Tigerfish Aviation is an aerospace research and development company based in
Norwood, South Australia
Norwood is a suburb of Adelaide, about east of the Adelaide city centre. The suburb is in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, whose predecessor was the oldest South Australian local government municipality.
History
Before British colonis ...
.
The company has been developing a retractable pontoon system for the
float plane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
industry, which has been patented as Retractable Amphibious Pontoon Technology or RAPT since the late 1990s.
[http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/aviation_week/on_space_and_technology/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=a68cb417-3364-4fbf-a9dd-4feda680ec9c&plckPostId=Blog%3Aa68cb417-3364-4fbf-a9dd-4feda680ec9cPost%3Acd60a1cb-1736-443f-bada-1db8c2f8aee9&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest ]
RAPT system
Retractable Amphibious Pontoon Technology(RAPT) is a retractable float concept which aims to reduce
aerodynamic drag by folding the floats into a pannier under the fuselage of the aircraft. The reduction in drag increases performance of the aircraft and reduces its operating cost, such as fuel consumption. Reduction in drag increases the range, payload, speed, and productivity of the aircraft. Drag reduction occurs due to the reduction of surface area exposed to the airstream and concealing the hydrodynamic features of the floats. It is designed as a retrofit, and is potentially capable of application to any existing aircraft. The technology has been applied on a one-sixth scale
Cessna Caravan
The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna.
The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982.
The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargoma ...
for concept-proving.
Technical details
As of 2010,
Dornier 228 NG
The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...
is the first proposed aircraft to be retrofitted for the RAPT system, besides the small-scale Cessna. The retractable float system can be used in a varying range of aircraft including regional aircraft, utility aircraft, executive aircraft, military transports,
VLJs, and
UAV
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...
s. The
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
, with assistance of the South Australian Government,
[http://www.innovation.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/17053/Case_Study_Book.pdf ] has performed
CFD analysis and studies on the
DHC-6 Twin Otter
The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...
showing that the RAPT system would result in a cost benefit. Unlike traditional floats, RAPT pontoons are made of lightweight composite materials, but suffer additional mass penalties due to the electric, hydraulic and structural systems required to retract the pontoons. Total mass penalty has been estimated at for a
Dornier 228 NG
The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...
variant.
See also
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Float plane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
*
Amphibious aircraft
*
Seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
*
Flying boats
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
*
Dornier 228 NG
The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Video of the RAPT system in operationCFD Analysis of the Tigerfish Retractable Float System on a DHC-Twin OtterTigerfish Aviation WebsiteRUAG Dornier 228 NGAviation Weekly
Aerospace companies of Australia