FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1773.PDF
582 FLIGHT Internatk 3 October ] SPO BUSINE Flying low during Swedish Army trials, the Vipan shows its very distinctive outline. Ventral-fin area has been considerably increased following spinning trials VIPAN AND JUNIOR PROGRESS advantages over Cessna-type spring-steel legs are lower weight, better hysteresis, and therefore inproved damping—the Cessna system achieves damping mainly by the scrubbing of the tyres as the legs splay under load—and better failure characteristics. The steel leg snaps when overloaded, allowing a wing-tip to touch the ground. The plastics leg simply delaminates locally and takes a set, leaving the possibility of taking-off and landing gently during a return to the home airfield or repair base. During test flying, the plastics legs have proved completely maintenance-free. Tailwheel steering has been abandoned in favour of differential braking and tailwheel locking for take-off and landing. Wing- and power-loading of the Vipan with 180 h.p. engine are respectively 15.31b/sq ft and 14.41b/h.p. and the quoted initial rate of climb is 950ft/min. Take-off run is 550ft. The disposable load gives room for four standard occupants, full 44.5 Imp gal fuel and 1751b for baggage and equipment. There is an alternative utility category gross weight of 2,2801b, which would require a reduction of 1351b in disposable load, but still leave ample military capacity for two occupants, equipment, full fuel and a slight improvement on brochure performance. Measurements during flight tests have shown a maximum speed at sea level of 149 m.p.h., a TAS at sea level of 131 m.p.h. with 72 per cent power and a TAS with 69 per cent power at 7,500ft of just over 140 m.p.h. All these figures are slightly better than original brochure values. Questions which immediately spring to mind are ease of manu facture and repair for this type of structure. Malmo Flygindustri are not willing at the moment to reveal the exact construct technique, but they do admit that it is a form of envelope jiggi adding that any workshop with wood-working capability co produce the necessary tooling. The first three aircraft have b cold-glued with Blumendale rubber-base adhesive, but product aircraft will be hot-glued in sheet-metal jigs. MFI will issue rep kits including a special filler for dents and a filler and metal-pa bonding system for mending skin perforations. Although Bolkow in Germany are mainly known in Europe producers of the little Junior two-seater, the aircraft was origin; brought back to Europe by Bjorn Andreasson, who designed i home-built the first prototype in the USA. He later joined Mai Flygindustri and has now launched the Junior in relatively sm< scale production. Three prototypes were made and followed b; pre-production batch often. Major subassemblies are now also co plete for a batch of 36. Both the ten pre-production ana four of i larger batch have been sold, including four in Norway, one Finland and one in Brazil. Present price, at Malmo, is 35,C Swedish Kroner (about £2,430). Development has proceeded very well, with the addition electrically operated flaps, very successful completion of full spinni clearance, certification for towing a two-seat glider when carryi two people in the Junior, and the rearrangement of the instruira panel to allow for full gyro instruments and navigation radio, new nosewheel assembly using two blocks of rubber in torsion wi a hydraulic damper is also being tested. The cabin has been enlarge as it has been in the Bolkow-made Juniors, and the flaps now hav( conventional metal structure instead of the rigid-foam fillii originally employed. Mo'"1' Getting really tucked-in with o f*w> built Junior, The centrally locate a trol column can just be seen bew<*"
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
