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Acrolite® 1A | |
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Description of Airplane |
The Original Acrolite Biplane This is the original Acrolite biplane and a forerunner of the present Acrolite. This aircraft was designed in 1985 to take full advantage of the regulations governing ultralight aircraft in Canada at that time. Construction was started in January 1986 by Peter Eisenbach and Chris Weiher and the first flight was in October 1986. It was a 22 foot span biplane with a empty weight of 281 lbs. and powered by a Rotax 447 engine. It easily out performed all of the commercial ultralights that were available then and unlike most of them it was 100% legal for launch weight. It is an excellent flying machine that is still being flown today. The 1A was first flown with the Kawasaki 440, after 50 hours it was replaced with a new 40 hp. Rotax 447 engine and B reduction drive. With a stall speed of 32 mph this is a very docile and easy to fly aircraft. The fuselage is constructed of welded 4130 chrome moly steel tube. The tail assembly is constructed of 6061 aluminum tube riveted together with 2024-T3 aluminum gusset plates. The wing is construction of 2024-T3 aluminum with a channel section main spar, a channel section rear spar, sheeted leading edge D cell and assembled with 1/8 inch diameter stainless steel blind rivets. The airfoil is a NACA4412 semi-symmetrical section. The ailerons are semi-full span aluminum tube, static balanced. The wing, fuselage, empennage and ailerons are fabric covered with 1.7 oz PolyFiber fabric. The landing gear is one piece spring aluminum clamped and bolted directly to the bottom of the fuselage with four bolts. The wheels and tires are 500 X 5 kart type with mechanical drum brakes. This aircraft won the C.O.P.A. Good Show Award in 1998. Plans for this aircraft are not presently available. |
