Sling 4
Piston single engine • Low Wing • Fixed gear
Range Map
• nm at current load
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Payload vs. Range
Configure weights
Default: 190 lbs
Default: 30 lbs
gal
Fuel on board
lbs
Extra weight
nm
Range
Mission Profile
Estimated Ownership Costs
About the Sling 4
Overview
The Sling 4 is a four-seat, low-wing Experimental Amateur-Built kit aircraft from South Africa’s Sling Aircraft, the design that extended the two-seat Sling 2 into a full four-seater. Powered by a turbocharged 115 hp Rotax 914 UL, it cruises about 130 knots true on roughly 5 to 6 gallons an hour of mogas, with a riveted-aluminium airframe and a glass panel. It first flew in 2011 and was the company’s four-seat tourer until the more powerful Sling TSi superseded it in 2018.
The Sling 4 sits between the two-seat Sling 2 and the turbocharged TSi as the original four-seat Sling, offering genuine four-place capability on modest Rotax power and auto-fuel economy. Most buyers now reach for the faster, more powerful TSi, but the Sling 4 remains a capable and cheaper-to-run four-seater with a large fleet flying. Choose the Sling 4 when you want an economical four-seat homebuilt tourer, value low fuel burn over outright speed, and can find a well-built example or want to build at lower cost than the TSi.
Key Features for GA Buyers
- Four seats on Rotax economy. A genuine four-place cabin on a 115 hp turbocharged Rotax burning about 5 to 6 gph of mogas is an unusually efficient four-seater.
- Turbocharged altitude hold. The Rotax 914 UL keeps power up at altitude better than a normally aspirated engine, useful on hot-and-high days.
- Glass panel and proven airframe. A Garmin glass suite and the well-developed Sling 4 airframe, with hundreds flying, make for a mature kit.
- Lower cost than the TSi. As the superseded model, the Sling 4 offers four seats at a lower acquisition and operating cost than the current TSi.
Trade-offs
- Superseded by the TSi. The Sling 4 is largely out of production in favor of the more powerful TSi, so new-kit availability is limited and the used market is the main source.
- Modest power when loaded. With four aboard the 115 hp engine is working hard; climb and speed are modest next to the 141 to 160 hp TSi.
- Experimental category. Build time runs into the hundreds of hours, or you buy a completed example whose workmanship a pre-buy inspection must establish.
- Rotax ecosystem. Mogas-capable with a 2,000-hour TBO, but the turbocharged 914 carries calendar-driven service and needs Rotax-literate maintenance.
See Also
- Sling TSi – the more powerful, turbocharged successor on the same four-seat airframe. Compare
- Sling 2 – the two-seat model the Sling 4 was developed from, for buyers who do not need four seats. Compare
- Sling High Wing – the four-seat high-wing alternative in the line, for easier cabin access and backcountry use. Compare
- Cessna Skyhawk 172/Cutlass – the certified four-seat benchmark, for buyers weighing a kit against a type-certificated airplane. Compare
Technical Specifications
Dimensions & Weights
- Height
- 8.0 ft
- Length
- 23.54 ft
- Parking area (ft2)
- 1215.8 ft2
- Max Takeoff Weight
- Source: third-party reference 2,028 lbs
- Max Landing Weight
- 2,028 lbs
- Useful Load
- Estimated/derived; not a published figure 992 lbs
- Fuel Capacity
- Source: third-party reference 44 gal
Performance
- Cruise Speed
- Source: third-party reference 130 KTAS
- Never-Exceed (VNE)
- Source: third-party reference 135 KIAS
- Range
- Source: third-party reference 700 NM
- Service Ceiling
- 15,000 ft
- Rate of Climb
- 800 fpm
Sources
Where the figures on this page come from. Sling 4 specifications are traced to published references; estimated values are flagged inline next to the figure.
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See how the Sling 4 stacks up against similar aircraft
External Media
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