We Fly: JMB VL3 Is a Speedster Worth Watching

“Explore the world at over 200 knots.”

When those words appear in an aircraft advertisement, you know you’re looking at something designed to make flying fun. In this case, it’s JMB Aircraft’s VL3 Evolution. Certified as an ultralight in Europe, the sleek, high-performance aircraft has been steadily gaining attention—and popularity—among U.S. pilots.

The JMB VL3 is imported as an experimental aircraft according to Nick Weber, operations manager at Elite Pilot Services in Bend, Oregon. The company sells the low-wing design that is gaining a foothold in America as more pilots and flight schools are expanding their fleets to take advantage of MOSAIC, which makes it possible for
certificated sport pilots to fly a wider range of aircraft.  

On a slightly windy day earlier this year, I first set eyes on this striking machine on the ramp at Tacoma Narrows Airport (KTIW) in Gig Harbor, Washington. Weber and demo pilot Jacob Meinig were traveling to local airports providing demo flights in the JMB VL3. I was immediately excited at the opportunity to fly it. 

Some of the folks they met during their tour are looking for their next airplane—perhaps to fly cross-country to see the grandchildren. But I approached it wearing my flight instructor cap, asking questions like, “Is the aircraft appropriate to the mission of a busy flight school?” 

For flight schools that exist on tight budgets, it’s important to find an airplane that can take a learner from student to private pilot, instrument pilot, commercial pilot, and flight instructor while simultaneously being student friendly and cost-effective to operate.

Ramp Appeal

The VL3 has a bubble-style canopy and a swept-back tail. The aircraft I flew was equipped with a turbocharged, fuel-injected Rotax 915 iS engine, paired with a composite four-bladed Duc Tiger propeller. The aircraft is also offered with a Rotax 912. 

The VL3 is built from carbon fiber and composite materials. That enabled the designers to create complex curves that improve aerodynamic performance. Looking at this airplane, you get the impression it wasn’t built, it was carved. Part of that may be due to the fact the airplane is painted, not wrapped.

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“It gets a lot of attention at the fuel pump,” said Weber. “We get people coming up to us asking us what it is, and saying it looks fast. It really turns heads. The paint is not masked off like most American planes receive. Because it is a European ultralight and every ounce matters, it is a single layer of paint.”

The finish is surprisingly smooth. You don’t feel a seam or a bump where the colors transition. The angle of incidence on the wings optimized cruise performance—there’s that “looks fast sitting still” thing—and a glance under the aircraft reveals landing gear that easily and aerodynamically tucks into the belly during flight. The pilot can check the position of the landing gear in flight (and especially before landing) on the Garmin G3x display by means of an optional camera mounted on the belly. 

Look Inside

The cockpit features carbon-fiber and Kevlar construction. Entry into the cockpit doesn’t require a large step up or an advanced yoga pose to enter. The seating is side by side, and you have plenty of room at both the seat and shoulder level. There’s plenty of headroom, and I found myself wondering if even my client who is north of 6-foot-7 would fit in it.

The aircraft is controlled by a stick, so pilots who have most of their time behind a yoke need to prepare for a learning curve. I recommend holding the stick lightly in your palm with a two-finger grip to avoid wrist fatigue. 

Once seated with my feet on the rudders, I leaned to the left to see if I was able to easily reach the important switches on the left side of the panel without getting jammed by the seat belt harness—a CFI thing—because you have to be able to easily reach across the cockpit.

The panel is a single piece of acrylic. Garmin G3X electronic flight touchscreen displays are on both sides of the panel. There’s a lot of information, so I recommend that in the flight school environment candidates take a few ground lessons to learn what data is most pertinent and how to cycle through pages expediently to avoid the “guess, press, hope for the best” scenario. You can configure the displays to your preferences.

I particularly liked the use of color on the panel. Not for aesthetics, but for safety. Red in an airplane when used for a lever or switch means emergency or mission critical. Yellow is one step below that. Red and yellow safety cages protect switches that activate vital systems. The fuel pumps are framed in a yellow cage. There’s a red cage on either side of the switch for the landing gear. 

There are also cages over Lane A and Lane B, the dual channel redundancy of the digital engine control unit (ECU). The redundancy is part of the safety features. Both control the ECU, which is for proper engine fuel-to-air-mixture and engine ignition timing. They operate in parallel, so if Lane A fails, Lane B takes over and the engine doesn’t quit.

The bright red fuel selector lever is on the center console and easily accessible from either seat. The emergency locator transmitter (ELT) switch is just to the left of it, and on the right you’ll find the activate handle for the ballistic parachute.

Safety is key with JMB aircraft, as evidenced by Garmin Smart Glide (GSG). When paired with the autopilot and activated, it automatically engages pitch for best glide, a direct heading toward the nearest suitable airport, and sets the radio to airport communication frequency and the transponder to 7700 (emergency).

Meinig suggests GSG is a good safety feature in the event the pilot runs into trouble beyond their capability or they become task saturated. 

“Obviously, as an instructor, you want to teach them to be able to handle things,” Meinig said. “But just in case you have the level button on the autopilot, so when you are sending a student out on a solo cross-country for their first time, it’s a little bit [of] extra insurance for an instructor. The pilot has an extra layer of safety. If they do end up panicking, they have Smart Glide. Take me to an airport. Calm down. All right, now I can fly the airplane.”

This airplane is equipped with a ballistic parachute. In the event of an in-flight emergency, the pilot can deploy the parachute, which is a rocket fired aft of the airplane. Embedded airplane harness straps release from the fuselage, and the aircraft and the occupants are safe in the Kevlar-reinforced cabin and float to the ground. 

The flap indicator also received my nod of approval as it is on the center of the panel and uses pictograms to indicate how much flap you are using. 

From Takeoff to Landing

The pretakeoff checklist is run directly off the primary flight display in front of the pilot. After a few minutes of checking systems, performing the takeoff briefing, and making radio calls, the power lever was brought forward, taking us down Runway 17 for a departure to the west.  

The takeoff roll was quick and smooth and the liftoff and climb predictable. Meinig said the aircraft was likely more sensitive than the Cessna 172s and 182s I’m used to, but if you expect that and know how to trim, the platform is very stable. The airframe is lighter with an MTOW of 1,650 pounds as opposed to 2,300 on the Cessna 172s I usually fly.

“Once it is trimmed out on a nice day, it is a completely hands-off airplane,” said Meinig, who demonstrated this once we found some smooth air at altitude. 

The forward visibility from the cockpit is excellent, as is the side visibility for those all-important clearing turns. On the subject of turns, this aircraft is quite responsive—like a flying sports car. I like to test this at standard rate, 20 degrees, 30 degrees, and then a VFR steep turn just to see how the aircraft handles with the progression of the degree of bank. The bubble canopy offers a great view as you are rolling left or right.

The aircraft is equipped with an angle-of-attack indicator, so you know when stalls are approaching. They are predictable, and the recovery gentle. The straight-ahead descent (the old “engine is on fire, blow it out” scenario from your private pilot check ride) was downright fun.

As we buzzed around the sky the airplane felt nimble, and I found myself wondering why anyone would want to use an autopilot in this machine because it’s such a joy to hand fly.

The approach to landing was textbook with the checklist run and verifying the landing gear position via the image on the pilot’s display. This aircraft exhibited positive handling all the way to the ground. Landing took some finesse as the winds had definitely kicked up.

Do-Everything Airplane

Allow me to put on my chief CFI hat. 

The VL3 may be the perfect aircraft to take a client from student all the way up through commercial pilot.  By definition, the aircraft qualifies as complex and a technically advanced aircraft (TAA) as it has retractable landing gear, flaps, and a constant-speed propeller.

“The JMB is MOSAIC ready,” said Weber, listing some of the latest options available for the aircraft such as 52-gallon fuel tanks, adjustable seats, and electric trim. “Safety is something JMB really focuses on. It is built into the design of the VL3—from the parachute and angle-of-attack awareness to the thorough training they provide. Safety is their top priority.”

If you ordered a VL3 now, you might have the only one at the airport—but likely not for long.

“There are over 80 VL3 aircraft already flying in the U.S. and more arriving each month,” said Weber.

The JMB factory-approved VL3 training center is located at the Modern Pilot Flight School at Houston Southwest Airport (KAXH). 

“They are also a Cirrus Platinum Training Center, so they already have a strong background in technically advanced aircraft and structured transition training,” he said. “Factory-approved training will be available for VL3 pilots, and JMB has also been working on continuing to expand the existing support network for maintenance. Our understanding is that new U.S. orders will be imported as MOSAIC aircraft once MOSAIC is fully implemented and the final consensus standards are in place. JMB has stated that it fully intends to comply with the final consensus standard to ensure the VL3 is MOSAIC ready. They started the process over a year ago.”
JMB has also indicated that it still intends to offer the VL3 as experimental for buyers who prefer that route. Weber noted that I’m not the only person who saw the VL3 as a good choice for flight schools.. 

“There is strong interest, but many are understandably waiting for the MOSAIC pathway to be fully defined before making a commitment,” he said. “Once that is in place, we believe the VL3 could be a very compelling option for flight schools that want a modern, efficient, high-performance training platform.”

MOSAIC and Flight Schools

The JMB Aircraft VL3 is often described as “MOSAIC ready,” and that designation is a major reason flight schools are watching it closely. The FAA’s Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification rule could expand training opportunities for sport pilots and increase demand for advanced aircraft such as the VL3.

So will MOSAIC really result in an economic boost to the flight school and training community? In theory, it’s possible.

Unlike the weight restrictive 2004 light sport/sport pilot rule, MOSAIC allows sport pilots to obtain training to legally fly traditional training aircraft such as Cessnas, Pipers, and Diamonds that have a gross weight higher than the 2004 LSA rule of 1,320 pounds. The details can be found in Advisory Circular (AC) 61-65K released in November 2025. The AC notes that the FAA “determined that performance-based standards are more appropriate based on the safety continuum concept, and the other existing performance and design characteristics provide appropriate limitations for sport pilot operations.”

Under MOSAIC, a sport pilot may operate an aircraft that has a “maximum stalling speed or minimum steady flight speed without the use of lift-enhancing devices (V_S1) of not more than 45 [kcas], except for airplanes, which must have a V_S1 speed of not more than 59 [kcas] at the aircraft’s maximum certificated takeoff weight and most critical center of gravity (CG) (14 CFR § 61.316(a)(1)).”

With additional training and an endorsement, a sport pilot can operate an aircraft with a controllable pitch prop and retractable landing gear. For the flight schools that have an RG that hasn’t seen much use since the commercial pilot certificate experience requirements changed to allow the pilot to acquire experience in a technically advanced aircraft instead of a complex aircraft, this could mean more revenue. Potentially, a large portion of the fleet is now available to sport pilot training.

Spec Sheet: JMB Aircraft VL3 (916 iS)

Wingspan: 27.7 ft.

Length: 20.5 ft.

Height: 6.7 ft.

Cabin Width: 3.8 ft.

Fuel Tanks: 37 gal. with option for 52

Basic Empty Weight: 804 lbs.

MTOW: 1,653 lbs. 

Useful Load: 750 lbs.

Takeoff: 320 ft.

Landing: 656 ft.

Best Rate of Climb: 2,700 fpm

Max Cruise Speed: 204 kts TAS

Stall Speed: 44 kias

VNE: 183 kias

Engine: Rotax 916iS (160 hp)

Power Fuel Burn (80%): 7.9 gph

This column first appeared in the August Issue 973 of the FLYING print edition.