First made in 1991, the Amour was designed for the recreational pilot. It was claimed to be an exceptionally agile performance wing.
The Amour has an aerofoil king post, 17 top surface battens, and 4 undersurface battens, trim tips, HT 30 TF tubing, no keel pocket, mylar leading edge, 4.2 ounce sail cloth, VB, and a weight of 56 lbs in the bag was claimed. Price including VAT was £1938.75.
Later models, the Amour 159, were upgraded to include 19 top surface battens and 6 under surface battens.
The 1991 Avian Amour is described as a lovely glider – respectable performance – easy handling easy landing. A good 2nd glider for those looking for more perfomance – or more experienced pilots looking for a ‘Fun’ wing.
Some 159 had tendency to drop a wing on landing. Some land well, others don’t. On light wind landings, it seems to resist the flare, followed by a tip stall, with the stalled wing catching. Apparently ‘de-tuning’ the tips helps, as does ‘landing’ 2m above the ground (out of ground effect?). Otherwise, very nice glider.
Handling is a little stiff, heard rather heavy pilots reporting it too. However with a bit of push out while weightshifting you can turn it reasonably quick or keep that wing down. The Amour159 reportedly handles easier. The glider a bit stiff in turn (especially if turn with bank angle more than 45 degrees).
Landing – didn’t notice much resistance to flare, but heard of that on 159 size. Quite easy on 139.
Rather short control frame, good for short pilots. All construction is definitely aimed to satisfy small pilots.
Amour 139 Wing area: 12.5 m² Wing span: 8.85 m Aspect ratio: 6.3 Minimum pilot weight: 48 kg Maximum pilot weight: 80 kg Nose angle: 121°
Amour 159 Wing area: 14.6 sq.m / 157 sq ft Wing span: 9.85 m / 32.3 ft Nose Angle: 123 degs Aspect ratio: 6.7 Double surface: 75% Hang glider weight: 29 kg Pilot weight: 64-93 kg / 10-14 st Minimum speed: 24 km/h / 15 mph Maximum speed: 90 km/h / 55 mph Max glide ratio (L/H): 11.5 Minimum sink rate: 0.86 m/s Packed length: 5.9 m Certification: BHPA Price (1991) £ 2350 Price (1998) £ 2827
1972: Avian Balloon Co South 4323 Locust Rd Spokane Washington 99026 USA
1982: Avian Balloon Company Box 12168 Spokane Washington 99206 USA.
Avian’s three balloons come standard with a three color envelope, wicker basket with padded leather handrail, instruments and canvas bag for weather protection and transportation. Envelope volumes are 42,000, 60,000 and 80,000 cubic feet. Depending on model, the balloons can carry from one to four passengers.
This two-seat Gyroplane was a compound aircraft flew in spring 1960 as an experimental machine, and a small production run followed.
The all-metal fuselage had a tandem two-seat cockpit in the front enclosed by a large bubble canopy, and a 180hp Lycoming O-360-A engine in the rear driving a pusher propeller inside a circular duct. The 2/180A was fitted with a fixed tricycle undercarriage and had a three-blade rotor fitted with compressed air tip nozzles to assist ‘jump starting’. The top rotor had three blades, with flapping hinges. The blades had steel tube and leading edge spars, wood core, and fiberglass covering, and used a NACA 0015 configuration. The plane had a non-retractable tricycle landing gear with a steerable nose wheel and disc brakes. The prototype (CF-LKF-X) first flew in early 1960 but was subsequently damaged beyond repair.
It was followed by a second aircraft (CF-MTV-X) on 16 February, 1961. This 2/180B prototype used a mechanical drive to the rotor. Avian then built the first of three pre-production prototypes (CF-NWS-X) with a larger annular duct, no tail fins and a more extensively framed cockpit canopy. These were followed by a ‘certification prototype’ (CF-JTO-X) which had further canopy modifications, spring steel undercarriage legs and a 200hp Lycoming IO-360 engine. The Avian 2/180 was certificated in 1968, but it seems that the company went out of business shortly after without starting production.
Avian 2/180 Engine: 1 x Lycoming IO-360, 150kW Main rotor diameter: 11.28m Fuselage length: 4.92m Height: 2.95m Take-off weight: 862kg Empty weight: 590kg Max speed: 193km/h Cruising speed: 179km/h Service ceiling: 4280m Range: 640km Rate of climb SL: 5m/s Seats: 2
Aviation division of TVT Corporation formed to introduce helicopter design and production to Ukraine. Initial liaison with Aerokopter Ltd of Poltava (formed 14 December 1999); however, on 3 May 2000 Aerokopter design bureau divided and both elements became autonomous.
Variously described as a rigid-wing hang-glider or as a foot-launched sailplane, the Canard 2FL was designed by Swiss aero-dynamicist Hans Farner. Of fibreglass construction, it consisted of a small fuselage, big enough to accommodate the pilot in a prone position, provided with doors in the bottom through which the pilot’s legs could protrude for take-off and landing. A large canard was fitted at the nose, and the main lifting surfaces were supported atop tall, V-shaped pylons which both generated lift and acted as vertical fins. Wings, pylons and canard have Wortmann FX-67-170 airfoil section.
Construction is fiberglass to form in the matrix of the skin and spar fiberglass laminate, with extensive use of foam filler Styrofoam. To transport the wing unit disassembled into three sections of 4.8 meters (15.8 ft), to lay on the roof of a car or trailer.
Pylons (two “V” wings) attach a high wing at the mid-point of the span on both sides – positioning the main wing out of the flow of the canard. The vee-tail pylons have a core of solid hard foam unlike the styrofoam of the wings, while the ailerons have cores of hard foam cells. The wing has a Wortmann FX-63-137 section and is a single-spar structure with a vacuum-formed shell of laminated resin and glassfibre and a core of styrofoam plate. The canard did not hinge in the horizontal axis to produce pitching moments as convention dictates, but rather twisted about the glider’s longitudinal axis to control adverse yaw, thus stall was impossible (unacellerated), and Vne could not be exceeded even by deliberate pilot action. The canard was positioned out front of a fully canopied pilot pod via a slender extension. The one piece canopy/windscreen is open at the rear and for landing there is a retractable front skid and a nonretractable tailskid. A monowheel is optional for downhill rolling take-offs.
The control system is mixed. The longitudinal control, pitch, is changed by the pilot the shifting center of gravity. The pilot rotates prone on a stomach board that slides fore and aft 80 cm (32 inches). Pilot weight at launch is supported on shoulder straps. Ailerons and all-moving canards (each console can rotate (or warp) on 5 degrees relative to the longitudinal axis of the machine). On the vertical tail is mounted brakes, to control the rate of descent giving a sink rate of 0.6 m/s (120 fpm).
At first the claim of 35:1 seemed excessive but consider this, Farner had Lockhead as his client. The joined wing concept allowed an effective span of the main wing plus the pylons of around 65 feet, without the tip drag induced by the vortices of biwings.
At the start of the pilot runs on his feet, after the lift-off, pulls his legs inside the fuselage, rotated horizontally, the bottom hatch (and lantern above) is closed for the streamlining of the fuselage. Landing can take place either on the ski under the fuselage, or the pilot’s legs. After launch, doors under the pilot were closed, the pilot rotated prone and the rear canopy half was closed.
The construction and development of Canark 2FL began in August 1976 in a workshop in Hinwil, Switzerland, on the basis of a previous project by Hans Farner and Ernst Ruppert, the Colibri, dating back to 1972. The Canard-2 FL made its first flight on 7 September 1977.
Aviafiber Canard 2FL
Results of flight testing with the engine running encouraged Farner and Bucher to designa dedicated motor-glider version as the Canard Aviation Canard SCM, powered by a 15–18 kW (20–24 hp) engine. Farner had previously designed a motor-glider using the FL concept as the Farner HF Colibri 1 SL, which first flew in 1979.
Test flights of the Canard took place in Vaduz. Hans Farner was killed test flying the Canard after a small number were sold. The 1980 accident that claimed the designer’s life was due to over-control of pitch. The pilot strapped into a dolly that pivoted flat after takeoff. The dolly slid forward and aft on rollers and changed the CG to control pitch. The designer slid off the dolly and ended up over-controlling and fell out of the final pull-up upside down.
The business promoter (H. Bucher) decided to withdraw the Canard 2FL, Canard SC and Canard SCM from sale, buying back all the remaining four gliders after the accident and then redesign and re-release the Canard as a sailplane. The moulds were in the small town of Wald not too far from Zurich. Another incident finally ruined the reputation of the Canard 2FL design.
Airframes constructed by Ruppert Composites of Wald, Switzerland, were HB-3000 (Sept 1978), HB-3001 (Apr 1979, HB-3002 (Aug 1979), and HB-3003 (Aug 1981).
One of the glider remains in the Swiss Lucerne Transport Museum.
