The Airmass Sunburst is an American ultralight aircraft that was designed by John Massey and produced in the early 1980s by Airmass, Inc. of Stillwell, Kansas, Personal Planes, Inc. of Norwalk, Ohio, Double Star Engineering & Manufacturing, Inc. of Texas and Sterner Ultracraft based in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
[1][2][3] The aircraft was designed to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of 254 lb (115 kg).
It features a cable-braced high-wing, an inverted V-tail, a single-seat, open cockpit, tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration.
[4]) Sunbrust C fasteners are AN-aircraft grade standard hardware, with assorted plastic caps, plugs, saddles, and spacers.
[5] The 2-cycle Cuyuna 430 engine of 30 hp (22 kW) - with recoil starter, forced-air cooling, and dual capacitive-discharge ignition[4] - is mounted under the wing.
[3] A number of Sunbursts suffered structural failures that resulted in fatal accidents (reportedly involving cable breakages killing four pilots[1]).
[6][5] The design was acquired by Personal Planes, Inc.[1] (owned by James Bender and Robert Blackman), the operator of the Norwalk-Huron County Airport in Norwalk, Ohio.