The Spacek SD-1 Minisport is a Czech amateur-built aircraft, designed by Igor Špaček and produced by Spacek sro of Hodonin. The aircraft was also produced for a short time in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

SkyCraft Airplanes SkyCraft Airplanes was a Light Sport Aircraft manufacturing company based in Orem, Utah. The company only built one product, the SkyCraft SD-1 Minisport, a single-seat low-wing plane designed in the Czech Republic. The company debuted the ...

Orem, Utah Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the principal cities of the Provo-Orem, Utah Me ...

as a

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 ...

, but they had gone out of businesses by 2017. The aircraft is supplied in the form of plans, as a kit for amateur construction, or as a ready-to-fly aircraft.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 120. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 127. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The aircraft 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 single-seat enclosed cockpit, fixed

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 Ter ...

or optionally

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 ...

, a

T-tail A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane i ...

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 ...

. Due to its very light weight it can qualify for the German 120 kg category. It complies with the United Kingdom SSDR rules for single seat deregulated microlight aeroplanes. The aircraft is made from wood, with judicious use of composites, including for the

wing spar In a fixed-wing aircraft, the spar is often the main structural member of the wing, running spanwise at right angles (or thereabouts depending on wing sweep) to the fuselage. The spar carries flight loads and the weight of the wings while on t ...

. Its span wing employs an A315

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or tur ...

, has an area of and utilizes flaperons. Engines of can be used. Standard engines tested are the Hirth F33, the

Hirth F23 The Hirth F-23 is a twin cylinder, horizontally-opposed, two stroke, carburetted or optionally fuel injected aircraft engine designed for use on ultralight aircraft. It is manufactured by Hirth of Germany.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft ...

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...

s, the or Briggs & Stratton Vanguard (designated SE24), or the Verner JCV-360 powerplants. 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 ...

, Hirth 2702,

Zanzottera MZ 201 The Zanzottera MZ 201 and MZ 202 are a family of twin-cylinder, in-line two-stroke, dual ignition aircraft engines designed for ultralight aircraft and motor gliders.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page ...

, Simonini Victor 1 Super,

2si 460 The 2si 460 is a family of in-line twin-cylinder, two-stroke, single ignition, aircraft engines that were designed for ultralight aircraft.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page G-2 Cybair Limited Publishing, 200 ...

and Half VW can also be used. By November 2015 113 had been sold worldwide and about 41 were flying. At the end of May 2014 SkyCraft Airplanes announced that light-sport flight testing on its version had been completed. Their model has a revised cockpit, including Dynon SkyView instrumentation, a hydraulic brake system and the Hirth F-23 two-stroke fuel-injected engine. The company's intention was that 12 aircraft would be built for the first production run. However, as of 7 August 2017 the SD-1 was still not on 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 m ...

's list of accepted light-sport aircraft.

Variants

;SD-1 TD :Conventional landing gear (taildragger) version ;SD-1 TG :Tricycle gear version ;SD-1 TD XL :Conventional landing gear (taildragger) version for taller pilots ;SD-1 TG XL :Tricycle gear version for taller pilots ;SD-2 SportMaster : 2-seat tricycle gear version

Accidents

In September 2013, during a test and evaluation flight of the sole example flying in the United States, the pilot lost control while flying aerobatics not approved for the aircraft type and the aircraft crashed. The ballistic parachute did not deploy properly, most likely due to be out of limits for deployment, and the pilot was killed.

Specifications (SD-1)

References

External links