The Huntwing is a British
ultralight trike that was designed by John Hunt of
Clydach, Monmouthshire
Clydach is a village in Monmouthshire, Wales. Its nearest neighbours are the village of Gilwern and town of Abergavenny.
Heads of the Valleys
It is split by the A465 road (the 'Heads of the Valleys') into North Clydach and South Clydach.
In ...
. The aircraft is supplied in the form of plans for
amateur construction.
[Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 362. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ]
Design and development
The Huntwing was designed to comply with the British BCAR Section S
microlight category. It was first flown in 1982 and introduced commercially in 1992. It features a
cable-braced hang glider-style
high-wing, weight-shift controls, a two-seats-in-
tandem open cockpit with a
cockpit fairing
An aircraft fairing is a structure whose primary function is to produce a smooth outline and reduce drag.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, Third Edition'', page 206. Aviation Supplies & Academics Inc, Newcastle Washington, 1997. ...
,
tricycle landing gear with
wheel pants 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 ...
.
The aircraft is made from bolted-together
aluminium tubing, with its 75% double surface wing covered in
Dacron sailcloth. The span wing is supported by a single tube-type
kingpost, uses an "A" frame weight-shift control bar, has a nose angle of 121°, 24 top and six bottom battens and has a wing area of . The acceptable power range is and the standard powerplants used include the twin cylinder, liquid-cooled,
two-stroke Rotax 462
The Rotax 462 is a , two-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, derived from a snowmobile engine. It was built by Rotax of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft
Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the ...
snowmobile engine, the twin cylinder, air-cooled, two-stroke
Rotax 503 aircraft engine and the twin cylinder, liquid-cooled, two-stroke,
dual-ignition Rotax 582 powerplant. The
BMW R100RS
BMW's motorcycle history began in 1921 when the company commenced manufacturing engines for other companies. BMW's own motorcycles—sold under the BMW Motorrad brand—began in 1923 with the BMW R 32, which was powered by a flat-twin engine ( ...
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 ...
motorcycle engine can also be fitted.
The plans wing is built by the amateur-builder and fitted with a
Top Flight Sails sail. Alternatively a
Mainair Blade wing can be used.
The manufacturer estimates the construction time from the supplied plans as 500 hours.
Operational history
The designers says that 10 sets of plans have been shipped and about 20 aircraft completed and flown.
In May 2015 eleven examples were
registered in the United Kingdom with the
Civil Aviation Authority
A civil aviation authority (CAA) is a national or supranational statutory authority that oversees the regulation of civil aviation, including the maintenance of an aircraft register.
Role
Due to the inherent dangers in the use of flight vehicles, ...
.
Specifications (Huntwing 462LC)
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.huntwing.co.uk/
John Hunt aircraft
1980s British sport aircraft
1980s British ultralight aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Ultralight trikes