The Aeromarine Merlin is an American

homebuilt 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 Czech Aircraft Works and is produced by Aeromarine LSA of South Lakeland Airport,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, introduced at the Sport Aviation Expo in 2016. The aircraft is supplied as a kit, for amateur construction.

Design and development

The aircraft 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 confi ...

, a single-seat 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. The aircraft is made from

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 has ...

sheet, with the engine cowling made from

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

. The design employs access doors that hinge vertically and a conventional low tail. Its span wing mounts flaps. The cabin width is . The standard engine used is the Rotax 582 twin-cylinder

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 manufacturer estimates the construction time from the supplied kit as two weeks at the factory completion center. While initially offered as an amateur-built kit, future development plans include an electric powered version and a

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

version that will be sold ready-to-fly.

Variants

;Merlin-PSA :Initial "personal sport aircraft" version powered by a Rotax 582 two-stroke engine for the US ''Experimental Amateur-Built'' category.

Specifications (Merlin-PSA)

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://aeromarine-lsa.com/merlin-psa/

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

2010s United States sport aircraft 2010s United States ultralight aircraft 2010s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft