The ICA IS-29 was a

sailplane A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the leisure activity and sport of gliding (also called soaring). This unpowered aircraft can use naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to gain altitude. Sailpla ...

built in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

in the 1970s. The prefix IS comes from

Iosif Șilimon Iosif Șilimon (22 July 1918 – 8 February 1981) was a Romanian aircraft designer. Education and early career Șilimon graduated from the Bucharest Aircraft Faculty (the aviation section of the Faculty of the Politehnica University of Buchare ...

, the Romanian IAR (

Industria Aeronautică Română Industria Aeronautică Română (IAR) (now IAR S.A. Brașov) or Romanian Aeronautic Industry in English, is a Romanian aerospace manufacturer. It is based in Ghimbav, near Brașov, Romania. IAR was founded in 1925 with the aid of the Romanian g ...

) aeronautical engineer who designed it.

Design and development

The 15-metre (49ft 3in) single-seat variant of the IS-28 series, the IS-29D2 single-seater has retractable gear, camber-changing flaps and Hütter-type airbrakes on the upper wing surface only. The

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 ...

has a fixed stabilizer and

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

. The –29D model is of all-metal construction while the earlier –29B has wooden wings. Developments include 19 metre (62 ft) -29E2 and 20 metre (66 ft) -29E3 versions and a flapless, fixed gear 16.5-metre (54 feet) ‘club’ model -29G. The IS-29 was also produced in a

motorglider A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight ...

version, designated the IS-29EM. This shared the low-set wings and three-point undercarriage of the IS-28M2, and the new wings of the IS-28MA.

Variants

* IS-29 ** IS-29B - wooden wings of 15-metre span ** IS-29D *** IS-29D2 **** IS-29D2 Club - Club-class version of IS-29D2 ** IS-29E - open class version with ballast tanks *** IS-29E2 - version with 19-metre wings *** IS-29E3 - version with 20-metre wings ** IS-29EM - motorglider version ** IS-29G - Club-class version with 16.5-metre wings * IS-31 - IS-29 with 20-metre wings and linked flaps and ailerons * IS-33 - IS-29 with tanks for 150 kg (300 lb) of water ballast

Specifications (IS-29D2)

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Soaring Society of America The Soaring Society of America (SSA) was founded at the instigation of Warren E. Eaton to promote the sport of soaring in the USA and internationally. The first meeting was held in New York City in the McGraw–Hill Building on February 20, 193 ...