The MAI-60 ( rus, Снежинка; English: Snowflake) was an
FAI Standard Class, single seat
sailplane designed and built in the
USSR in the early 1960s. It suffered from both aerodynamic and structural problems and did not reach production.
Design and development
The Snezhinka was a prototype single seat, standard class ( wingspan) sailplane with a largely traditional wooden structure but with
PVC foam filler strengthening.
[
Its high aspect ratio, mid-set, straight tapered wings had a laminar aerofoil and were built around a single, wide box spar. This formed the central part of the wing between 25% and 65% of the chord. Its ]leading
In typography, leading ( ) is the space between adjacent lines of type; the exact definition varies.
In hand typesetting, leading is the thin strips of lead (or aluminium) that were inserted between lines of type in the composing stick to incre ...
and trailing edges, covered with plywood
Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
skin, were supported internally with PVC foam. The tips had end plates. Narrow-chord aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...
s occupied about 45% of the trailing edges and there were also airbrakes.[
The MAI-60's wooden fuselage was ply-skinned over stringers supported by bulkheads. Its cockpit was ahead of and over the wing leading edge, with its pilot in a semi-reclined seat under a single-piece, jettisonable canopy which ran smoothly into the raised rear fuselage. Aft, the fuselage tapered from below to a 90° butterfly tail with tetragonal fixed and control surfaces.][
There were tanks for of water ballast.][
It landed on a central, semi-retractable monowheel aided by forward and tail skids.][
Testing over 1961-2 showed that the flight characteristics were poor, with directional instabilities and a need for large pitch inputs, and that its ]spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
behaviour was unusual. There was also a structural problem caused by low strength glue, so the MAI-60 did not reach production.[
]
Specifications
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite book , title= Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1962-63, last= Taylor , first= John W R , edition= , year=1962, publisher= Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd, location= London, isbn=, page=344 ]
[{{cite web , url=https://www.j2mcl-planeurs.net/dbj2mcl/planeurs-machines/planeur-fiche_0int.php?code=1799, title=MAI-60, date= , accessdate=17 November 2019]
1960s Soviet sailplanes
Aircraft first flown in 1961
Shoulder-wing aircraft
V-tail aircraft