The Blue Yonder EZ King Cobra is a Canadian designed and built, single-engined, single-seat aircraft provided as a completed aircraft or in kit form by
Blue Yonder Aviation
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical sp ...
. The aircraft is approximately a 60% scale replica of the
Second World War Bell P-63 Kingcobra
The Bell P-63 Kingcobra is an American fighter aircraft that was developed by Bell Aircraft during World War II. Based on the preceding Bell P-39 Airacobra, the P-63's design incorporated suggestions from P-39 pilots and was superior to its pr ...
fighter.
The aircraft can be constructed in Canada as a
basic ultra-light, or
amateur-built 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 ...
, but is not currently available as an
advanced ultra-light.
Development
The EZ King Cobra was designed by Wayne Winters of
Indus, Alberta
Indus is a hamlet in southern Alberta, Canada under the jurisdiction of Rocky View County.
It is home to the Bill Herron Arena
Indus is located approximately 6.1 km (3.8 mi) east of the City of Calgary's eastern limits and 24 km ...
and based on the earlier
EZ Merlin. The project was started as a customer request for an ultralight category scale replica of a fighter and was later offered as a commercially available kit aircraft.
Winters created the EZ King Cobra by designing a new
cantilever wing based on the Merlin wing, itself based on the
Lazair wing design. The fuselage is constructed of welded
4130 steel tube and has a canopy and fin that resembles the original fighter design. The aircraft retained the Junker's ailerons of the original Merlin wing along with the Clark "Y"
airfoil
An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine.
...
and construction featuring a leading edge "D" cell and foam ribs. The prototype is powered by a
Rotax 582 two stroke engine of .
The prototype of the new design flew in 1998. In the basic ultralight version gross weight is limited to the category maximum of .
The EZ King Cobra can accommodate a variety of powerplants:
*
Rotax 503
*
Rotax 582
*
Rotax 912
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, late ...
Operational history
Despite being widely demonstrated no further orders have been received for the type and the prototype remains the sole flying example.
Specifications (Rotax 582)
See also
References
External links
Blue Yonder AviationPhoto of the EZ King Cobra prototypeTop view photo of the EZ King Cobra prototype
{{Uncertified aircraft developed in Canada
Low-wing aircraft
EZ King Cobra
1990s Canadian ultralight aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Replica aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1998