The Privateer Industries Privateer is an American
amphibious amateur-built aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...
that was designed by John Meekins and Bill Husa and is under development by
Privateer Industries
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
of
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. It was first flown on 6 August 2018. The aircraft is intended to be supplied as a kit for amateur construction and later
type certified
A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applica ...
and sold as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.
Development
The design was conceived by Meekins, who sought an amphibious aircraft design, but found all existing ones had safety and performance issues and thus fell short of his personal requirements. As a result, he designed his own aircraft. Meekins enlisted assistance from Bill Husa of
Orion Technologies in
Scottsdale, Arizona
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and made him chief engineer to work on the design and build the
prototype, although Husa died in 2012, before the prototype was completed. Meekins had
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University review the design and they reported favorably on it. Meekins established Privateer Industries to manufacture the design and remains
chairman &
CEO of the company. The development of the aircraft to first flight took over ten years.
Design
The Privateer features a cantilever
low-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 ...
, a seven-seat enclosed cabin accessed by doors, retractable
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 ...
, as well as fixed floats for water operation, a
twin boom tail mounted on the floats, and a single engine in
pusher configuration.
The aircraft is made from
carbon fiber composites. Its span wing is mounted low on 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 ...
, which also attaches the integral fixed
floats. The aft end of the floats acts as twin tail booms for the twin
tail fins, with a single
tailplane
A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyropla ...
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 ...
mounted high above the pusher propeller. The standard engine used is the
Walter M601
The Walter M601 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Walter Aircraft Engines of the Czech Republic. The company's first turboprop, the M601 is used in business, agricultural and military training aircraft.
Development
The turboprop wa ...
turboprop
A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
, which produces for take-off and continuous. The propeller employs a
shroud
Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to '' burial sheets'', mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous S ...
to increase thrust and reduce noise.
Operational history
By August 2018, one example, the prototype, had been
registered in the United States with the
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...
.
Specifications (Privateer prototype)
See also
*
List of flying boats and floatplanes
The following is a list of seaplanes, which includes floatplanes and flying boats. A seaplane is any airplane that has the capability of landing and taking off from water, while an amphibian is a seaplane which can also operate from land. (They d ...
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://privateerindustries.com/
Privateer Industries aircraft
2010s United States sport aircraft
2010s United States civil utility aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 2018
Twin-boom aircraft