Equipped with folding wings. Wood and fabric construction.
Top speed: 150 mph
Cruise: 120 mph
Stall: 52 mph
Range: 750 nm
Rate of climb: 700 fpm
Takeoff dist: 600 ft
Landing dist: 600 ft
Service ceiling: 10,000 ft
Engine: Lycoming O-235, 108 hp
HP range: 85-125
Fuel capacity: 30 USG
Empty weight: 1035 lb
Gross weight: 1600 lb
Height: 9 ft
Length: 23 ft
Wing span: 25 ft
Wing area: 108 sq.ft
Seats: 2
Landing gear: nose or tail wheel
S. Littner
2001: 432 Hamel, Saint-Eustache, QC J7P 4M3, Canada.
LSA builder
Lithuania
Based at Kaunas, Kovno, and building its own-design light aircraft from 1922. After the death of the designer, Lieutenant Dobkevicius, the company built training and reconnaissance aircraft for the army.
Engine: Rotax 277, 28 hp.
HP range: 28-40.
Speed max: 70 mph.
Cruise: 60 mph.
Range: 150 sm.
Stall: 23 mph.
Take-off dist: 200 ft.
Landing dist: 200 ft.
Fuel cap: 5 USG.
Weight empty: 220 lbs.
Gross: 525 lbs.
Height: 8.25 ft.
Length: 10 ft.
Wing span: 30 ft.
Wing area: 145 sq.ft.
Seats: 1.
Landing gear: nose wheel.
The Bearcat is a high-performance, rigid-wing, amateur-built aircraft with an all-steel 4130 chrome-moly (linseed oil flushed) fuselage frame that provides a tremendous amount of pilot protection and is resistant to vibration and rough-field conditions. This feature will increase the airframe life expectancy over the current aluminum tube airframes found on most ultra-light-type amateur-built aircraft, the company says. The tractor engine mounting and the 4130 chrome-moly bungee shock-absorbing landing gear are capable of absorbing impact in the event of an accident. The standard Bearcat is powered by a 42-hp Rotax 447 engine with the gear-drive reduction unit for a lightweight but efficient power package. The engine will produce 340 pounds of static thrust turning a 68 x 28 propeller. The airframe will accept engines of up to 65 hp. Another high-performance design feature incorporated in the Bearcat is the full-span trailing edge flaperons. The flaperons will be operated as flaps by lever and at the same time be operated as ailerons. When extended up to 40 degrees of, flaps, the wing will exhibit a higher lifting capability, decreasing the takeoff roll and increasing the climb capabilities. Flaperon extension will also create a downdraft on the spray pattern on the AG version to ensure better crop penetration of chemical. The airframe is stressed for +6 and -4 G’s.
Powerplant: Rotax 447 42 hp @ 6450 rpm.
Propeller: 66 x 28 wood.
Length: 17 ft 6 in.
Height (ft): 6.
Wingspan (ft): 30.
Wing area (sq.ft.): 150.
Wing loading (lbs/sq.ft.): 3.8.
Seats: 1.
Empty weight (lbs): 275.
Useful load (lbs): 300.
Maximum takeoff weight (lbs): 575.
Fuel capacity (USG): 5 (10 opt.).
Takeoff roll (ft): 150.
Takeoff over 50-foot obstacle (ft): 650.
Rate of climb (fpm): 800.
Max cruise speed (mph): 70.
Landing roll (ft): 150.
Landing over 50-foot obstacle (ft): 350.
Best rate of climb (mph): 40.
Design speed (mph): 55.
Never exceed (mph): 90.
Stall, power off (mph): 28.
Landing approach speed (mph): 35-40.
Optional equipment: Instrumenta¬tion, wheel fairing, brakes, floats.
Design engineer Boris Lisunov was sent to the U.S.A. to study the Douglas DC-3 and prepare for production in the Soviet Union. Production under designation PS-84 began in 1939, entering service in the same year. In 1942 the PS-84 became known as the Li-2. The only Soviet wartime transport, it was used postwar by Aeroflot.
Willy Lischak of Bad Vosslau, Austria, designed and built the wood and foam Mobil Racer LW02.
On 21 June 1986 Lischak set two class C-1.A/O Group 1 (for aircraft under 661 lb) world records.
Distance in a closed circuit – 932.72 miles
1000 km closed circuit speed – 106.52 mph
On 24 May 1987 he upped both records to 1032.2 miles and 116.292 mph.
Engine: Steyr-Puch 751cc, 26 hp at 4000 rpm
Wing span: 17.71 ft
Length: 14.43 ft
Empty weight: 352.72 lb
Gross weight: 661.37 lb
The LISA Akoya (Akoya is a species of pearl oyster) is a light aircraft designed to operate from land, water or snow without adaptation and incorporating a wing of variable area.
First flying on 22 August 2007 the LISA Akoya is a French single-engine light aircraft, seating two in side-by-side configuration. It is an amphibious aircraft capable of alighting on land, water or snow without adaptation. It has a high-aspect-ratio electrically-folding wing, with trailing edge extensions rather than flaps, and a rear-mounted tractor configuration engine.
Some other features are unusual: it has a wing which folds for transportation by horizontal rotation through almost 90° and a single engine mounted high on the fin in tractor configuration. It is built entirely from carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer composites.
The cantilever wings of the Akoya have an aspect ratio of about 18:1, they have constant chord apart from the angled tips. Instead of conventional hinged flaps, the inner 2⁄3 of the trailing edge can be extended rearwards, exposing new fabric surface stored within the wing in roller blind fashion. Fully extended for landing and half extended for take-off, these surfaces provide a large increase in wing area. Conventional ailerons are fitted outboard. High mounted, the wings attach at a rotatable fairing on the highest point of the fuselage, allowing the rotation for storage.
The fin and rudder together form a swept, short and parallel chord surface which carries at its top both the tailplane in T-tail configuration and the engine. The tailplane, like the wing, is of high aspect ratio and has full span elevators. The engine is a 73.5 kW (98.6 hp) Rotax 912 ULS flat four, driving a three bladed tractor propeller.
The Akoya’s fuselage is pointed at the nose and almost circular at its greatest diameter. In elevation it has a curved underside and, above, the large one piece canopy over the side-by-side, dual control cabin forms an unbroken line with the fuselage. There is an electrically operated retractable undercarriage of the taildragger variety, with the main gear legs rotating backward and inwards into the fuselage, and the tailwheel arm rotating forward. All wheels have hydraulic brakes. Operation from water, without a planing bottom or floats, is performed undercarriage up on the round fuselage underside with the aid of a pair of fixed hydrofoils, called shark-fins, sharply tapered planes set at about 50° to the vertical just outboard of the mainwheels. Small tip floats are an option for better lateral stability on water. The Akoya, it is claimed by the manufacturer, can also land on snow, though skis are an option.
A full-size mock-up appeared at the Friedrichshafen Aero ’07 show in April 2007, and the prototype flew in August 2007 at Chambery. By May 2009 F-WURE had flown 150 hours and 50 orders placed. Production was initially expected by mid-2011.
In March 2012 the company was pursuing light-sport aircraft approval of the design to facilitate sales in the United States.
In July 2012 the prototype had flown its first passenger and has been exhibited at AirVenture 2012. LSA approval and the start of production was still pending. Also in July 2012, the company was placed in receivership for financial restructuring after existing investors were not forthcoming with additional funds.
By February 2013 a 75% controlling interest in the company had been purchased by the Heima Mining Company of China for US$20 million. The Heima Mining Company was to name its own chairman of LISA and planed to open two new production lines in France. The Chinese investment permitted finalizing the Akoya’s design for production.
In late 2014 the aircraft was priced “all inclusive” at 300,000 Euros. In July 2015 information about the aircraft was shown at AirVenture, and the price was indicated as US$330,000, and the company claimed about 100 orders.
In March 2017 it was announced that an updated second-prototype would fly in April 2017, it included a new retractable landing gear that would enable the aircraft to operate on water, land and snow.
The second prototype, Pre-Series 1, first flew in August 2017 and features revised fuselage fins, that are horizontal, instead of canted downwards. This change enabled shortening the main landing gear legs to improve cockpit visibility when taxiing.
Akoya
Engine: 1 × Rotax 912 ULS with 1:2.34 reduction gear, 73.5 kW (98.6 hp)
Propeller: 3-bladed
Wingspan: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)
Wing area: 6.70 sq.m (72.1 sq ft)
Length: 6.90 m (22 ft 8 in)
Height: 2.35 m (7 ft 9 in) including propeller
Empty weight: 400 kg (882 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 650 kg (1,433 lb)
Fuel capacity / normal: 70 l (18 US gal; 15 imp gal)
Fuel capacity / optional: 110 l (29 US gal; 24 imp gal)
Cruise speed: 210 km/h (130 mph, 110 kn) economical
Stall speed: 64 km/h (40 mph, 35 kn) flaps down
Never exceed speed: 290 km/h (180 mph, 160 kn)
Range: 1,250 km (780 mi, 670 nmi) at economical cruising speed without optional tank
Rate of climb: 5.2 m/s (1,020 ft/min) maximum
Seats: 2
Avionics: VHF, intercom, transponder. Two screen EFIS with emergency backup instruments
To remain competitive with the latest designs coming from the German universities, Robert Kronfield asked Alexander Lippisch, the Professor’s designer, for an improved version with better performance and handling. Lippisch’s response was an elegant sailplane that Kronfeld named Wien after his home town. The Wien kept the layout of the Professor, with pylon-mounted single-spar wings braced with faired struts, but the span was increased by 3.0 m (9 ft 10 in), raising the aspect ratio from 14 to 19.6. The fuselage was redesigned to have a smooth ovoid section, finer aft than on the Professor and fitted with a more aerodynamically refined fin and rudder.
Both designs used a plywood-covered D-box forward of the spar, with fabric covering behind, and their 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in) half span, parallel chord inner wing panels were similar, though close to the fuselage the Wien’s wing was strengthened with full chord plywood skin. The V-form bracing struts linked the extremes of these panels to the lower fuselage. The extra span of the Wien was in the double straight-tapered outer panels, which continued out to finer, rounded tips. Ailerons occupied the whole trailing edge of these sections.
The Wien’s open cockpit was ahead of the wing leading edge. There was no windscreen, and the instruments, including the still novel variometer, were displayed horizontally, inset into the fuselage immediately in front of the pilot. The undercarriage consisted of a single enclosed skid and a small spring tailskid. The rear fixed surfaces, ply covered, were very narrow, though the root of the fin was carefully faired into the fuselage. The tapered control surfaces were fabric covered.
The Wien was capable of utilizing both ridge lift and thermals. Kronfield used both methods in a series of ground breaking and often record setting flights between 1929 and 1931, learning much about thermal flying. On 15 May 1929 he made the first glider flight of more than 100 km (62 mi), largely ridge flying but with some thermal soaring. This was followed by at least three world distance records, the last between the Wasserkuppe and Marktredwitz, a distance of 164 km (102 mi) flown on 24 August 1930. Some very significant though not record breaking flights of about 160 km (100 mi) were made in August 1931 which used thermals alone and showed that on some days the distance that had to be flown between thermals was short. This was new information which, as it became widely known, opened up the potential of cross-country soaring.
Kronfeld also set two glider altitude records, the second flown on 30 July 1929 in thunderous conditions to a height of 2,560 m (8,399 ft).[2] At the invitation of the British Gliding Association he and the Wien made a series of demonstration flights on a tour of England in the Summer of 1931. During it he flew over London along the Thames and also won a £1,000 prize donated by the Daily Mail for a cross Channel flight. The North -South crossing, followed by a return flight, was made in July 1931; these did not use thermals but were direct glides from about 3000 m (9,840 ft) after an aero-tow.
Wingspan: 19.10 m (62 ft 8 in)
Wing area: 18.6 m2 (200 sq ft)
Aspect ratio: 19.6
Airfoil: Root, Göttingen 549 modified with thickened nose and increased camber
Length: 7.95 m (26 ft 1 in)
Empty weight: 158 kg (348 lb)
Gross weight: 248 kg (547 lb)
Wing loading: 13.8 kg/m2 (2.8 lb/sq ft)
Crew: One
