With its long wings, the Katana shows it genesis as a motorglider design. Wingtips are upswept for drag reduction.

When a new airplane company pops up on the horizon—something that happens surprisingly often—we pay it the ultimate kindness by doing a flight review and pretending the company will actually be around long enough to build and market the thing.

We don’t like to be a stick in the mud, but the hard reality is that many new launches look good on paper, fly well and may have a terrifically appealing price. But some soon sink without a trace while others stagger along in break-even mode with customers wondering if they’ll survive. …