The Golden Circle Air T-Bird is a family of high-wing, strut-braced, pusher configuration ultralight aircraft that was produced by Teratorn Aircraft of Clear Lake, Iowa from 1983 to 1989 and then Golden Circle Air of De Soto, Iowa from 1989 until the mid-2000s.
The aircraft achieved early success in the ultralight market, particularly in its side-by-side seating version, the Tierra II.
Golden Circle Air went out of business in the mid-2000s and the design was out of production until 2011, when Indy Aircraft resumed building them.
[2][5][6][7][8][9][11][12] The T-Bird is constructed from 6061-T6 aluminium tubing, bolted together, with the wing and tail surfaces covered in pre-sewn Mylar-coated Dacron envelopes.
[3] The T-Bird I can qualify for the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles category if equipped with a light enough engine, such as the 28 hp (21 kW) Rotax 277, although reviewers have indicated that due to the high-drag design the aircraft is under-powered.