Stoddard-Hamilton Glastar

Single Piston

The Stoddard-Hamilton Glastar is a two-seat kit-built aircraft that emerged in the 1990s as one of the most versatile homebuilt designs of its era, equally at home on pavement, grass strips, or floats. Designed by Tom Hamilton and marketed by Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, the Glastar combined composite construction with a steel-tube fuselage frame, offering builders a relatively straightforward path to a capable cross-country tourer with genuine short-field performance. Its high-wing configuration, generous flap deployment, and robust landing gear made it a favorite among pilots seeking backcountry capability without sacrificing cruise efficiency—typical installations with Lycoming O-320 or O-360 engines cruise around 135 knots while retaining a stall speed below 50 knots with full flaps. The design's adaptability extended to multiple landing gear configurations: tricycle, tailwheel, and amphibious floats, a rare flexibility in the experimental category. After Stoddard-Hamilton ceased operations, the design rights passed to Glasair Aviation, which continued to support builders and later introduced the Sportsman variant with a larger cabin and higher gross weight. The Glastar remains a respected platform in the kit-built community for its blend of performance, utility, and forgiving handling characteristics. SkyMeter has tracked 4 flights across 2 airframes and 1 operators, with activity spanning routes.