The ABS Aerolight Navigathor is a French

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 ...

and roadable aircraft that was designed and produced by ABS Aerolight of

Sérignan-du-Comtat Sérignan-du-Comtat (; oc, Serinhan dau Comtat) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. The entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre (1823–1915) died in Sérignan-du-Comtat. Points of int ...

. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft and as a kit for amateur construction.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 78. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X The company appears to have gone out of business in late 2007 and production ended.

Design and development

The Navigathor is a development of the earlier ATE, which stands for ''Air-Terre-Eau'' ( en, Air-Land-Water) and indicates that the vehicle is capable of being used as a flying car with a top road speed of or as a boat with a top water speed of . As an aircraft the Navigathor was designed to comply with 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, including the category's maximum gross weight of . The aircraft has a maximum gross weight of . The aircraft carriage is built from a combination of metal tubing and composites and features a wedge-shaped boat hull. It features a

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

-style wing, two-seats-in- tandem in an open cockpit, four-wheeled cross country all terrain vehicle style landing gear and a single

Hirth F-30 The Hirth F-30 is a horizontally opposed four-cylinder, two-stroke, carburetted aircraft engine, with optional fuel injection, designed for use on ultralight aircraft and homebuilts. It is manufactured by Hirth of Germany.Cliche, Andre: ...

four-cylinder,

horizontally opposed A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, wh ...

, two-stroke,

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

, mounted in

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. In all modes the vehicle is powered by its ducted propeller. The vehicle has an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload is .

Variants

;ATE :Initial model flying car/boat, ''Air-Terre-Eau'' ( en, Air-Land-Water). ;Navigathor :Improved model flying car/boat.

Specifications (Navigathor)

References

{{reflist Navigathor 2000s French sport aircraft 2000s French ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Powered parachutes Roadable aircraft