The Mainair Blade is a British ultralight trike that was designed and produced by Mainair Sports and later P&M Aviation. The aircraft was supplied as a completed aircraft.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page C-14. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 104. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. Downey, Julia: ''2000 Trike and 'Chute Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 17, Number 2, February 2000, page 46 and 47. Kitplanes Acquisition Company. In the early 2000s Mainair was merged with rival

Pegasus Aviation P&M Aviation was a British aircraft manufacturer, specializing in ultralight trikes, founded in 2003. The company was purchased by Albatross Flying Systems in 2019. History The company was formed in 2003 by Keith Duckworth's purchase of two r ...

into P&M Aviation, but production of the Blade continued. As the company rationalized the two aircraft lines, Blade production ended. By 2012 the manufacturer indicated, "This aircraft is no longer in production...Full spares and support are still available and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Complete aircraft can still be manufactured but by special request only."

Design and development

The aircraft was designed as a high-end touring trike, to comply with the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

microlight category, including the category's maximum gross weight of and is also certified to comply with UK BCAR Section "S". The aircraft has a maximum gross weight of . It features a cable-braced

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 ...

-style

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 two-seats-in- tandem, 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

aluminium 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. I ...

tubing, with its double-surface 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 and uses an "A" frame control bar. The occupants are accommodated in tandem seating, with a fibreglass

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. ...

that includes a small windshield. Engines factory supplied include the Rotax 503 twin 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 powerplant as well as the twin cylinder, two-stroke, liquid cooled Rotax 582 and the four cylinder,

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 ...

Rotax 912UL The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, late ...

and Rotax 912ULS.

Operational history

Blades have been used for a number of microlight record distance flights, including a flight to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Colin Bodill Colin Bodill (born 1952) is an adventurer and pilot from Nottingham, England. Colin has won the UK microlight championships several times and became the World Champion in 1995. In 1998 he set a new World Speed Record for flying an open-cockpi ...

and Simon Reeve and a flight around the world by Bodhill. The Blade 912 set the record for London to Sydney by microlight of 49 days (175 hours of flying) at an average speed of .

Variants

;Blade 582 :Version powered by a Rotax 582 engine. Price in 2003 was £16,450. ;Blade 912 :Version powered by a

or the Rotax 912ULS. In 2003 it was reported that the Blade 912 accounted for the majority of customer orders. Price in 2003 was £21,800.

Specifications (Blade 912)

References

External links

* {{P&M Aviation aircraft

Mainair Blade The Mainair Blade is a British ultralight trike that was designed and produced by Mainair Sports and later P&M Aviation. The aircraft was supplied as a completed aircraft.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page ...

1990s British ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Ultralight trikes