Conroy Aviation

Chris Conroy with a quarter scale proof-of-concept model of the Sparrowhawk (Click to enlarge)

Chris Conroy has been involved in aviation since early childhood. He built his first  model aircraft at the age of 5, gained his pilots license after winning a RAAF Cadet scholarship in 1956 and has been designing and building light aircraft  for the past 50 years.

In his late teens he entered the fibreglass industry, building sports and racing cars and designing and building a number of boats. These experiences have given him an appreciation for the qualities of fibreglass composites as they apply to aircraft structures, and in the mid eighties he began the design and development of the CONROY SPARROW and SPARROW HAWK range of composite aircrafts.

In 1978 he identified a need for a television show which covered boating, fishing, aviation, tourism and general leisure and lifestyle subjects. His self produced and presented show CHRIS CONROY’S LEISUREWORLD’ ran each week for 23 years making it the longest running independently produced show in the history of Australian television. The show reached an audience of around 15 million and he still retains a production facility used to produce videos for the marine an tourism industries, as well as promotional, instructional and marketing features for CHRIS CONROY AVIATION.

Chris continued to operate his SPARROW through these years and his involvement in the national governing body, the Australian Ultralight Federation (now called Recreational Aviation Australia) enabled him to observe changes in the recreational aviation culture world wide which led to a growing market for Light Sport Aircraft.

His sparrow designs possess qualities which make them relevant to sports pilots throughout the world, and their strength, performance and appearance place them among the most desirable examples of the breed.

Accordingly, in 1997 Chris commenced production tooling and flight testing of the original SPARROW, which features tandem seating and has sold 14 examples. An expanding market heralded a need for a side by side version and development of this model, commenced in 2000, is now complete. It is wider and longer than the SPARROW and is called the CONROY SPARROWHAWK.