The Fisher Super Koala is a two-seat, high wing,
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 ...
, single-engined, light
kit aircraft designed for construction by amateur builders. The aircraft was inspired by the design of the
Piper J-3 Cub and strongly resembles that design.
[Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 53-54. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851][Downey, Julia: ''Kit Aircraft Directory 2005'', Kitplanes, Volume 21, Number 12, December 2004, page 57. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851][Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 160. BAI Communications. ][Kitplanes Staff: ''1999 Kit Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 15, Number 12, December 1998, page 47. Primedia Publications. IPM 0462012][Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page B-21 Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. ]Fisher Flying Products
Fisher Flying Products is a Canadian aircraft manufacturer that produces kits for a wide line of light aircraft. The company's kits all feature wooden construction with aircraft fabric covering. Many of the designs are reproductions of classic ...
was originally based in
Edgeley, North Dakota,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
but the company is now located in
Dorchester, Ontario
Dorchester is a town in Ontario whose name first applied to the township and honours Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester (1724-1808). The name was changed from Dorchester Station on May 3, 1961. Dorchester is the residential and commercial core of t ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
Development
The Super Koala was designed by Fisher Aircraft in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and was first flown in 1983. It has 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 ...
. With its empty weight and maximum gross weight, the Super Koala was intended for the US
homebuilt aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...
category.
The construction of the Super Koala is unusual for aircraft in its class. The aircraft's structure is entirely made from
wood
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
, with the wooden
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 ...
built from wood strips arranged in a
geodesic
In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a connection. ...
form, resulting in a very strong and light aircraft with redundant load paths. Like the Cub, both the wings and fuselage on the Super Koala are covered with
doped aircraft fabric. The wings are
strut-braced and utilize
jury strut
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 c ...
s. The landing gear is
bungee suspended and the tail wheel is steerable. The Super Koala has flaps, with brakes optional. The company claims it takes an average amateur builder 500 hours to construct a Super Koala.
Engine options are the
Rotax 503 and the
Rotax 582 engine. With the Rotax 503 the gross weight is and with the Rotax 582 is .
Specifications (Super Koala)
See also
*
Fisher FP-202 Koala
The Fisher FP-202 Koala is a Canadian single-seat high wing, conventional landing gear, single engined light kit aircraft designed for construction by amateur builders. The aircraft was inspired by the design of the Piper J-3 Cub and strongly ...
References
External links
*
Photo of Super Koala
{{Fisher Flying Products
1980s Canadian ultralight aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1982