Just when I thought we had this figured out, I was looking through the Service Bulletins on the Kitfox website and came across this, which clearly shows that as of mid-1994, Kitfox Series 5 serial numbers were six characters, consisting of three letters and three numbers.
So, can anyone with a Series 5 please reconcile the difference between the number stamped on the harness anchor and these other numbers? Does the number on your bill of sale, registration, etc. match your fuselage number? Did SkyStar change their serial numbering scheme in 1995?
Thanks.
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings
Do you have a Vixen? All the s/n listed in that SB are for Vixens.
The number S95040118 you found on your plane is your serial number.
I have a 1999 Outback and the s/n is S99120255. The paperwork and airframe all agree on mine. I believe the serial number breakdown is "99" = 1999, "12" = Dec. and "0255" = the 225th airframe in 1999.
Phil Nelson
A&P-IA, Maintenance Instructor
KF 5 Outback, Cont. IO-240
Flying since 2016
No, mine's an early Safari. I thought it unlikely that the factory had two completely different numbering schemes for the taildragger and tricycle airplanes, but apparently they did.
OK, thanks for confirming that for me!The number S95040118 you found on your plane is your serial number.
I have a 1999 Outback and the s/n is S99120255. The paperwork and airframe all agree on mine. I believe the serial number breakdown is "99" = 1999, "12" = Dec. and "0255" = the 225th airframe in 1999.
The decoding of these numbers seems to be subject to some debate. Everyone apparently agrees that the first two digits are the year of manufacture, but from there it falls apart. I can think of four possible interpretations:
- As you suggested, the first two digits are the year, the next two are the month, and the last four are the serial portion, which reset yearly. In the case of your plane, this would require that SkyStar averaged more than 21 Safari/Outback airframes per month during 1999, in addition to all of the Vixen/Voyager, Speedster, Classic IV, XL and Lite airframes they produced. Were they really that busy?
- An alternative would be that the third pair of digits was the day production started. This would mean my plane was started on Apr 1st, 1995 (a Sat) and was the 18th airframe produced that year, and that yours was started on Dec 2nd, 1999 (a Thu) and was the 55th of that year. In both cases, that works out to 4.5 airframes per month, which seems more plausible.
- A third possibility is that the serial numbers didn't reset, but ran consecutively throughout the Safari/Outback's life. This would make my plane either the 18th or 118th example, and yours, four years later, either the 55th or 255th. Either way the spread between our planes seems reasonable, however... I don't know when in 1994 the Series 5 went on sale, but 118 airframes by Apr '95 seems unlikely, especially knowing that the first owner of mine had planned to order a Model IV but waited to get one of the first Series 5s.
- Finally, perhaps serial numbers were assigned when an order was received, and bore no direct correlation to production date.
Maybe John McBean wlll see this thread and can offer some clarity.
Eric Page
Building: Kitfox 5 Safari | Rotax 912iS | Dynon HDX
Member: EAA Lifetime, AOPA, ALPA
ATP: AMEL | Comm: ASEL, Glider | ATCS: CTO
Map of Landings