Aero-TV: Spirit Engineering’s Long Haul to Lakeland

Brand-New S-LSA Traveled 15 Hours to the Inaugural Affordable Flying Expo Riding the wave of interest from its public debut at EAA AirVenture this July, the Spirit Engineering SE-1 trekked down to Lakeland to appear at the first annual Affordable Flying Expo. The trip consisted of one man, 15 hours of flying, and 7 fuel stops, all while chugging along at 100 knots in the open air. The SE-1 had a very unique debut, taking the Oshkosh stage not as a prototype, but as a fully certified Special Light Sport Aircraft with an impressively attractive price tag. The manufacturing behind it is just as unique; from the engine to the airframe, the SE-1 is a completely clean-sheet, American-made design. As if the flight from its Colorado base to Oshkosh wasn’t long enough, Spirit Engineering CEO and President Steve Wood decided to give an even further destination a try. He took off from Grand Junction and, with the help of some friendly pilots and good ole’ ForeFlight, made it to the iconic SUN ‘n FUN campus in Lakeland, Florida, to celebrate the inaugural Affordable Flying Expo. The trip ended with a practical bonus: the airplane had found a new owner by the end of the event. Spirit Engineering says nine SE-1s have now gone out the door, each flown directly to its new owner as business ramps up. Pricing remains set at $69,500 for at least the first 20 units, though the company says it is “not nervous” about maintaining this figure for the foreseeable future. Aero-TV is a production of the Internationally syndicated Aero-News Network. Seen worldwide by hundreds of thousands of aviators and aviation adherents, ANN's Aero-TV has produced well over 5000 aviation and feature programs, including over 2500 episodes of our daily aviation news program, AIRBORNE UNLIMITED, currently hosted by Holland Lee. Now in its third decade of operation, parent company Aero-News Network, has the most aggressive and intensive editorial profile of any aviation news organization and has published well over a half-million news and feature stories since its inception -- having pioneered the online 24/7 aviation new-media model that so many have emulated. ©2025 Aero-News Network, Inc., ALL Rights Reserved FMI: https://spiriteng.com, www.aero-news.net