Australian LightWing| Hughes Group

Australian LightWing Media Gallery & History

 

 

 

 

 

Media Gallery

Welcome the to the Australian LightWing gallery. We hope to showcase our current range of Australian LightWing Aircraft available. As well as our many happy customers, our colourful history and our friendly team, here at Australian LightWing. Enjoy!

We also hope to have a "webinar" up and running soon (video!) so you can see the aircraft under construction *Watch This Space*

Please click on the image to view a high resolution version.

The Australian LightWing You Tube Channel is now online! Please visit our site to see tours of the factory, new aircraft in our showroom and much much more!

The Australian LightWing SPEED - Pictured: The SP-2000s (Two Seat)

 

 

The SPEED Glass Cockpit

 

 

'Inventions from the Shed' ABC Television Series ~ 'The Flying Dingy'

The Australian LightWing GR & GA Range of Aircraft - High Wing - Nose Wheel - Tail Wheel

If you would like high resolution copies of our pictures, please let us know, we are happy to oblige.

PR Bipe (BiPlane)

The Amphibious Australian LightWing

The Australian LightWing PR 912 (Two Seat Kit) Aircraft

A Little Australian LightWing History...

 

 

 

 

 

Hughes Engineering began as a boat building and general engineering company in the late 70’s in Smith Drive, West Ballina, NSW, and we engaged in marine manufacture.

The neighbourliness that existed at Smith Drive was astounding, fun and joyous. Our kids grew up in this wonderful environment of work and play intermingled and totally blurred in the overlap. I’m sure this stamped on ours and other children in the area an indelible mark of respect for the process of living to work, rather than vice versa. It was a true mix of hard-nosed individuals who all enjoyed their work and also enjoyed producing quality

We began building two seat single engine high wing aircraft in 1985 in response to a new set of government regulations that permitted if not encouraged such development. Our birthday is known as 29 September 1986, as this is the date we registered our first certificated Australian LightWing (ALW), a GR-532 and the AUF number was 25-0032, its factory airframe number was 001.

We aimed at producing a safe, enclosed cockpit aircraft. When we began, the only ultralights aircraft that were produced in Australia were made of alloy pipe and covered in yacht sail material, they where generally open and offered little protection from either the wind or collision. We have found that our lightweight welded steel space frame fuselage provides the best protection in the event of an incident. Our safety record is our pride, we design our airframes to withstand severe impacts and keep the occupants safe.

In these early years up to twenty aircraft were produced each year and the company enjoyed a significant market share of the Sports Aviation market in Australia.

Relocation – Mid 90’s

In 1995 Hughes Engineering re-located at the airport, Peter Thorpe, the then Ballina CEO, instigated this subdivision and was delighted we where to the first business attracted to his new airport.

Since 1985, about 160 aircraft have been produced averaging about 10 per year. Our aircraft have been mostly sold as fully built.

Certification

During the 90’s, the company’s focus shifted to the certification of the range of light aircraft and at the end of the decade the company held two Type Certificates for the ALW Sport 2000 and the GR 912 aircraft. Both these aircraft are high wing monoplanes and are certified to the Australian Standard CAO- 101.55.

We recently established a US distributor, a company called called ‘AirGyro’. The CEO Don Oldham test flew the SP-2000 prototype in late 2006 and was so impressed by the vehicle and its performance that he placed ongoing orders for 2007/8 and onwards into the next decade. Don Oldham has dealership networks established around the USA where he currently sells a basic sports gyro plane and it is anticipated that the SPEED Range will slot into this sales and distribution network with around six aircraft to be produced in 2008 twelve in 2009, eighteen in 2010. These will be supplied as a mixture of both two seat LSA certified aircraft and four seat kit aircraft.


Why Aircraft?

Flying is our hobby, our passion and our life. It’s for this reason that we love to pass on our skills to others. We love to fly, its the last frontier, there are no speed limits in the sky, rules are simple and this century will see some pretty interesting advances in personal aviation.

At Hughes Engineering, our company strategy is to provide products that have practical applications throughout the four market segments that we serve, which are
1. Flight Training,
2. Rural Activities,
3. Recreation and
4. The Business Traveler.

The approach to sales and marketing at Hughes Engineering is personalized and friendly as we are a family company. We know our customers by name and we offer a high level of personalized service and after sale service.
Our aircraft and products are competitive due to the relative simplicity of manufacture and the way in which we use our manufacturing techniques to produce stylish, functional and above all, a safe means of transport.