__NOTOC__ The Aquila A 210 is a two-seat

reinforced plastic Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP; also called fibre-reinforced polymer, or in American English ''fiber'') is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass (in fibreglass), carbon (in carbon-fibr ...

light aircraft produced in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

from 2002. It remains in production in 2022 as the updated A211.

Design and development

The marketing name A 210 is usually used to refer to Aquila's light side by side two seat aircraft, though its official engineering and certification name is Aquila AT01. Design work started in 1997 and the first flight was made in March 2000. The A 210 is entirely built from carbon and glass fibre reinforced plastics (

CFRP CFRP may refer to: * Carbon fiber reinforced polymer Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, ...

and

GFRP Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

). CRFP is used for the more highly stressed members, spars, frames and stringers, GFRP for shells and control surfaces, the latter with GFRP/polyurethane sandwich construction. The

low 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 ...

has straight tapered inboard sections with increasing sweep outboard and winglets at the tips on production examples. It has a

laminar flow In fluid dynamics, laminar flow is characterized by fluid particles following smooth paths in layers, with each layer moving smoothly past the adjacent layers with little or no mixing. At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral mi ...

section and 4.5° of dihedral. The

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s are balanced and the inboard single slotted

Fowler flaps A flap is a high-lift device used to reduce the stalling speed of an aircraft wing at a given weight. Flaps are usually mounted on the wing trailing edges of a fixed-wing aircraft. Flaps are used to reduce the take-off distance and the landing ...

have two positions. The A 210 is powered by a

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 ...

flat four A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, ...

engine driving a two blade

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

. The cabin has uninterrupted transparencies fore and aft, with a slender fuselage behind. The canopy is forward hinged. The

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

is set just above the fuselage and the

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

is swept. A small

ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek language, Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. Th ...

fin doubles as a tail bumper. The A 210 has a fixed

tricycle undercarriage 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 ge ...

. Its mainwheels are fitted with hydraulic brakes and mounted on spring steel legs from the fuselage. The nosewheel has rubber suspension and is steerable; speed fairings are fitted on all wheels.

Operational history

German certification was achieved in 2001 and deliveries began the following year. It gained US certification in 2003. Early sales were to clubs, mostly as training aircraft. Most have been sold in Europe and overall 120 have been built by late 2010. 110 appear as Aquila AT01 on the civil aircraft registrations of European countries excluding Russia in 2010.

Variants

;Aquila A 210 :Original model ;

Aquila A 211 The Aquila A 211 is a German, two seat side-by-side configuration light aircraft, built by Aquila Aviation. Design and development The A 211 is the follow on to the A 210. The A 211 is a low wing, side by side seating, single engine aircraft w ...

:Conventional instrument panel ;Aquila A 211GX :Glass cockpit model

Specifications

References

External links

{{commons category, Aquila A 210
European Aviation Safety Agency Type Certificate Data Sheet for the AQUILA AT01
2000s German sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2000