The Aerosport Rail is an American minimalist
ultralight aircraft
Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...
, designed by Harris Woods and built by
Aerosport Inc __NOTOC__
Aerosport Inc was a company founded by Harold Woods in Holly Springs, North Carolina in 1971 in aviation, 1971 to market aircraft and plans for homebuilt aircraft, homebuilding.
List of products
;Aerosport Quail
:(1971) Single-engine hi ...
. The aircraft was first flown on 14 November 1970.
Design and development
The Rail is little more than a 2 by 5 inch squared aluminium tube (rail) with all-metal wings and a
T-tail
A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane is ...
. The pilot sits on the tube, just ahead of and above the wings. Two small
two-cycle
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...
engines derated to are mounted on struts behind the seat on either side of centerline, driving
pusher propellers. Individual
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
fuel tanks are mounted in front of each engine. About 175 sets of plans were sold between 1970 and 1977. The follow-on design, the
Aerosport Quail uses the Rail's wing design for an enclosed
tractor configuration
In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...
homebuilt aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...
.
Specifications
See also
References
*
Aerofiles''The FLYING RAIL: A Twin-Engine Pusher You Can Build''
by Ben Kocivar, Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
, Oct. 1971, pp. 55 ff.
{{Aerosport Inc
Rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
Homebuilt aircraft
1970s United States ultralight aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Twin-engined pusher aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1970
T-tail aircraft