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About

Why Av8r exists.

Because we love airplanes. Small aircraft matter. Simple airplanes create pilots. And good designs usually disappear because a business ran out of road, not because the airplane stopped being useful. Av8r Capital Group exists to keep worthwhile aviation products supported, to build real things, and to give good designs and good aviation companies a future.
Black-and-white photograph of an early Carlson Sparrow in flight over farmland
FIG. 01An early Carlson Sparrow in flightCarlson Aircraft archive
01 — What we believe

Four things we keep coming back to.

  1. 01

    Small aircraft matter.

    A single-seat wood-and-fabric airplane that fits in a garage does something no jet does: it puts flying within reach of ordinary people with ordinary budgets.

  2. 02

    Simple airplanes create pilots.

    People who build an airplane understand it. People who understand their airplane fly it, maintain it and teach the next person. That is how a community forms around a design.

  3. 03

    Succession kills more designs than obsolescence.

    Good designs usually disappear because the business behind them ran out of road — an owner retired, a family inherited drawings it could not use, a small manufacturer had no plan for what came next.

  4. 04

    Support is the product.

    Plans are only valuable if the parts exist and someone answers the phone. Keeping a design alive means keeping the support alive.

We are not collecting brands. We are keeping good airplanes flying, making real parts, and building the next ones — because this is what we would be doing anyway.

A labor of love — and a serious business
02 — How we work

Hands on. Long term.

Av8r Capital Group is a family-owned company with a manufacturing mindset. The people who own it also run it, and the decisions get made by people who build and fly.
  1. 01

    We build things.

    Aircraft kits, components, parts and engines are made by the businesses in this family, by people who know what the part is for because they have built the airplane.

  2. 02

    We operate.

    The businesses in this family are run day to day by the people who own them: production, parts, shipping, support and development. Ownership is the start of the job, not the end.

  3. 03

    Each brand keeps its identity.

    Builders know the aircraft by its name. Each brand keeps its identity, website and support channel while benefiting from the broader family of aviation businesses around it.

  4. 04

    We say what is running and what is being stood up.

    Where a program is still developing, the company’s own site says so rather than letting a customer find out later.

  5. 05

    We think in decades.

    Preservation is not a museum. Around each design we develop the product line, the manufacturing and, where it makes sense, new propulsion and distribution businesses — for the long term.

  6. 06

    We are family-owned.

    The people who own the group also run it, alongside the staff at each company, and the decisions get made by people who build and fly.

Close view of the wing strut attachment fitting on a Carlson Sparrow II
FIG. 02Wing strut attachment fittingCarlson Aircraft archive
A blue and white AeroMax in flight, seen from above against a hazy landscape
FIG. 03AeroMax in flightMini-Max USA
03 — At a glance

The group in four numbers.

Companies & brands
5
Aircraft, propulsion, distribution, builder support
Group formed
2025
Family-owned, operator-led
Oldest design lineage
1984
Mini-Max, designed by Wayne Ison
Aircraft operations
Niles, MI
Jerry Tyler Memorial Airport (3TR)
04 — Preservation

What preservation actually looks like.

Drawings gathered from the people who still have them. Owners and builders found and reconnected. Parts that ship. Manuals brought up to date. Then, carefully, development.
A yellow and a white Carlson Sparrow parked side by side on a grass airfield
FIG. 04Two Sparrows at a grass airfieldCarlson Aircraft archive
An uncovered Carlson Sparrow fuselage and tail with the wing structure exposed, in a shop
FIG. 05Sparrow airframe, uncoveredCarlson Aircraft archive
05 — Heritage & community

Preserving the community too.

Our stewardship extends beyond designs, tooling, production and parts to the builder knowledge, archives, historical websites and communities that grew up around the airplanes.

Av8r Capital Group owns and stewards IsonAircraft.com — the live home of the ETLB builder forum around Wayne Ison’s designs, the Mini-Max family and the TEAM aircraft — and lonesomebuzzards.com, the community’s long-time address. Three decades of builder discussion, build logs and photographs stay where their authors can find them, and the board stays active. That knowledge belongs to the people who wrote it. Keeping it available is part of why Av8r exists.

Explore aviation heritage
06 — Be part of it

Designs, places and people — the next chapter needs all three.

  1. 01

    Acquisitions

    For aviation companies and designs that need a future — founders, heirs and owners who want the airplane to keep flying.

    Talk to us about a brand
  2. 02

    Opportunities

    For airports, properties, communities and strategic opportunities that could give our businesses room to grow.

    See what we are looking for
  3. 03

    Join us

    For people, EAA chapters, schools and partners who want to help build aircraft, engines, companies and community.

    Introduce yourself

See what we build, support and sell.

Our companiesOperations