The Whittaker MW5 Sorcerer is a British

amateur-built aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

that was designed by Mike Whittaker in the mid-1980s and supplied as plans for amateur construction.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 111. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 117. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The aircraft features a

strut-braced In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

parasol wing, a single-seat open 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 Term ...

and a single engine in tractor configuration, mounted on the keel tube, above the cockpit. Whittaker MW5 Sorcerer is made from

aluminium 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. I ...

tubing, with its flying surfaces covered in doped aircraft fabric. Its span wing has an area of . The standard engine used is the Rotax 447

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

powerplant. The design is approved by the

Light Aircraft Association The Light Aircraft Association (LAA) is the representative body in the United Kingdom for amateur aircraft construction, and recreational and sport flying. It oversees the construction and maintenance of homebuilt aircraft, under an approval from t ...

in the UK.

Variants

;MW5A :Initial version ;MW5D :Model with folding wings and the same wing area as the "A" model ;MW5K :

Seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

version with a single monohull

Full Lotus Full may refer to: * People with the surname Full, including: ** Mr. Full (given name unknown), acting Governor of German Cameroon, 1913 to 1914 * A property in the mathematical field of topology; see Full set * A property of functors in the mathe ...

inflatable float and wing tip pontoons ;MW7 :

Aerobatic Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...

version with shorter wingspan

Specifications (MW5A Sorcerer)

References

External links

Photo of Whittaker MW5D Sorcerer
{{Whittaker aircraft Homebuilt aircraft 1980s British civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Parasol-wing aircraft