The Sunair Sunlight is a German
ultralight trike
An ultralight trike is a type of powered hang glider where flight control is by weight-shift. These aircraft have a fabric flex-wing from which is suspended a tricycle fuselage pod driven by a pusher propeller. The pod accommodates either a ...
electric aircraft, designed and produced by
Sunair UG of
Scheidegg, Bavaria. The aircraft is supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.
[Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 222. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X]
Design and development
The Sunlight was designed as an electric powered, self-launching
motorglider
A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: a fixed-wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion (MoP), capable of sustained soaring flight ...
for the German class. It features a
cable-braced hang glider
Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame cover ...
-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 ...
, weight-shift controls, a single-seat open cockpit with the pilot accommodated in recumbent position fabric zip-up pod,
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.
The aircraft is made from bolted-together
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 ...
tubing, with its single surface wing covered in
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 ...
sailcloth. The wing is supported by a single tube-type
kingpost
A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above f ...
and uses an "A" frame weight-shift control bar. The powerplant is a
Elektromotor electric motor
An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate for ...
, recharged in flight by small
solar cell
A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon. s.
Specifications (Sunlight)
See also
*
Sunair Magic
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.sun-air.eu/sunlight_trike.html
Sunlight
2010s German sport aircraft
2010s German ultralight aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Electric aircraft
Ultralight trikes