The Stoddard-Hamilton Glasair II is an American
amateur-built 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 ...
that was designed by Tom Hamilton and produced by
Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft
Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, based in Arlington, Washington, was a designer and supplier of high-performance homebuilt aircraft kits, offering parts and plans to homebuilders. The company's popular ''Glasair'' aircraft series are low wing, two- ...
and later
Glasair Aviation
Glasair Aviation USA, LLC is a Chinese-owned aircraft manufacturer based in Arlington, Washington that produces the Glasair and Sportsman 2+2 line of homebuilt aircraft. More than 3000 Glasair kits have been delivered worldwide.
History
Tom ...
as a kit for amateur construction. It was first flown in 1989, and remained in production in 2012.
[Downey, Julia: ''1999 Kit Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 15, Number 12, December 1998, page 68. Primedia Publications. ISSN 0891-1851][Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 261. BAI Communications. ]
Design and development
A development of the earlier
Glasair I
The Glasair I, originally built as the prototype Glasair TD taildragger, is a high-performance homebuilt aircraft built of fiberglass. Created by Tom Hamilton as a fast, two-seat kitplane, the Glasair TD was derived from the earlier Tom Hamilto ...
, the Glasair II features a cantilever
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 ...
, 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 cockpit accessed via gull-winged doors, fixed or retractable
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 fixed
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 ...
and a single engine in
tractor configuration
In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...
.
The Glasair II was designed to
FAR Part 23 standards and was extensively tested. Its wing has been tested to +10.5
g. As indicated by its name, the aircraft is made from
fiberglass
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 ...
. Its span wing employs a
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
GA(W)-2
airfoil. The wings have an area of and mount
flaps. The acceptable power range for the Super II RG or Super II FT versions is , with the
Lycoming O-360
The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 producing ...
four-stroke powerplant a commonly used engine.
[Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 183. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X]
The manufacturer estimates construction time for the Super II RG or Super II FT versions as 3000 hours.
The Glasair II was later developed into the
Glasair III.
Operational history
By December 2011 there were 1200 examples reported completed and flying making it one of the most successful two seat kit aircraft ever designed.
Variants
![GlasairIIS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/GlasairIIS.jpg)
;Glasair II-S
: stretch
![GlasairSH-2FC-FMRX](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/GlasairSH-2FC-FMRX.JPG)
;Glasair Super II FT
:Fixed tricycle landing gear version, in production in 2011.
![GlaasairRG](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/GlaasairRG.jpg)
;Glasair Super II RG
:Retractable tricycle landing gear version, in production in 2011.
;Glasair Super II TD
:Fixed taildragger landing gear version, in production in 1998, but production presently completed.
Specifications (Glasair Super II RG)
References
External links
*
{{Glasair aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Glasair II
Glasair II
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1989