The Summit Steel Breeze is an American

powered parachute A powered parachute, often abbreviated PPC, and also called a motorized parachute or paraplane, is a type of aircraft that consists of a parafoil with a motor and wheels. The FAA defines a powered parachute as ''a powered aircraft a flexible o ...

, designed and produced by Summit Aerosports of

Yale, Michigan Yale is a city in St. Clair County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,955 at the 2010 census. Yale is considered unofficially as the Bologna Capital of the world, in part due to its Yale Bologna Festival, which began in 1989. Y ...

. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly aircraft.Bernard, Mary and Suzanne B. Bopp: ''Summit Aerosports: Summit 2, Steel Breeze and Mini Breeze'', Kitplanes, Volume 29, Number 12, December 2012, pages 27-28. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851

Design and development

The Steel Breeze is intended as a light-sport aircraft compliant design. It features a parachute-style

high-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 co ...

, two seats in

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 ...

accommodation,

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 ...

and a single engine in pusher configuration. Engines available include 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 ...

, the liquid-cooled

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...

, the

Hirth 3503 The Hirth 3502 and 3503 are a family of liquid-cooled, in-line twin-cylinder, two-stroke, carbureted aircraft engines, with optional fuel injection, designed for use on ultralight aircraft and small homebuilts. It is manufactured by Hirth of ...

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 ...

s and the four-stroke

HKS 700E The HKS 700E is a twin-cylinder, horizontally opposed, four stroke, carburetted aircraft engine, designed for use on ultralight aircraft, powered parachutes and ultralight trikes. The engine is manufactured by HKS, a Japanese company noted f ...

. The Steel Breeze's airframe is built from

TIG-welded Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), also known as tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding, is an arc welding process that uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the welding, weld. The weld area and electrode are protected from oxidation or ot ...

powder coated Powder coating is a type of coating that is applied as a free-flowing, dry powder. Unlike conventional liquid paint which is delivered via an evaporating solvent, powder coating is typically applied electrostatically and then cured under heat or ...

4130 steel tubing. The standard rectangular Mustang S-500 canopy has an area of and is attached at four points to increase stability. The Mustang S-500 allows a gross weight of . Optional canopies include the rectangular Mustang S-550 which allows a gross weight of and the elliptical Thunderbolt E-340 which allows a gross weight of . In-flight steering is accomplished via foot pedals that actuate the canopy brakes, creating roll and yaw. On the ground the aircraft has nosewheel steering controlled by a butterfly steering wheel and the main landing gear incorporates bungee suspension. As of August 2012, the design does not appear 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 ...

's list of approved special light-sport aircraft.

Specifications (Steel Breeze)

References

External links

* {{Aircraft Sales And Parts 2000s United States ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Powered parachutes