The Distar UFM-13 Lambada (named for the Brazilian

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

) is a Czech

shoulder-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 ...

, two-seat motor glider originally designed and produced by

Urban Air Urban Air was an aircraft manufacturer based in the Czech Republic.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 166. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. The company was a manufacturer of light sport an ...

and now built by Distar Air of Ústí nad Orlicí.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 135. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X

Design and development

The Lambada was designed to comply with the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

microlight rules at a gross weight of and US

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 ...

rules at . The design is on the

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 ...

's list of approved special light-sport aircraft. The aircraft features a cantilever wing, 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 ...

, a two-seat side-by-side enclosed cockpit under a bubble canopy, fixed tricycle or

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 ...

with a steerable tail wheel and a single engine in tractor configuration. The aircraft is made from composites. Its span wing employs a SM 701

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. ...

, has an area of and flaperons with

spoiler Spoiler is a security vulnerability on modern computer central processing units that use speculative execution. It exploits side-effects of speculative execution to improve the efficiency of Rowhammer and other related memory and cache attacks. Ac ...

s or optionally

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 and dive brakes. Flaperon settings are 0°, 5°, 9° and 16°, with the last setting assisted by the spoilers. The wings can be extended to with wing tips for

soaring Soaring may refer to: * Gliding, in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes * Lift (soaring), a meteorological phenomenon used as an energy source by some aircraft and birds * ''Soaring'' (magazine), a magazine produced ...

. The main

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 ...

legs are fabricated from fibreglass laminates and the wheels are equipped with single lever hydraulic brakes. Standard engines available are 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

Jabiru 2200 The Jabiru 2200 is a lightweight naturally aspirated, pushrod four-stroke, flat four, air-cooled aircraft engine produced by Jabiru Aircraft. Design and development The conventional direct-drive engine is fitted with an alternator, silencers, ...

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 aircraft achieves a 26:1 glide ratio with 13 m wings and 30:1 with 15 m wings fitted. Aside from its use as a motorglider, the Lambada has also been successfully employed as a glider tug.

Specifications (UFM-13 Lambada)

References

External links

Official website
{{Distar Air aircraft 2000s Czech sailplanes Distar Air aircraft Motor gliders Shoulder-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft T-tail aircraft

Design and development

Specifications (UFM-13 Lambada)

See also

References

External links