The Urban Air Samba is a Czech designed and built light aircraft of the 1990s which incorporates

composite construction Composite construction is a generic term to describe any building construction involving multiple dissimilar materials. Composite construction is often used in building aircraft, watercraft, and building construction. There are several reasons to ...

. It remained in series production in 2017.Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 43. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. Production of the

Urban Air Urban Air was an aircraft manufacturer based in the Czech Republic.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 166. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. The company was a manufacturer of light sport an ...

's designs, including the Samba, was taken up by Distar Air of Ústí nad Orlicí, Czech Republic in about 2010.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 41. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011.

Development

Urban Air SPO designed and built their first model, the two-seat side-by-side Urban Air UFM-13 Lambada, which first flew in 1996. From their original model, they developed the UFM-10 Samba which was of similar overall design, using all-composite construction. The wings were reduced in span and a conventional tail unit was incorporated in place of the 'T' layout of the Lambada. The earlier tailwheel undercarriage was replaced by a fixed tricycle layout. The Samba XXL is a further development, introduced in 2003 for the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

microlight category, with a modified fuselage providing a larger and repositioned cockpit canopy, modified engine cowling and a more streamlined tail unit.Simpson, 2005, p. 301

Variants

;Airo 5 :Licensed version produced by

Airo Aviation Airo Aviation FZ-LLC was an Emirati aircraft manufacturer based in the Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone. The company specialized in the manufacture of ultralight aircraft in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft for the European Fédération Aérona ...

Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ) is a special economic zone in Ras Al Khaimah. RAK FTZ is around an hour's drive from Dubai. It has investments from more than 12,000 companies in over a hundred countries, representing more than 50 indust ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Specifications (Samba XXL)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

Official website
{{Airo aircraft 1990s Czech and Czechoslovakian civil utility aircraft Distar Air aircraft Airo Aviation aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1999 Low-wing aircraft