The Aero-Service Panda is a Polish

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

, designed and produced by Aero-Service Jacek Skopiński of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

. The aircraft is supplied complete and ready-to-fly.Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 20. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. Jackson, Paul (ed): ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 2012-2013'', pages 500-501. Jane's Information Group, 2012. Jackson, Paul (ed): ''IHS-Jane's All The World's Aircraft 2013-2014, Development and Production'', pages 502-504. Jane's Information Group, 2013. Jackson, Paul (ed): ''IHS-Jane's All The World's Aircraft 2014-2015, Development and Production'', pages 520-521. Jane's Information Group, 2014.

Design and development

The Panda was designed to comply with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale microlight rules. It features a cantilever

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 ...

, a

T-tail A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane ...

, a two-seats-in-

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

enclosed cabin, fixed

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

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...

. The aircraft is made from sheet

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 ...

, with some parts, such as the

engine cowling A cowling is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings are a cove ...

and

wing tip A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft. Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...

s made from composites. Its span wing employs a modified NACA 633-618 airfoil, has an area of and flaps. The cabin width is . The Panda prototype was first flown on 28 September 2011.

Operational history

Reviewer Marino Boric described the design in a 2015 review as possessing visibility that "is good in all directions because of very large glassed surfaces". He also noted that it is "sold at a reasonable price".

Variants

;Panda Standard :Base model powered by an

Rotax 912UL The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, l ...

four-stroke powerplant. ;Panda Sport :Model powered by a

Rotax 912ULS The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, later ...

four-stroke powerplant. ;Panda Exclusive :Model powered by a

four-stroke powerplant plus with a Dynon glass cockpit and other options as standard.

Specifications (Panda Standard)

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.aero-service.com/airplanes/dane_panda

Panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...