The Lookout Mountain SkyCycle, also marketed as The Freedom Machine, is an American
ultralight trike
An ultralight trike is a type of powered hang glider where flight control is by weight-shift. These aircraft have a fabric flex-wing from which is suspended a tricycle fuselage pod driven by a pusher propeller. The pod accommodates either a so ...
that was designed by
Matt Taber, produced by
Lookout Mountain Flight Park of
Rising Fawn, Georgia
Rising Fawn is a small unincorporated community in the southern part of Dade County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is also the location of Cloudland Canyon State Park.
Ris ...
and introduced in 1997. The aircraft was supplied as a kit for
amateur construction and also as plans.
[Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page C-25. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. ][Downey, Julia: ''2005 Trikes 'Chutes and Rotorcraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 22, Number 2, February 2005, page 48. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851][Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', pages 22-23. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X]
Design and development
The SkyCycle was designed to be a
minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
''nanotrike'', capable of using the builder's existing
hang glider
Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...
wing. The aircraft was designed to comply with the US
FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles
Ultralight aircraft in the United States are much smaller and lighter than ultralight aircraft as defined by all other countries.
In the United States, ultralights are described as "ultralight vehicles" and not as aircraft. They are not req ...
rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of . The aircraft has a standard empty weight of . It features a
cable-braced hang glider
high-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 ...
, weight-shift controls, a single-seat open cockpit,
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 ...
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
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 double-surface Pulse 11 wing 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 is supported by a single tube-type
kingpost
A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above fro ...
and uses an "A" frame control bar. The standard engine supplied by the factory was the
Zenoah G-25
The Zenoah G-25 is a single cylinder, two stroke, carburetted aircraft engine, with optional fuel injection, designed for use on ultralight aircraftCliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page G-8 Cybair Limited Publi ...
, , single cylinder,
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 ...
, air-cooled
aircraft engine
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
The SkyCycle was intended to be constructed by people who were already hang glider pilots and, in fact, the manufacturer is a large hang gliding school. By keeping the weight down to a minimum the designer envisioned that the builder could use his or her existing hang glider wing for the aircraft. The manufacturer also supplied the Pulse 11 wing for those builders who did not own a hang glider wing. In 2005 the complete aircraft sold for
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
7995 with plans selling for US$75. A total of 225 examples had been completed and flown by February 2005.
The aircraft could be quickly dismantled for ground transportation or storage.
Specifications (Skycycle)
See also
References
{{reflist
External links
Photo of SkyCycle
1990s United States ultralight aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Lookout Mountain
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Ultralight trikes