You might call Top Rudder Aircraft’s new Ruckus “the STOL plane for the masses.” The aircraft, introduced to pilots for the first time at Sun ’n Fun 2025, features excellent short-field capabilities, is powered by an 80- or 100-hp Rotax engine, and can easily be trailered to and from the airport. In addition to potentially eliminating hangar costs, you can put one together for $40,000 plus the engine.
The Ruckus may initially appear to be nothing more than a beefed-up ultralight, but it’s actually a full-fledged and surprisingly capable ELSA—one that can cruise 500 miles at more than 100 mph, take off in less than 50 feet, and land in under 200. With its unique, patent-pending moving-hinge flaps, flap and aileron fences, leading-edge slats, and spoiler system, the airplane will fly at 25 mph, fully cross-controlled, without stalling.
Top Rudder’s owner, Bryce Angell, built the Ruckus for people who otherwise couldn’t afford an aircraft. “We were promised inexpensive airplanes when Light Sport started, but that never happened,” he explains. “So when I saw what designer Troy Woodland had been working on—what would later become the Ruckus—I decided to buy the design and bring it to market.”
Thanks in part to its open cockpit and welded X-frame design, the Ruckus can be assembled in as little as a week. Top Rudder says just about anyone can have the wing ready for covering in less than a day. “After that, it depends on how comfortable you are with tools and how hard you want to push,” says Angell.
Designer Troy Woodland says he built the Ruckus to be a fun plane—one you wouldn’t be afraid to fly into the backcountry. “Today’s STOL planes are expensive, and while they can get you into the wild, do you really want to risk that much money?” he asks. “The Ruckus is something you can have fun with without so much worry.”
The Ruckus may be available as a build-at-home kit in the future, but for now you’ll need to travel to the company’s factory in South Carolina to put one together and then fly or trailer it home. It’s about a six-month wait from deposit to the start of a build. And if the Ruckus sounds like it might be a little too much—financially or otherwise—Top Rudder has a Part 103 aircraft in the works called the Solo that might be a better fit.
More information is available at www.toprudderaircraft.com.
$40k for that, not counting the engine? I spent less on my Sonex Onex than that, including the engine.
And your Onex is STOL? And your build included factory assistance? Apples/Oranges. Certainly, this isn’t ’cheap.’ But, considering the cost of other aircraft…
I agree with Mike. Nothing about that price screams “affordable”…but then again, gone are the days of a 10k 1-seater (still regret not buying that minimax tail dragger for 5k about 10 years ago) :/