AMD Zodiac

The AMD Zodiac, also called the Zenair Zodiac, is the family of Canadian all-metal, two-seat, fixed landing gear airplanes that engineer Chris Heintz began with the CH 600, which first flew in 1984. Kits and completed aircraft have been produced by Zenair in Canada and by Zenith Aircraft Company in the United States, and the latest ready-to-fly models, the AMD Zodiac LS and LSi, are built by Aircraft Manufacturing and Design with a single-piece bubble canopy. Heintz developed the original in the early 1970s as a homebuilt aircraft, meaning buyers assemble it from components, and he also drafted the Canadian light-sport aircraft regulations around the time he designed the Zodiac. The family includes the CH 601 HD, HDS, UL and XL and the later CH 650. More than 1,000 Zodiac aircraft fly worldwide, and Zenith still sells kits and quick-build kits for the homebuilt market. In 2008 and 2009 wing failures of the CH 601 XL led to Dutch, NTSB and FAA reviews.