The Rans S-4 Coyote and Rans S-5 Coyote are a family of

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

single-engined,

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 ...

, single-seat, high-wing

monoplane 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 con ...

s designed by Randy Schlitter and manufactured by Aero-Max and later by Rans Inc. The Coyote was available in kit form for amateur construction as an ultralight aircraft or

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 ...

.Downey, Julia: ''1999 Kit Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 15, Number 12, December 1998, page 65. Primedia Publications. Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 238. BAI Communications. Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003–04'', page 157. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. Taylor, John (ed): ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1984–1985'', page 711. Jane's Publishing Company, 1984. Taylor, John (ed): ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1986–1987'', pages 701-702. Jane's Publishing Company, 1986. Taylor, John (ed): ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1987–1988'', pages 698-699. Jane's Publishing Company, 1987. Taylor, John (ed): ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1988–1989'', pages 592-594. Jane's Publishing Company, 1988. Production of both designs was completed on 1 June 2006 after having been available for 23 years.

Design and development

The Coyote single seat was designed by Randy Schlitter in 1982, as a result of his dissatisfaction with existing ultralight designs at the time. Construction of the first S-2 Coyote prototype was started in November 1982, with the first flight following in March 1983. Originally the design was to be manufactured by a new company Aero-Max, which was a partnership between Schlitter and a friend of his. The partnership failed over financial issues and kit manufacturing was passed to Schlitter's company, Rans, which was at that time building sailtrikes. Both models of the family feature a welded 4130 steel tube cockpit, with a bolted

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 ...

tube rear fuselage, wing and tail surfaces all covered in pre-sewn

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 ...

envelopes, which shorten construction time. The reported construction time is 211 man-hours. The Coyote S-4 has

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 ...

, while the S-5 has

tricycle 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 ...

. Both can be equipped with floats and

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

s. The original basic engine was the

Rotax 277 The Rotax 277 is a , single-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, that was built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Euro ...

of , with the

Rotax 447 The Rotax 447 is a , inline 2-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catlog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge Airfoils, 1995. Design and development ...

of and the

Rotax 503 The Rotax 503 is a , inline 2-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catlog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge Airfoils, 1995. As of 2011 the Rot ...

of available later as options. The Coyote II two-seater was later developed from the S-5.

Operational history

There were 246 S-4s and S-5s built and flown by December 1998. Many S-4s are flown as unregistered ultralights in the US, but in November 2010 there were four registered along with four S-5s. In November 2010 there were four S-4s and one S-5 registered in Canada. In December 2010 there were nine S-4s and three S-5s registered in the United Kingdom.

Variants

;S-2 :Prototype first flown in March 1983 ;S-3 :Improved prototype flown in September 1983, entered production as the S-4 ;S-4 :Conventional landing gear version intended as a

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 ...

compliant design when equipped with the standard

engine. No longer in production. ;S-5 :Tricycle landing gear version for the US ''Experimental amateur-built'' category with options such as brakes. Engines include

of and the

of . No longer in production.

Specifications (S-5)

References

External links