17 July 2025
Operators of the hugely popular Comco Ikarus C42 microlight, which include many microlight flying schools, face a “challenging time” with regard to spare parts, according to the UK distributor, The Light Aircraft Company (TLAC).
Problems at the German manufacturer, Comco Ikarus GmbH, mean composite airframe parts are either not available or unusable.
TLAC issued this statement earlier this week:
“A regrettable and avoidable sequence of events has caused Comco to lay off staff and to try to regroup the company.
“Despite our best efforts and considerable support to Comco we at TLAC have been unable to get any supply of new aircraft for 2 years now.
“This remains highly challenging and has created significant disruption as TLAC were their biggest distributor worldwide for 8 or so years. TLAC put forward a rescue package but this was rejected.
“The problems encountered have also impacted spares supplies and we are working very hard to keep that supply chain going.
“At this time there are significant problems with availability of most Comco composites and as many of you have seen on social media this is being felt hard by the community.
“From what we can piece together it would appear that Comco sent their mould tools to a 3rd party for production, but their employees didn’t get the necessary training and as a result produced scrap for 18 months.
“Fast forward to today and that situation hasn’t changed. Any composites supplied by them WILL NOT have the necessary CofC paperwork for your aircraft and their composite make-up is severely in question.
“It’s desperately sad and we will do whatever we can to support our customers during this challenging time.
“Rest assured we will keep up dialogue with the factory and owners, and every reasonable effort is being made to acquire as many spares as we can, to keep moving forward supporting C42 owners in the UK.”
