The Air Creation GT and Clipper are a series of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

two-seat

flying wing A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blis ...

ultralight trikes that was designed and produced by Air Creation.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page C-3. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001.

Design and development

The GT series features a cable-braced

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

-style

high-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, weight-shift controls, a tandem-seat, open cockpit,

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

and a single engine in

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. The aircraft is made from bolted-together

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

tubing, with its double-surface wing covered in Trilam sailcloth. Its area wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame control bar. A variety of wings and engines has been fitted to the GT carriage, to form new variants. When equipped with a cockpit fairing, the aircraft is called the Clipper.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', pages 91-92. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X The GT series can be fitted with the later-designed

Air Creation NuviX The Air Creation NuviX is a French double-surface ultralight trike wing, designed and produced by Air Creation of Aubenas. The wing is widely used on Air Creation trikes.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Avi ...

wing.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 200. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X The GT was replaced in production by the

Air Creation Skypper The Air Creation Skypper is a French ultralight trike, designed and produced by Air Creation of Aubenas. The aircraft was introduced in 2011 and is supplied complete and ready-to-fly.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory o ...

Variants

;GT-BI :Version with XP-15 wing,

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weight function, weighted relative position (vector), position of the distributed mass sums to zero. Thi ...

adjustable sliding keel, pneumatic suspension of all three

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

wheels and a steerable nose wheel equipped with a

drum brake A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...

. The engine is a Rotax 503 of ;Kiss 400 GTE 582 :Version with the Kiss 400 wing, rated for and Rotax 582 engine of ;Kiss 450 GTE 582 :Version with the Kiss 450 wing, rated for and Rotax 582 engine of ;Mild GTE 582 Float :Version with the Mild wing and Rotax 582 engine of and dual floats for water operations. ;XP-12 Buggy 582 SL :Version with the XP-12 wing and Rotax 582 engine of and float for water operations. ;MILD-GTE 503 SL :Version with the MILD wing of and Rotax 503 engine of Downey, Julia: ''2000 Trike and 'Chute Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 17, Number 2, February 2000, pages 44-45. Kitplanes Acquisition Company. ISSN 0891-1851 ;MILD-GTE 582 :Version with the MILD wing of and Rotax 582 engine of Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 102. BAI Communications. ;XP-GTE 582 SL :Version with the XP wing and Rotax 582 engine of ;XP-Buggy :Version with the XP wing and Rotax 582 engine of ;iXess Clipper 582 :Version with a fairing, the iXess wing and Rotax 582 engine of . ;XP-17 Clipper 912 :Version with a fairing, the XP-17 wing and

Rotax 912 The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, late ...

four stroke engine of .

Specifications (MILD-GTE 503 SL)

References

External links

{{Air Creation aircraft 1990s French ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Ultralight trikes GT