164 km/h - 102 mphwith 31” tires : 161 km/h - 100 mph5.000 rpmwith 22” tires : 178 km/h - 111 mphwith 31” tires : 169 km/h - 105 mph5.200 rpmwith 22” tires : 184 km/h - 114 mphwith 31” tires : 178 km/h - 111 mph5.400 rpmwith 22” tires : 193 km/h - 120 mphwith 31” tires : 184 km/h - 114 mph5.600 rpm with 22” tires : 202 km/h - 126 mphwith 31” tires : 188 km/h - 117 mphmax speed reached today with 22” tires > 215/217 km/h - 135 mphClimb Speed :at 100 km/h - 62 mph : 1.950 ft/mat 110 km/h - 68 mph : 2.250 ft/mat 120 km/h - 75 mph : 2.350 ft/mStall Speed :clean wing : 73 km/h - 45 mph1st notch of flaps : 70 km/h - 43 mph2nd nocth of flaps : 66 km/h - 41 mph 2nd notch of flaps + slats : 60 km/h - 37 mph3rd notch of flaps : 63 km/h - 39 mph3rd notch of flaps + slats : 53 km/h - 33 mph(We have room to add another notch of flaps and we are planning to test this soon).Note: with the Rotax 916iS, the reported very good level of performances reached today and specifically the Climb Speed, could have been even stronger. We are sure that even the new CS prop, that we recently tested on another Norden, could have contributed to get even higher results. We will test as soon as possible this new CS prop on this plane and we will compare the results. ... See MoreSee Less
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10 months ago

Zlin Aviation
It was a long journey but at the end we succeeded. The main target was not only to build a plane according to our customer's wishes, taste and technical expertise, but also to fit inside the empty weight limits that in Germany and other similar European Countries are really strict.At the end, after an huge effort to make this plane as light as possible, we were able to finish the first Norden that will fly soon and “legally” in Germany. We reached the weight of 383,5 kg (845 lbs) and there is still room to make it lighter in the future. The plane is equipped with a Rotax 915iS, larger fuel tanks, 10 lt.header tank, 22” tires, parking brakes, double brake calipers, a big and solid tailwheel, for the first time a Kanardia Nesis IV 10,1” EFIS with its stick control, a radio and a full trasponder pre-installation set up including cables and antenna, a FLARM mid-air anti collision system, full electric pre-installation of the strobe lights, a system to install recording cameras on the wing tips and on top of all of this the parachute rescue system that alone add another 14 kg. The wing span of this Norden is for the first time half meter shorter, allowing for a faster cruise speed. We are pretty sure that our customer will be extremely satisfied when he will see his new Norden for the first time and in real life… We will test it next week. ... See MoreSee Less
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12 months ago

Zlin Aviation
A new paint scheme (inspired by the customer) is available for the Savage Norden. This plane will be soon the first Norden equipped with some huge 35" Alaskan Bushwheels, that combined with our reinforced fuselage and shock absorbers...will be simply ultra efficient in the STOL and off airport operations... ... See MoreSee Less
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1 years ago

Zlin Aviation
Our Spanish dealer Amilpies, just dropped us a visit. It was a bumpy day, with rotors that affected both take off and landings but it was worth to see him flying (as usual).We made a short clip and it is interesting to show how different the stalls can be, with or without the slats. With the slats the aerodynamic beavhiour changes noticeably and the aircraft becomes more stable while the stall turns more into a sort of “parachute descend”, remaining fully controllable and maintaining a stable attitude (something that will increase the sense of safety during slow flights and technical approach in Stol operations).The test has been just "generic", nothing too deep, but will still give you an idea about how our slats work in real life. ... See MoreSee Less
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