Before its conversion, the Wilga took off in 400 feet, landed in 280 feet, and stalled at 57mph (92km/h). Like most bush planes, it wasn't optimized for high-altitude flying.

Patey named his airplane "DRACO" from a Latin-derived word meaning dragon or serpent. He re-designed and re-built the Wilga in early 2018 by himself in five months —an amazing feat for one man.

The point being that it’s very much NOT uncommon for 40, 50, 60+ year old aircraft to still be in active use, which makes the claim of the Wilga being banned because of it’s age a bit suspect.

A couple of weeks ago, we did an air-to-air photoshoot with two PZL-104 Wilga 35A aircraft - a legendary Polish utility aircraft that was designed in the 1960s. It is an iconic STOL (Short Take ...

The PZL -104W Wilga — the OG STOL — has since been used by both the US and UK military. ... This model is a long-time favorite bush plane that can accommodate up to nine passengers.

Draco Aircraft is building on the initial conversion of the Polish PZL-104 Wilga light aircraft developed by U.S. entrepreneur Mike Patey. Share. Post. Share. Print. Copy. Email.

That gave the team plenty of room for expansion, and that’s how the new version has gliders, bush planes and even pre-flight planning to add to the realism and versatility of flight.

[Mike]’s previous project plane, Draco, was a large turboprop bush plane built around a PZL-104 Wilga. Sadly it was destroyed during an ill-considered take-off in 2019, but [Mike] is already ...

An amphibious version of EADS-PZL's PZL-104M Wilga 2000 light aircraft made its debut at an Alaskan general aviation show in Anchorage last month. The Wilga 2000 was fitted with CAP 3000 straight ...

What NTSB is learning about the United plane that veered off runway, tilted to its side at Bush Airport Six crew members and 160 passengers were evacuated from the plane. Fortunately, no one was ...

Farage's PZL-104 Wilga 35A light aircraft came down after the tow line for the a party sign became wrapped around the tailplane, an investigation by the AAIB found.