The Flight Aviator QM CE is an electro tenor ukulele with a slim body, around half the depth of a regular uke. It has solid wood back and sides, with a beautiful quilted maple on the top, and mango elsewhere. That maple has been given an attractive blue stain before the gloss finish was applied. The Aviator QM tenor uke has a passive pickup, wider 38mm nut and is supplied with Aquila B-Black strings with a low G already fitted.

The Aviator caused a bit of a buzz/fuss when it first came out as a result of its similarity to Kala’s Revelator Night Owl model. That similiarity is undeniable and while the buzz came from fans of flight, the fuss came from fans of Kala. I opted not to go for the standard mango model when it came out simply as I didn’t want to get bogged down in the ‘fuss’ side of the argument. However, I did get some Aviator baritones when they came out (when an equivalent Kala wasn’t available). They’re really good and they’ve been popular too. Ultimately, I need to pay the bills, pay the team and keep the lights on… so it’s become more difficult to stay out of things when people keep asking me for a product. So here we are.

With it’s low G, there’s plenty of depth, despite the thin body, with the maple top giving some nice clarity. I sometimes find maple a little thick and busy sounding, but here it’s quite light and clear in tone. The solid mango back and sides giving some sweetness - with the strings having a decent, articulate brightness to them as well. The volume for a thin body uke is impressive as well. Flight are great at bringing out several variants of the same instrument and it is very hard to say which is best… I’d say if you like the Aviator design, go for the one you like the look of the most as the tonal properties are fairly similar, if not identical.

This uke comes with a nice fitted padded gig bag and it’s jack socket doubles as a strap button.