The Flylab Tucano ( en,

Toucan Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five ge ...

) is an Italian

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 ...

, produced by Flylab, of

Ischitella Ischitella ( Foggiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia, Apulia, southeast Italy. It is a centre for agrumes production, on the northern slopes of the Gargano promontory. Main sights *The castle, now a private palace, built ...

. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft. The aircraft was produced in the 1990s by Ferrari ULM of

Castelbaldo Castelbaldo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about southwest of Venice and about southwest of Padua. Castelbaldo borders the following municipalities: Badia Polesine, Masi, Merlara ...

.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 54. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 55. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 158. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Design and development

The Tucano is a derivative of the

Chotia Weedhopper The Weedhopper is an American high-wing, tractor configuration, tricycle gear, two-axis control ultralight aircraft originally developed by John Chotia during the height of the 1970s ultralight boom and introduced in 1977. When it was in prod ...

and 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 with the design goal of being a low-cost aircraft. 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 ...

parasol 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 or open 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 ...

or floats and a single engine in

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

or on some models twin engines in centreline thrust arrangement. The aircraft is made from bolted-together

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

tubing, with its flying surfaces covered in

Dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...

sailcloth. Its span wing has an area of and is supported by V-struts and

jury struts 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 ...

. There is a

cabane 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 ...

that passes through the windshield and cockpit area. The aircraft is built around a central bent aluminum keel tube that runs from the cockpit to the tail. Controls are standard three-axis type. Standard engines available are the

Rotax 503 The Rotax 503 is a , inline 2-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catlog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge Airfoils, 1995. As of 2011 the Ro ...

and

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...

powerplants. The fuel tank is of plastic construction, mounted under the pusher engine. The Tucano V has a glide ratio of 11:1.

Variants

;Tucano :Base model with

powerplant. ;Tucano V :Improved model, with aerodynamic clean-ups and enclosed cockpit ;Tucano HV :A Tucano V mounted on floats (''hydro''). ;Tucano Delta3 :Open cockpit model powered by a

;Tucano HD3 :Float-equipped model based on the Tucano Delta3, powered by a

;Tucano HD3A :Amphibious float-equipped model based on the Tucano HD3, powered by a

;Tucano Delta3 TW :Twin-engined (''TW'') version with

engines mounted in the nose and aft of the cockpit, based on the Tucano Delta3 ;Tucano Delta3 VTW :Twin-engined version with

engines mounted in the nose and aft of the cockpit, with the Tucano V aerodynamic and cockpit refinements ;Tucano X2 :Twin-engined version with

engines mounted in the nose and aft of the cockpit, produced in the 1990s by Ferrari ULM.

Specifications (Tucano V)

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation 1990s Italian ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Light-sport aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Twin-engined push-pull aircraft