Terry Toetze, a graduate of Southern Illinois University with a degree in Industrial Technology, worked on the plans, sketches and designs from John C. Massey and the two created the first Sunburst. The first model was a learning platform and needed a few changes and a second machine turned out to be the prototype for the production model.

Airmass Sunburst Article

The single seater Sunburst stick operates differentially, working spoilers to control the roll and, together with the rudder bar through a mixer, operating the elevons of the inverted V tail as elevators or rudders. The nosewheel of the tricycle undercar¬riage on the Sunburst is steered by the rudder bar. The Cuyuna 430RR twin cylinder in line engine of 429 cc, drives a pusher propeller through a reduction gear and has dual ignition. It is situated under the wing, in line with the centre of gravity, over the pilot’s head. John Massey of Airmass flew one of these machines in the 1982 London Paris, finishing in 18th place.

Supplied in kit form, the Sunburst is estimated by Airmass Incorporated to require around 30 h for completion.
Single seat single engined high wing mono¬plane with conventional three axis control. Wing has unswept leading and trailing edges, and constant chord; inverted V tail. Pitch/yaw control by elevon; roll control by one third¬ span spoilers; control inputs through stick for pitch/roll and pedals for yaw. Wing braced from above by kingpost and cables, from below by cables; wing profile; 90% double surface. Undercarriage has three wheels in tricycle formation; bungee suspen¬sion on nosewheel and glass fibre suspension on main wheels. Push right go right nose¬wheel steering connected to yaw control. Optional brake. Aluminium tube framework with optional pod. Engine mounted below wing driving pusher propeller. Tubing from blue anodized 6061T6 aluminium, rigging is stainless steel with vinyl coating, wing cover¬ing is Dacron.
First year built: 1980. Units delivered to June 1981: 6. Price 1982: $4,645 (with engine) Includes ASI, altimeter, 30-hp engine with reduction drive.

Engine: Cuyuna 430RR, 30 hp
Static thrust, 170 lb
Wingspan: 36 ft
Wing area: 156 sq.ft
Aspect ratio: 8.3
Overall length: 16ft
Empty weight: 185lb
Usable payload (include fuel), 240 lb
Max pilot weight: 240 lb
Wing loading, 2.5 lb
L/D power-off glide ratio, 12:1
Cruise speed (85% power), 50 mph
Stall speed, 23 mph
Approach speed, 30 mph
Flair speed, 25 mph
Liftoff speed, 28 mph
Takeoff roll distance, 75 ft
Rate of climb, 600 fpm
Fuel capacity, 5 gal
Range at cruise, 100 mi

Skylane is classic design, two seat, shoulder-wing monoplane. Although it is an ultralight, this plane is noted as a “small Cessna“.This plane can be used for towing of sail planes too.

The wing is strut-braced, wooden design, with a semi-laminar profile MS (1)-313. The centre section is rectangular and outer parts are trapezoidal, with short winglets on the tips. The main spar, situated in 37% of chord, is made of wood. In front of main spar, in rectangular part, is torsion box, with integral fuel tanks (2×35 litres). Trapezoidal part of torsion box is coated by plywood. Behind the main spar, wing consists of wooden ribs and short auxiliary spar. The ribs are coated by aviation fabric.

Landing flaps are single-slotted, in 29% of depth, made of wood and consist of spar, ribs, plywood and fabric coating. They have fixed positions at 13°, 29°and 37°, and are electric servo operated.

The ailerons are all-wood, with one spar, ribs, plywood and fabric coating and are operated by rods with diferential deflections.

The all-wood tail assembly structure is with elevator and rudder. The profile of fin and tailplane is symetric, NACA 0012. Design of tailplane assembly is the same as design of landing flaps and the fin is integrated part of fuselage.

The undercarriage is fixed, three wheel type and the main landing gear is laminated spring. The wheels have independent hydraulic brakes, controlled by pedal brake on the rudder steering. Towed type nose gear is spring loaded by steel spring with hydraulic absorber. It is not steered; freely slewing round about 360°.

An engine of 50-100 HP can be used and propeller can be fixed blade, adjustable blade or variable pitch blade with diameter of 1700 mm. Weight of engine assembly should be 50-80 kg.

Ailerons and elevator are controlled by rods and levers, and the rudder is controlled by steel cables.

Stall: 35 kt / 40 mph / 65 kmh
Cruise: 97 kt / 112 mph / 180 kmh
VNE: 112 kt / 129 mph / 207 kmh
Empty Weight: 258 kg / 569 lbs
MTOW Weight: 450 kg / 992 lbs
Climb Ratio: 1200 ft/min / 6 m/s