Trickel's main business was High Tech Composites, a company that produced many airframe components under sub-contract for kit aircraft such as the Lancair 235, Lancair 320 and Lancair IV. Trickel originally drew a new aircraft as a set of three-views for a customer in Australia who was looking for a new, conventional aircraft concept. The customer liked the design, but never paid for the drawings, so Trickel brought them home and completed the design work himself. Eventually the new design became the KIS TR-1. The KIS TR-1 features a cantilever low-wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit accessed via gull-wing doors, fixed tricycle landing gear or optionally conventional landing gear with wheel pants and a single engine in tractor configuration. The aircraft is made from composites. Its 23.00 ft (7.0 m) span rectangular wing employs a NACA 63-215 airfoil, mounts flaps and has a wing area of 88.00 sq ft (8.175 m2). The acceptable power range is 80 to 125 hp (60 to 93 kW) and the standard engines used are the 125 hp (93 kW) Continental O-240, the 108 hp (81 kW) Lycoming O-235-C1B or the 80 hp (60 kW) Limbach L2000 powerplant. The KIS TR-1 has a typical empty weight of 750 lb (340 kg) and a gross weight of 1, 300 lb (590 kg), giving a useful load of 550 lb (250 kg). With full fuel of 20 U.S. gallons (76 L; 17 imp gal) the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage is 430 lb (200 kg). The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a 125 hp (93 kW) engine is 600 ft (183 m) and the landing roll is 1, 200 ft (366 m). The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 1000 hours.
