The Airframes Unlimited T-103 is an American

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 ...

designed and produced by Airframes Unlimited of Athens, Texas.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page D-19. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. The aircraft was originally offered as plans only by Powered Parachute Plans, also of Athens, Texas. When parts for complete aircraft were made available these were supplied by Airframes Unlimited and gradually the two enterprises were unified under the latter name.

Design and development

The aircraft was designed to comply with the US

FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles Ultralight aircraft in the United States are much smaller and lighter than ultralight aircraft as defined by all other countries. In the United States, ultralights are described as "ultralight vehicles" and not as aircraft. They are not req ...

rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of . The manufacturer says "The T-103 can be built to be part 103 compliant without any trouble." It features a parachute-style

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 ...

, two-seats-in-

tandem 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 ...

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 accepts a wide variety of

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and

four stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directi ...

engines mounted in pusher configuration. The aircraft is built from welded 4130 steel tubing, with a

6061-T6 aluminum 6061 ( Unified Numbering System (UNS) designation A96061) is a precipitation-hardened aluminium alloy, containing magnesium and silicon as its major alloying elements. Originally called "Alloy 61S", it was developed in 1935. It has good mechani ...

engine mount plate. In flight steering is accomplished via levers that actuate the canopy brakes, creating roll and yaw. On the ground the aircraft has lever-controlled nosewheel steering. The main landing gear incorporates spring rod suspension. The design uses an overhead adjustable canopy hang point, called a "cg spreader bar" to establish the correct canopy attachment point and hence the aircraft's flight attitude and torque offset. The aircraft was originally supplied only in the form of illustrated plans provided on a CD-ROM in

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.doc format. Later parts and sub-assemblies were made available and then complete carriages, less canopy, propeller and engine.

Specifications (T103)

References

External links

* {{Airframes Unlimited aircraft T-103 1990s United States ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Powered parachutes