The Bushcaddy R-80 is a Canadian

ultralight 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 ...

and

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

that was designed by Jean Eudes Potvin of

Lac Saint-Jean Lac Saint-Jean (Canadian French: ) is a large, relatively shallow lake in south-central Quebec, Canada, in the Laurentian Highlands. It is situated north of the Saint Lawrence River, into which it drains via the Saguenay River. It covers an are ...

, Quebec in 1994 and produced by his company Club Aeronautique Delisle Incorporated (CADI). It was later built by Canadian Light Aircraft Sales and Service (CLASS) of St. Lazare, Quebec and later Les Cedres, Quebec and now

Bushcaddy Bushcaddy Aircraft Canada, usually just called Bushcaddy or BushCaddy, was a Canadian aircraft manufacturer based at the Cornwall Regional Airport in Summerstown, Ontario. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of kit aircraft. ...

Lachute, Quebec Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provincial ...

.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 35. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XBertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 132. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 36. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. Hunt, Adam: ''Elegant Utility - Flying the CLASS R-80 BushCaddy'', Canadian Flight July 2005, page B-1.

Canadian Owners and Pilots Association The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) (french: Association canadienne des pilotes et propriétaires d'aéronefs) is a federally registered not-for-profit association that provides information and advocacy services for Canadian pil ...

.Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 47. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851 The R-80 designation indicates that the aircraft was originally designed for a

Rotax Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Product ...

engine of . The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.

Design and development

CLASS R-80 Bush Caddy under construction 01

The aircraft was designed to comply with the Canadian

advanced ultralight The Canadian Aviation Regulations define two types of ultralight aircraft: basic ultra-light aeroplane (BULA), and advanced ultra-light aeroplane (AULA). Definition Regulation of ultra-light aircraft in Canada is covered by the Canadian A ...

rules and is also an approved US

. It features a

strut-braced In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

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 ...

, a two-seats-in-

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

enclosed cockpit, fixed

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 ...

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

and a single engine in

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 ...

. The aircraft is made from

6061-T6 aluminum 6061 ( Unified Numbering System (UNS) designation A96061) is a precipitation-hardened aluminium alloy, containing magnesium and silicon as its major alloying elements. Originally called "Alloy 61S", it was developed in 1935. It has good mechani ...

sheet over a cage of welded aluminum square 6061-T6 aluminum tube. The tail boom is conventional

semi-monocoque The term semi-monocoque or semimonocoque refers to a stressed shell structure that is similar to a true monocoque, but which derives at least some of its strength from conventional reinforcement. Semi-monocoque construction is used for, among ot ...

construction. The non-tapered planform wings have 6061-T6

ribs The rib cage, as an enclosure that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum in the thorax of most vertebrates, protects vital organs such as the heart, lungs and great vessels. The sternum, together known as the thoracic cage, is a semi- ...

and

spars The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...

and employ a

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

4413 (mod)

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

. The airfoil modification removes the undercamber on the bottom of the wing, which makes construction easier, without giving up low speed performance. The aircraft's structure uses

2024-T3 aluminium 2024 aluminium alloy is an aluminium alloy, with copper as the primary alloying element. It is used in applications requiring high strength to weight ratio, as well as good fatigue resistance. It is weldable only through friction welding, and has ...

for critical parts where extra strength is required, such as the spar, float and strut attachments as well as other critical components like the rudder horns. The R-80's structure is covered with 6061-T6 sheet of varying thicknesses; wing bottom skins are inches thick while the top is inches. The wings are supported by conventional "V" struts. 6061-T6 is predominantly used for its lower cost and also its better corrosion resistance, since many R-80s are flown on floats. Its span wing has an area of and does not fit flaps. Standard engines used on the R-80 include the

Rotax 912UL 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 ...

and the

Rotax 912ULS 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 A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

powerplants. The

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

Rotax 914 The Rotax 914 is a turbo-charged, four-stroke, four-cylinder, horizontally opposed aircraft engine with air-cooled cylinders and water-cooled cylinder heads. It is designed and built by the Austrian company BRP-Powertrain, owned by Bombardier R ...

has also been fitted. The aircraft can also be mounted on floats and skis. Controls include a central "Y"

control stick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

. Construction time for the R-80 from the factory kit is 1,200 hours.

Variants

;CADI R-80 :Original production version built by CADI, about 60 produced. ;CLASS R-80 BushCaddy :Version produced by CLASS of

Saint-Lazare, Quebec Saint-Lazare is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada in the Regional County Municipality of Vaudreuil-Soulanges. History Originally part of the Seigneurie de Vaudreuil in the 18th century, the territory correspondi ...

, after buying the rights from Potvin in 1998. Production was later moved to Les Cedres, Quebec. To acknowledge the CADI name the aircraft was named the ''Bushcaddy'' as it is capable of carrying "a load of people and freight into the Canadian bush". ;Bushcaddy R-80 :Current production version produced by Bushcaddy of Lachute, Quebec and later of Cornwall Regional Airport in

Summerstown, Ontario South Glengarry is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada on the Saint Lawrence River in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. South Glengarry borders Quebec. Communities The township of South Glengarry comprises a number of vill ...

, after buying the rights from CLASS in 2011.

Specifications (R-80)

References

External links

Official website
{{Uncertified aircraft developed in Canada 1990s Canadian ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Light-sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft