The Jabiru LSA is a light aircraft developed in Australia in the early 1980s and marketed in the early 1990s. Jabiru also sold many variants of the LSA design to meet with different Australian and international certification requirements, including complete, factory-built aircraft and kits for amateur construction. The LSA itself was designed to meet with Australian ultralight regulations under the then-current CAO 101.55 for factory-built ultralights.
The LSA is a strut-braced, high-wing monoplane of conventional design. The pilot and a single passenger sit side-by-side in a fully enclosed cabin. It is powered by a piston engine in the nose driving a tractor-mounted propeller. The LSA itself and most of its variants have fixed, tricycle undercarriage, although one variant, the SP-T, had tailwheel undercarriage. The wings are detachable for transportation and storage.
Construction is of GFRP throughout, except for metal wing struts and engine mounts.
Design work on the LSA in 1987. Early the following year, the Avtech company was founded to develop it, and construction of the first prototype began. In 1989, the Jabiru Aircraft company was founded, and the first of two prototypes flew. CAO 101.55 certification was gained on 1 October 1991, and at the time, US primary sports plane and Canadian TP 1014E certification was expected by 1995.
The LSA was originally tested and certified with the Rotax 582 two-cylinder, two-stroke engine. In 1990, a third prototype, registration VH-LIP) was tested with the IAME KFM 112M engine instead. The first 21 production aircraft were all delivered with this engine. However, manufacturer IAME discontinued production of this engine, leading Jabiru to start designing and manufacturing their own engines for their aircraft.
Other than private owners, several aero clubs were early buyers of the certificated ST version, including the Townsville Aero Club (which bought the very first ST), the North Queensland Aero Club, and the Royal Aero Club of Western Australia. Southern Skies Aviation was an early flight training school customer.