Flight Designs CT may look like a cartoon plane, but its performance is anything but.

by Russ Niles

With a useful load of 700 pounds and range of more than 1000 miles, not to mention a respectable cruise speed of 124 MPH and options that include a panel-mounted GPS and future plans for a glass panel, it’s hard for anyone to say that the Flight Designs CT isn’t a real airplane. After all, there are plenty of used two-seaters on the market that don’t even come close in performance and features.

And not many of those have a 49-inch wide cabin (the new Cessna 172’s cabin is 39 1/2 inches) or 90 percent composite construction or the option of an emergency parachute. In fact, at a well-equipped…