Intended for the same market as the GippsAero Airvan, in between the Cessna 206 and Cessna 208, the AEA Explorer has a similar appearance. It also comes from an Australian company: AEA stands for Aeronautical Engineers Australia Research Pty Ltd. Meant as a bush plane the Explorer has strut braced wings mounted high on the fuselage that has a nearly square cross section. At the rear is a tall vertical stabiliser with a small dorsal fin that has a small air intake at the front. The windows look much like those on the Cessna Caravan and Quest Kodiak. Unlike its competitors the Explorer has a retractable gear. Unusually the main gear retracts in pods at the opposite side of the fuselage.

Marketing seems now taken over by Texas based company Explorer Aircraft, that also envisions the larger Explorer 750T. So far, production remains just one aircraft.

This was the original version, actually a proof-of-con­cept aircraft, with a piston engine in the nose. The cooling air intakes are besides the prop spinner. There is an exhaust underneath the nose. It is pictured at the top.

The Explorer 500T is the turboprop version of the 350R, so look for the more streamlined nose. The air intakes are left and right below the spinner, while the engine has exhausts at the side of the nose, on each side.