The Mathews PUP (''Perfect Ultralight Plane''), also called the P.U.P., is an American
ultralight aircraft that was designed by Lyle Mathews in 1983 and made available in the form of plans for
amateur construction.
[Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page E-23. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. ]
Design and development
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
biplane wing arrangement, a single-seat, open cockpit,
conventional landing gear
Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...
and a single engine in
tractor configuration
In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...
.
The aircraft is made from
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 ha ...
tubing and 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 foo ...
sailcloth. Its span, unstaggered wings employ both
interplane struts
In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...
and
cable bracing. The lower wing has less span than the upper wing. The
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...
consists of a single aluminum rectangular 2x3 inch (5 X 8 cm) tube. The standard recommended engine is a
Kawasaki 440
The Kawasaki 440, also called the T/A 440, is a Japanese twin-cylinder, in-line, two-stroke engine that was designed for snowmobiles and produced by Kawasaki Heavy Industries until the early 1980s.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's G ...
snowmobile engine that produces and yields a cruise speed along with a rate of climb of 600 feet per minute (3.0 m/s).
Specifications (PUP)
References
External links
Photo of a PUP{{Lyle Mathews aircraft
PUP
1980s United States ultralight aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft