The Avtek 400A was an American prototype

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

-powered business aircraft developed in the early 1980s. It was of unusual and distinctive configuration: a low-wing

monoplane 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 con ...

with two pusher engines mounted above the wings, and a large canard mounted atop the forward

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

. The aircraft's sleek, futuristic design earned it a guest appearance on the ''

Airwolf ''Airwolf'' is an American action military drama television series that centers on a high-technology military helicopter, code-named ''Airwolf'', and its crew. The show follows them as they undertake various exotic missions, many involving e ...

'' TV series as the ''X-400'', the plane used by the villain Lou Stappleford in the episode ''Eagles''. The Avtek's structure made extensive use of advanced

composite materials 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 ...

throughout. In 1998, Avtek declared bankruptcy without the prototype having completed the testing required for US

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

type certification A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applic ...

. The company's assets were purchased by AvtekAir, who planned to revive the project under the designation AvtekAir 9000T.

Specifications (Avtek 400A pre-production prototype)

References

External links

AvtekAir company website

luftfahrt-archiv.de

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year ...

Abandoned civil aircraft projects of the United States 1980s United States business aircraft Canard aircraft Low-wing aircraft Twin-engined pusher aircraft Twin-engined turboprop aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1984

Specifications (Avtek 400A pre-production prototype)

See also

References

Further reading

External links