April 1963, Sydney, Australia. Mike Burns and Dick Swinbourne of Aerostructures, an aero-engineering company, first fly the Skiplane. This is a Delta Wing on floats that uses a mechanical weight shift system. The Skiplane is so easy to handle that members of the public are able to fly them while being towed behind boats at water-ski parks. Some are exported, including one to Cape Canaveral in the USA. Aerostructures had obtained their information of Conical sailed wings from an accident report (Mike Burns recalls that it was a fatal accident but no evidence of such a fatality has been found,)that described these wings as being quite dangerous. Aerostructures designed and built the Skiplane as a project for Bill McLaughlin, an entrepreneur involved in water-ski shows which were popular in that era.

Between 1962 and 1968, 44 Skiplanes were built. With no known injury to anyone. Its also worth noting that the majority of the "Pilots" had no prior experience or training.