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Aviation History
1994
1994 - 1374.PDF
KITPLANES $35,000 kitplane costing upwards of $80,000 when complete. A total of 35 kits has been sold. It is estimated that a pro duction ES would cost around $110,000, but, where the Tampico cruises at 106kt, the Lancair will lope along at 174kt. California-based Tri-R Technologies plans to fly the prototype of a new fixed- gear four-seater at the end of June. The company has sold 78 KIS two-place, all- composite, kitplanes and says that kits for the 157kt-cruise four-seater will be avail able in October/November at a $24,000 launch price. Tri-R is seeking funding to certificate the KIS, then the four-seater. FLAGSHIP PERFORMANCE The argument that an absence of regulation promotes innovation is most compelling at the high-performance end of the kitplane market. Here, the major bang available for modest bucks is at its most evident. High- performance kitplanes are the industry's flagships, and a reminder of how far pro duction general-aviation aircraft have fall en behind advances in technology. Here, speed is a discriminator. Price is less important, except that even the high est-performing kitplane can cost, complete, less than half the $340,000 price tag on a Beech Bonanza B36. Two-seaters make up the bulk of this burgeoning market. Established designs include Stoddard-Hamilton's Glasair II and III, all-composite kitplanes with cruise speeds ranging from 188kt to 272kt at kit costs of between $21,000 and $35,000. A All-metal aerobalic Omega It heading for certification total of 1,400 Glasair kits has been sold, and around 500 are being flown. Lancair, meanwhile, has sold 800 of its two-place kitplanes and around 250 are in the air. The all-composite Lancair 320/360 sells for $28,000 and a completed aircraft costs between $55,000 and $75,000 — and cruises at up to 209kt. North Carolina- based Questair's compact, all-metal, Venture cruises at 240kt on 208kW and even its Spirit fixed-gear version — a can didate for certification — is capable of 192kt on 145kW. Newcomers to the high-performance two-seater market include Utah-based Integrated Systems Aero Engineering's all- metal Omega II and California-based Experimental Aviation's all-composite Berkut. Part 23 certification of the tandem- seat Omega II is planned, but only to ensure the $30,000 kit's airworthiness. Production in Australia is a possibility, however. With 12 Omega II kits sold, and the first customer-completed aircraft scheduled to fly in mid-1995, certification of the Omega II is planned for December 1995. The first customer-completed Berkuts will be flying by the end of 1994. The Rutan Long-EZ- inspired kitplane is expected to cost between $40,000 and $60,000— and cruise at 215kt — when completed. Two Long- Certification circus Kitplanes are no cure-all for the GA industry's ills. Not every buyer is pre pared, or able, to invest the time and effort required to build an aircraft. Type certifi cation and factory production, until recently too expensive to consider, are now options, thanks to successful co operation between SAMA, the EAA and the US Federal Aviation Administration. Potential light-aircraft makers have long lamented the complexity of the FAA's FAR Part 23 airworthiness regulations governing GA. Over the years, as the rules have been amended to accommodate ever more capable business and regional trans ports, the cost of complying with FAR 23 has become prohibitive for small-aircraft manufacturers. This has fuelled the boom in the kit- plane industry, which is essentially unreg ulated — except that kits must comply with the "51% rule", which requires that the owner accomplish the majority of tasks needed to build the aircraft, to qual ify for experimental-category approval. Amateur-built aircraft are approved for personal and recreational flying, but not for flight training or for hire. This limita tion has not proved much of a brake on the growth of the kitplane industry, but it has left untapped the demand for afford able certificated aircraft for flight training and business transport. The array of routes for small-aircraft type-certification now available is confus ing. The first is full-blown Part 23 certifi cation. To help manufacturers, the FAA is compiling a handbook of procedures already used successfully to achieve an adequate level of compliance at least cost. The second route is certification to European joint-airworthiness regulations governing very-light aircraft (JAR/VLA), which the FAA has agreed to accept as a simplified means of demonstrating Part 23 compliance. VLA certification is limited to aircraft with up to two seats, gross weights up to 750kg and stall speeds up to 45kt. VLA certification with a JAR 22- approved (motorglider) engine restricts use to daylight and visual flight-rules, lim iting the aircraft's utility for flight training. VLA certification with an FAR 33/35- approved engine allows night and instru ment flight-rules use, clearing the way for the aircraft to be used for full-spectrum flight training. The third route is not a certification standard, but a process. Primary category applies to aircraft with up to four seats, gross weights up to 1,225kg and stall speeds up to 61kt — encompassing about two-thirds of the active amateur-built fleet. A subset of the primary category, sportplane class, applies to two-place air craft up to 545kg gross and 39kt stall. Primary category allows the manufac turer to select a certification standard, then demonstrate compliance with the minimum-possible FAA oversight. Options already available include Part 23, JAR/VLA, Transport Canada's Tpl01.41 airworthiness rules governing advanced ultralights and, most recently, the CAR 3 regulation (predecessor of Part 23) under which many of today's production piston- singles were originally certificated. The FAA is prepared to evaluate other design standards as routes to primary-cat egory approval and is already considering an exemption to the weight limit to allow certification of a 1,550kg flying boat. A primary-category aircraft can be used for recreation, training and personal 44 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 1 - 7 June, 1994
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