When Mikey Matthews pulls up at an airport in his SNS-7 Hiperbipe, he turns a lot of heads. First of all, what is a Hiperbipe? Secondly, look at that paint job. And then there’s Matthews, quite the colorful figure in the aviation community of the Carolinas.
So, what’s a Hiperbipe? The Sorrell SNS-7 Hiperbipe is a unique American homebuilt aerobatic cabin biplane. “SNS” stands for Sorrell Negative Stagger, referring to the lower wing positioned ahead of the upper.
“Hiperbipe” is shorthand for high performance. The design was conceived by Hobie Sorrell and his sons, John, Mark, and Tim, through Sorrell Aviation, founded in 1958 in Tenino, Washington. The company ceased operations in 1983, but Thunder-bird Aviation acquired the rights and tooling in 2015.
In 1973, Sorrell Aviation designed an experimental…