The Mini Coupe was designed by Bill Johnson and was the very first of the modern material kits. The Mini Coupe made its first flight in 1971 and was certified in 1972.
The Mini Coupe kit was purchased “complete” to the firewall in 1972, with all materials required to build the airplane. Ribs were formed along with the spars, wing skins, fuselage skins, tail assembly, controls assemblies, landing gear, brakes, tires, tubes, wheels, and about 5,000 pop rivets.
By late 1975, approximately 150 sets of plans had been sold. The Mini Coupe is a lightweight all-metal, single seat sporting aircraft powered by a 65-hp modified Volkswagen 1600-cc engine. Its wings are of constant-chord design with all-metal, stressed-skin construction with metal ailerons and no flaps or trim tabs. Its landing gear is the nonretractable tricycle type with oversize tires. The single seat is covered by a canopy or can be left open.
Price 1982: $2,850 Excludes instruments, wheels, bearings, axles, brakes, tires, tubes and cockpit covering. Units delivered to June 1981: 170.
The VW powered Mini Coupe in 2008 was available from DCS Inc.
Engines: VW-1600 Engine options: up to 100 hp MTOW utility: 850 lb MTOW Std cat: 900 lb Empty Wt. 497 lb Fuel capacity 13-15 USG Usefull load 353 – 403 lb Wingspan 22 ft 4 in – 24 ft Length 16’4” Vne 145 mph Cruise 90-110 mph Stall 48 mph Climb rate 750 fpm Ceil¬ing 12,500 ft Takeoff run 300 ft Landing roll 400 ft Range 300 miles Cabin width 24 in Seats: 1 Undercarrage: nose wheel Tires: 600 x 6
Single seat single engined high wing mono¬plane with conventional three axis control. Wing has unswept leading and trailing edges, and constant chord; conventional tail. Pitch control by fully flying tail; yaw control by fully flying rudder; roll control by one third span ailerons; control inputs through yoke for pitch/roll and pedals for yaw. Wing braced from below by struts; wing profile modified Clark Y (incidence: 6 deg at root, 3 deg at tip); double surface. Undercarriage has three wheels in tricycle formation with additional tailskid; steel spring suspension on nosewheel and bungee suspension on main wheels. Push right go right nosewheel steering connected to yaw control. Brake on nosewheel. Aluminium tube framework, without pod. Engine mounted below wing driving pusher propeller.
Bob Teman worked as a structural engineer on the space shuttle and Cruise missile programmes and over the last few years he has designed and built several aircraft including a man powered machine. His Mono Fly is the result of five years of development during which the main boom of the fuselage is the only part which has not been modified. Trials began in January 1976 and the first flight was made in duly 1979, experimental category FAA certification being granted on 7 July 1980, though the latest version just qualifies as an ultralight. Three different wings had been built the prototype even appeared once as a biplane three different engines, four types of suspension, two tails etc. Although he started by selling his MonoFly only as plans, Bob Teman was quickly overwhelmed by the demand and had to form Teman Aircraft to do it properly. This company now sells the Mono Fly as plans for $40, requiring around 300h labour and approximately $1910 for materials, engine included. In standard form, the engine was a twin cylinder, four stroke Onan (as used by Quickie) developing up to 22 hp and used with direct drive. Bob next offered as an option, the Kawasaki TA440 of 38.5 hp, whilst producing a prototype powered by a Rotax 503, which became the standard power pack in March 1983.
At Sun ‘n’ Fun in 1983 at Lakeland, Florida, where the Mono Fly put on several displays, Teman Aircraft also announced that two kits were now available. One, called the material kit, offers the Mono Fly complete except for paint and battery for $3540 or $2155 without the engine and requires around 150h assembly. The other, called the fast build kit, needs 80h assembly according to Teman Aircraft and is sold for $3900 complete or $2515 without engine. The latter offers, on top of that in the material kit, sheet, plate, angle and tube all cut to size including bends and pilot holes, while the engine is modified and ready to bolt on.
The Mono Fly is designed with demountable wings to facilitate transport and rigging without tools takes ten minutes for one person.
Engine: Rotax 503, 46 hp at 6500 rpm Propeller diameter and pitch 52 x 34 inch, 1.32 x 0.86 m Reduction ratio 2.0/1 Max static thrust 300 lb, 136 kg Power per unit area 0.37 hp/sq.ft, 4.0 hp/sq.m Fuel capacity 5.0 US gal, 4.2 Imp gal, 18.9 litre Optional fuel: 6.0 US gal, 5.0 Imp gal, 22.7 litre Length overall 17.2 ft, 5.23 m Height overall 6.6ft, 2.01m Wing span 30.8ft, 9.37m Constant chord 4.0ft, 1.22m Dihedral 3 deg Sweepback 0 deg Total wing area 124sq.ft, 11.5sq.m Total aileron area 8.0sq.ft, 0.74sq.m Rudder area 10.0 sq.ft, 0.93 sq.m Total elevator area 14.0 sq.ft, 1.30 sq.m Wing aspect ratio 7.6/1 Empty weight 250 lb, 113kg Max take off weight 550 lb, 249kg Payload 300 lb, 136kg Max wing loading 4.43 lb/sq.ft, 21.6kg/sq.m Max power loading 12.0 lb/hp, 5.4kg/hp Load factors; +10.0, 10.0 ultimate Max level speed 63 mph, 101 kph Max cruising speed 45 mph, 72kph Stalling speed 20mph, 32kph Max climb rate at sea level 1000ft/min, 5.1m/s Take off distance 100 ft, 30 m
The one-dimensional fuselage structure is 6061-16 x .090 wall aluminum tubing, three inches in diameter and bolted together with gussets. “All-flying” empennage surfaces and four ailerons are conventionally controlled with yoke and rudder bar. Tricycle landing gear features a steerable nosewheel. The Onan engine swings a 46 x 26-inch pitch prop at about 3200 rpm. The wings are a modified Clark Y of fiberglass and epoxy.
All Aero 