TYPE: Two-seat lightplane; side-by-side kitbuilt.
PROGRAMME: Preliminary design began 1990; complete by 1992, when one-third scale model tested in Bristol University wind tunnel; configuration refined by Steve Fiddes at Bristol, 1994; load analysis by Duncan Gibson. Funding assistance by UK Department of Trade and Industry 'Smart Awards' from 1993, including GBP116,133 in 2000 to complete prototype.
First flight at Membury on 5 June 2003; initially operated under 'B' Conditions as G-61-2; reregistered G-CDBC in August 2004; certification programme nearing completion by mid-2006, when exhibited at Aero Expo, High Wycombe, UK.
Plans for kit version and for assembly at local centres had been abandoned by mid-2006; available only as flyaway aircraft from Membury. Certified as VLA.
CUSTOMERS: Orders taken from mid-2006 onwards.
COSTS: GBP115,000 flyaway, including radio, GPS and standard instruments.
DESIGN FEATURES: Intended for initial marketing to JAR-VLA as two-seater, but engineered from the outset for ease of upgrading to four-seat FAR Pt 23 and equivalents. Low-drag design; believed first to achieve 3.88 km/h/kW (1.56 kt/hp) at continuous cruising power.
Mid/low-wing configuration; marked anhedral on tapered outer wing panels; low tailplane and sweptback fin, L/D ratio 21. Roomy cockpit with semi-reclining seats. Wings removable for storage; requires two persons to (dis)assemble.
Laminar flow wing section.
FLYING CONTROLS: Manual. Ailerons, rudder and all-moving tailplane with anti-balance tab. Aileron and tailplane actuation by pushrods; rudder by cables, Fowler flaps; max deflection 30°; +12° reflex setting of rearmost one-third for low-drag cruising; electrical actuation by torsion drive through control gearbox and rack-and-pinion drive.
STRUCTURE: Prototype constructed from epoxy composites, post-cured in heated moulds; extensive use of carbon fibre and PVC sandwich panels in wings; fuselage of glass fibre outer skin and sandwich core; wings of glass/carbon sandwich skins, with carbon-capped I-beam main spar and rear flap spar; and sailplane-type spar extensions and spherical wing shear pins. Production version has fuselage entirely of carbon fibre and wings similar, except for ribs and spar webs. Rollover protection beam for cockpit.
LANDING GEAR: Tricycle type; retractable. Composites trailing-link main legs; steerable nosewheel. Mainwheels retract inward; nosewheel rearward. Polymer shock-absorbers on mainwheels; oleo-pneumatic on nosewheel leg. Electro-hydraulic gear actuation with free-fall emergency deployment. TOST wheels with hydraulic brakes. Mainwheels 6.00-5; nosewheel 5.00-5.
POWER PLANT: One 84.6 kW (113.4 hp) Rotax 914F liquid-cooled, turbocharged flat-four driving an MT-Propeller MTV-7-A/17C-112 three-blade, constant-speed (electric) propeller. Fuel in two wing tanks; combined capacity 200 litres (52.8 US gallons; 44.0 Imp gallons). Fuel system optimised for mogas.
ACCOMMODATION: Two persons in semi-reclining seats, side by side beneath individual, left and right forward-hinged Plexiglas transparencies framed in carbon fibre. Instrument panel is integral with canopy. Large baggage shelf to rear of seats. Accommodation heated and ventilated.
AVIONICS: Comms: Bendix/King KY 96A transceiver. KY 76A transponder.
Instrumentation: AvMap GPS display.
DIMENSIONS, EXTERNAL:
- Wing span: 9.70 m (31 ft 10 in)
- Wing aspect ratio: 7.8
- Length overall: 7.49 m (24 ft 7 in)
- Height overall: 2.50 m (8 ft 2½ in)
- Wheelbase: 1.74 m (5 ft 8½ in)
- Wheel track: 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
- Propeller diameter: 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
DIMENSIONS, INTERNAL:
- Cockpit max width: 1.22 m (4 ft 0 in)
AREAS:
- Wings, gross: 11.88 m² (127.9 sq ft)
WEIGHTS AND LOADINGS:
- Weight empty: 500 kg (1,102 lb)
- Max baggage weight: 50 kg (110 lb)
- Max T-O weight: 750 kg (1,653 lb)
- Max wing loading: 63.0 kg/m² (12.91 lb/sq ft)
- Max power loading: 8.87 kg/kW (14.58 lb/hp)
PERFORMANCE:
- Never-exceed speed (VNE): 180 kt (333 km/h; 207 mph)
- Cruising speed at 75% power: 137 kt (254 km/h; 158 mph)
- Econ cruising speed at 38% power: 115 kt (213 km/h; 132 mph)
- Stalling speed: clean: 48 kt (89 km/h; 56 mph)
- flaps and gear down: 40 kt (75 km/h; 46 mph)
- Max rate of climb at S/L: 289 m (950 ft)/min
- T-O run: 300 m (985 ft)
- T-O to 15 m (50 ft): 450 m (1,480 ft)
- Landing from 15 m (50 ft): 350 m (1,150 ft)
- Landing run: 250 m (820 ft)
- Service ceiling: 4,875 m (16,000 ft)
- Range: at 75% power: 1,370 n miles (2,537 km; 1,576 miles)
- at 38% power: 2,200 n miles (4.074 km; 2.531 miles)
