The EuroSport Crossover is an electrically powered two seat motor glider and

ultralight aircraft 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 ...

designed and built in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Design and development

The Crossover has a largely

epoxy resin Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...

and carbon fibre structure. The three part wing has a rectangular plan, span central section and detachable trapezoidal outer panels, each either or long for the and span variants respectively. The wingtips have tall, narrow winglets. The trailing edge of the inner section is filled by two-section, double slotted, electrically driven

Fowler flap 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 ...

s, with

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 on the outer panels. The fuselage is rounded in cross-section, with a long, low, forward-hinged and electrically operated canopy over the two side-by-side seats, which are provided with dual controls. Behind the wing the

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 ...

tapers to 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 ...

. 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 and straight-edged and the rudder is straight-edged, electrically trimmed and vertical. A straight tapered

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 ...

has a single, electrically powered

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

. The Crossover has a fuselage-mounted

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 ...

. All wheels are the same size and retract forwards; the mainwheels have brakes and the nosewheel is steerable. Power is supplied by two

three-phase Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3φ) is a common type of alternating current used in electricity generation, Electric power transmission, transmission, and Electric power distribution, distribution. It is a type of polyphase system empl ...

electric motors, each capable of providing for take-off and continuously, controlled together by a single throttle lever. These are mounted in the fuselage, with the four lithium batteries, storing a total energy of 36 kWh, just behind the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

at the

centre 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 weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...

. Several different

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 ...

configurations have been considered, including a single nose-mounted propeller or a single propeller mounted near the top of the vertical tail. The initial trials were made with twin, contra-rotating propellers on arms that fold forward out of the fuselage just behind the wing trailing edge. Doors ensure that the fuselage is aerodynamically clean with or without the deployment of the propellers. The Crossover began its flight testing with short hops on 23 July 2013. Tests of the fin-mounted propeller configuration began with taxying runs on 12 November that year.

Variants

;Long span wing: Motor glider with span. ;Short span version: Ultralight glider with span. ;Variable span: Proposed in-flight telescopically-variable span wing.

Specifications (9.60 m span)

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title= Jane's All the World's Aircraft : Development & production : 2015-16, last= Gunston , first= Bill , year=2015, publisher=IHS Global, isbn=978-0-7106-3135-0 , pages=515 Motor gliders Electric aircraft 2010s Portuguese civil aircraft 2010s Portuguese ultralight aircraft