The Diamond HK36 Super Dimona is an extensive family of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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 ...

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 ...

ed, two-seat

motor glider A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight ...

s that were designed by

Wolf Hoffmann Wolf Hoffmann (born 10 December 1959) is a German musician, primarily known as the guitarist and last remaining original member of heavy metal band Accept since 1976. His work in Accept influenced the development of speed metal genre. He is als ...

and currently produced by

Diamond Aircraft Industries Diamond Aircraft Industries is a Chinese-owned manufacturer of general aviation aircraft and motor gliders, based in Austria. It is the third largest manufacturer of aircraft for the general aviation sector, and has manufacturing facilities i ...

.Said, Bob: ''1983 Sailplane Directory,

Soaring Magazine ''SOARING'' is a magazine published monthly as a membership benefit of the Soaring Society of America. It was first published in 1937. The headquarters is in Hobbs, New Mexico. The magazine's article topics include safety issues and accounts of in ...

'', page 121. Soaring Society of America, November 1983. USPS 499-920

Design and development

The series started with the Hoffmann H36 Dimona, a touring motorglider introduced in the early 1980s. The aircraft were initially produced by Hoffmann Flugzeugbau, which became HOAC Flugzeugwerk and later Diamond Aircraft Industries. Built entirely from

fibreglass 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 clo ...

, the H36 family all use a Wortmann FX 63-137

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 wings feature top-surface

Schempp-Hirth Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH is a glider manufacturer based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany. History Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935, with the assistance of Wolf Hirth. The company was initially called "Sportfl ...

-style airbrakes. Optionally, the wings can be folded by two people in a few minutes to allow storage. The original H36 has wings, while the later members of the family added slightly greater span. The H36 offers a 27:1

glide ratio In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio (or L/D ratio) is the lift generated by an aerodynamic body such as an aerofoil or aircraft, divided by the aerodynamic drag caused by moving through air. It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under give ...

, while later variants improved that by one point, to 28:1 by adding winglets increasing the span to . Cockpit accommodation seats two 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 ...

, under a hinged

bubble canopy A bubble canopy is an aircraft canopy constructed without bracing, for the purpose of providing a wider unobstructed field of view to the pilot, often providing 360° all-round visibility. The designs of bubble canopies can drastically vary; so ...

that is pushed up and backwards. The series are

type certified A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applica ...

in Europe and North America. The H36 received its US

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

certification on 9 July 1986. Due to its fibreglass construction, the US certification includes the restriction "All external portions of the glider exposed to sunlight must be painted white except of (

sic The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...

) wing tips, nose of fuselage and rudder." In March 1987 an improved variant was developed by Dieter Köhler and the subsequent HK36R first flew with a Limbach L2400 engine in October 1989. When equipped with the larger available engines, particularly the

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 ...

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 ...

powerplant, the aircraft can be used for

glider towing Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmospher ...

. A commercial success, more than 900 H36s and HK36s have been completed. The HK36 provided the basis from which the

Diamond DV20 Katana The Diamond DV20/DA20 Katana is an Austrian-designed two-seat general aviation light aircraft. Developed and manufactured by Diamond Aircraft, it was originally produced in Austria as the DV20. The DV20 shares many features from the earlier Diam ...

from which the improved DA20 and four-seat

DA40 The Diamond DA40 Diamond Star is an Austrian four-seat, single-engine, light aircraft constructed from composite materials. Built in both Austria and Canada, it was developed as a four-seat version of the earlier DA20 by Diamond Aircraft ...

series were later developed.

Operational history

In 1991, an HK36, flown by Peter Urach in Austria, set an absolute altitude record in its class for a piston engined aircraft of . The record held until surpassed in 2002 by the

Bohannon B-1 The Bohannon B-1 is a purpose-built aircraft to set new world records in its class for time-to-climb. It is a development of the Van's RV-4. Development Bohannon and Miller built the Miller-Bohannon JM-2 Pushy Galore to set new time to clim ...

The FCD (Fuel Cell Demonstrator) was a project led by

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

that used a Diamond HK36 Super Dimona motor glider as a

testbed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental rese ...

for a fuel cell-powered light airplane research project. The project achieved level flight using fuel cells only in February and March 2008. In December 2016 there were nine H36s and thirty HK36s registered with the US FAA, two HK36Rs and two HK36TTSs registered with

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

, along with seven H36s and eight HK36s registered with the UK

Civil Aviation Authority A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register. Role Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...

Variants

;H36 Dimona :Original version produced by Hoffmann and later by HOAC, with a wingspan,

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 ...

, 27:1 glide ratio and powered by a Limbach L2000 EB1C engine of , a Rotax 912A of or Limbach L2400 EB of . Applied for US FAA certificate on 4 April 1982 and received on 9 July 1986 in the

utility category A utility aircraft is a general-purpose light airplane or helicopter, usually used for transporting people, freight or other supplies, but is also used for other duties when more specialized aircraft are not required or available. The term can a ...

at a gross weight of . Super Dimona D-KLAI

Hoffmann HK-36R Super Dimona ( D-KMGA) 02

;HK36 R Super Dimona :Developed from the H36, with a

carbon-fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...

, modified

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

, wingspan and Rotax 912A engine. Optional

wing tip A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft. Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...

s can extend the span to . Received US FAA type approval on 23 July 1993 in the utility category at a gross weight of . ;HK36TS Super Dimona :Developed from the HK36 R Super Dimona, the HK36TS has a Rotax 912 A3 engine, wingspan, 28:1 glide ratio and

. Received US FAA type approval on 25 September 1997 in the utility category at a gross weight of . Marketed as the ''Katana Xtreme'' in Canada and the USA. ;HK36TC Super Dimona :The HK36TC has a Rotax 912 A3 engine. Received US FAA type approval on 25 September 1997 in the utility category at a gross weight of . Marketed as the ''Katana Xtreme'' in Canada and the USA. Diamond HK36 Super Dimona TC 100 (D-KWZE) 02

Diamond HK36 Super Dimona TC 100 (D-KWZE) 02

;HK36TC-100 Super Dimona :The HK36TC-100 has a

Rotax 912 S3 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, la ...

engine. Applied for US FAA type approval on 16 January 2003 and received on 12 January 2004 in the utility category at a gross weight of . Minimum sink rate: 1.18 m/s at 97 km/h, glide ratio 1:27 at 105 km/h Marketed as the ''Katana Xtreme'' in Canada and the USA. ;HK36TTS Super Dimona :The HK36TTS has an Rotax 914 F3 or F4

engine, a Muhlbauer MTV-21-A-C-F/CF 175-05

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 ...

, wingspan, 28:1 glide ratio, and

. Received US FAA type approval on 25 September 1997 in the utility category at a gross weight of . Marketed as the ''Katana Xtreme'' in Canada and the USA. Refueling Diamond HK36-TTC

;HK36TTC Super Dimona :The HK36TTC has an Rotax 914 F3 or F4 turbocharged engine, wingspan, 28:1 glide ratio, and

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 ...

. Received US FAA type approval on 25 September 1997 in the utility category at a gross weight of . Marketed as the ''Katana Xtreme'' in Canada and the USA. ;HK36TTC Eco Dimona :Special mission version of the HK36 for the surveillance role, it is equipped with a gimbal-mounted Wescam camera and cockpit display, an Rotax 914 F3 or F4 turbocharged engine and a Muhlbauer MTV-21-A-C-F/CF 175-05 propeller. Received US FAA type approval on 29 March 1999 in the utility category at a gross weight of and 21 December 2000 in the restricted category, limited to aerial photography only, at a gross weight of . Marketed as the ''Multi Purpose Xtreme'' in Canada. ;Diamond DA36 E-Star :Developed by Siemens, EADS and Diamond Aircraft to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 25 percent, using a serial hybrid drive that turns the aircraft's prop with a Siemens electric motor, from power generated by a Austro Engines Wankel rotary engine and generator, stored in batteries. The prototype first flew 8 June 2011. ; Hoffmann H38 Observer :A surveillance aircraft largely based on the H36 Dimona which failed to enter flight testing due to failure of the partnership between Wolf Hoffmann and Hoffmann Flugzeugbau.

Operators

; *

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

Specifications (Hoffmann H36 Dimona)

References

External links

* {{Thai glider designations 1980s United States sailplanes HK36 T-tail aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Motor gliders Aircraft first flown in 1989