The Sam Aircraft Sam LS is a Canadian aircraft design, designed and produced by Sam Aircraft, formerly known as Haim Aviation of

Lachute Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provincial ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. The aircraft was designed for the Canadian

AULA The Canadian Aviation Regulations define two types of ultralight aircraft: basic ultra-light aeroplane (BULA), and advanced ultra-light aeroplane (AULA). Definition Regulation of ultra-light aircraft in Canada is covered by the Canadian A ...

and American

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

rules and had its first flight on 26 February 2013.Bernard, Mary and Suzanne B. Bopp: ''What's Coming?'', Kitplanes, Volume 29, Number 12, December 2012, page 29. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 78. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The Sam LS is a

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 ...

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

seat

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 confi ...

. It can be configured for conventional or

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 ...

. 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 aircraft t ...

is semi

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

, with a welded

4130 steel 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common ...

tube protective cockpit cage structure and

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 has ...

skin. Three different wing planforms for light-sport,

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

and amateur-built categories can be installed to a common fuselage. The aircraft can be flown open cockpit with the canopy removed. Prior to its first flight a prototype was shown at the 2012 EAA airshow. As of June 2013 the aircraft was on

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

's list of accepted

advanced ultralight The Canadian Aviation Regulations define two types of ultralight aircraft: basic ultra-light aeroplane (BULA), and advanced ultra-light aeroplane (AULA). Definition Regulation of ultra-light aircraft in Canada is covered by the Canadian A ...

s, but has not completed US

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 m ...

special light-sport aircraft approval. In July 2013 pricing was announced for kits and sub-kits, including wings,

and

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

. In a break from normal industry practice the company said that it would offer those three sub-kits for a total that was the same as if they were ordered as a single kit,

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

29,000. The complete kit with a

Rotax 912ULS 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 ...

engine and

Dynon Skyview Dynon is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Denis Dynon (1822-1863), Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross *Kevin Dynon (1925-2017), Australian footballer *Moira Lenore Dynon (1920-1976), Australian chemist and community activist ...

avionics Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

was forecast to cost US$65,000 at that time, taking a factory-estimated 900 hours to complete. By August 2014 the company was up for sale as SAM Aircraft President Thierry Zibi indicated that he would rather develop new designs than run a production operation. Zibi was hoping to find a buyer to produce the aircraft. In November 2015 the rights to the design, parts, jigs, molds, data and the prototype aircraft were being all offered for

100,000. In January 2016

Zenith Aircraft __NOTOC__ Zenith Aircraft Company is in the exclusive business of designing, developing and manufacturing homebuilt aircraft, kit aircraft. The independent, privately owned company was formed in 1992 in Mexico, Missouri, centrally located in th ...

announced that it had purchased the Sam design and was planning to produce kits alongside the existing Chris Heintz designs.Zenith Aircraft Company
SAM Aircraft Acquired by Zenith / Zenair
retrieved 19 February 2016

Specifications (Sam LS)

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.sam-aircraft.com/ Low-wing aircraft Light-sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2013 2000s Canadian sport aircraft

Design and development

Specifications (Sam LS)

See also

References

External links