STI Wing/GA Prop vs. SS Wing/CS Prop

[Geek]

I wouldn't take the results in this thread as an endorsement of one wing over the other. The STi wing is a relatively recent development in the life of the Kitfox line, so there are a lot more of the standard wing out there flying.

What Eric said. I am a STi with ground adjustable but the two wings are really meant for two different jobs; one to fly slow and one to provide good mid-range performance.

Gary

[Shadowrider]

STI wing and NR prop for me! The only time I have flown in a SS is in Nikk's plane for about an hour, and the demo plane for 15min. Not much comparison, so very little time in a SS. Not only does the STI wing fly slow, it climbs great. The STI wing also does great at high altitude. I have flown multiple times at 17,500' with a density altitude over 19000' and it flies great. Plenty of wing with normal AOA. I am based at 4.5k elevation and routinely fly over 10k. If that is your mission I think the STI is the choice. If your going normally aspirated I would consider a constant speed.

[WhereTheHellIsJames?]

Having owned both a 5 Outback SS, and an 7 STi, I can chime in with this tidbit of info: They are two different airplanes (particularly with the specs of my airplanes), but are both really great in their own ways.

2002 Series 5 Outback specs (N88VJ): Lycoming O-235-L2C, Sensenich GA prop, spring gear, 26" Airstreaks, T3, steam gauges, 1 degree forward wing sweep, weighed 920lbs empty.
I could get the Series 5 off the ground in about 275 feet with a flick of the flaperons, and with the prop trimmed for "best of both worlds", Vx of around 1,650 fpm (half tanks plus 200lb pilot), and a cruise of 106mph.
Coming in for a short landing, the plane handled best floating down in a nose-up attitude on final, stalling at an indicated 38 mph on the 3rd notch (out of 4 notches) of flaps.
I could have the airplane stopped in under 300 feet after dumping the flaps a split second before touchdown on dry grass.

2021 S7 STi Specs (N188CG): Rotax 912 ULS, NR GA prop, STi gear (covered) w/ShockMonster shocks, 29" Airstreaks, GRT Sport EX avionics, no wing sweep, weighed 831lbs empty.
I could get the STi off the ground in about 120 feet with a flaperon flick, and with the prop trimmed for "best of both worlds", Vx of around 1000 fpm (half tanks plus 200lb pilot), and a cruise of 95mph.
Coming in for a short landing, the plane handled best in a nose-down attitude on final until actually being in ground effect, then switching to nose up attitude, stalling at an indicated 36mph on 2nd notch (out of 3 notches) of flaps.
I could have the airplane stopped easily well under 200 feet on dry grass after dumping the flaps a second before touchdown.

Both of these airplanes were of a higher than average build quality, and were both really great performers. I enjoyed hundreds of hours in these planes, and appreciate them both for hat they were respectfully good at.

If I were to choose one of them to own again, it would be the 5 with the SS wing and the Lycoming. I really liked the snappiness of the SS wing vs the STi wing, and I think that it was a more fun and sporty airplane to fly.
There's really very few places that I want to fly in to/out of that I felt like I really needed a slower airplane than the SS, and anywhere that I had 800 feet to land in was a breeze.
I also really prefer the nose up attitude on short final to the nose down attitude of the STi (even though I had a clearer sigh t picture in the STi's nose-down attitude).

The STi though was really fun to fly SLOW and check out terrain. It also flew really well at altitude (at 15k feet, I was still seeing 350fpm), and had a significantly more "stable" feel to the wing than the SS. It simply felt "planted" in the sky.
Getting off the ground before the second stripe on any tarmac runway was fun, and landing in 30 feet or less with a headwind was a hoot. I was actually able to demonstrate "flying backwards" over KDLS in the STi once (yeah, it's windy here).
I also really liked the shock monster gear, and the ability to "drop" the airplane into a landing, which really shortened the landing roll-out. I did feel like the STi wing was a lot more lethargic than the SS wing, and didn't appreciate it for that.

The long and short though... both the SS and the STi are a blast.