The Blue Yonder Merlin is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-designed and -built two-seat, high-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

taildragger Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

undercarriage. It can be built as a basic ultra-light, an advanced 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 ...

.Hunt, Adam: ''Merlin Magic'', COPA Flight publication, page C-1, February 2005Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2011 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 43. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851

Design and development

The Merlin was designed in 1986 by John Burch, who intended to use it in his flight training school. Burch was disappointed with the early ultralights available, in particular their inability to take off and land in crosswinds. The aircraft wing was inspired by the

Lazair The UltraFlight Lazair is a family of Canadian designed and built twin-engine ultralight aircraft that were sold in kit form between 1979 and 1984. It was one of the first twin-engined ultralights. More Lazairs have been registered in ...

's wing and used the same

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 ...

"D" cell and foam rib construction techniques and constant-tapered wing planform. The first example flew in 1987.Armstrong, Kenneth: ''Choosing Your Homebuilt - the one you will finish and fly! Second Edition'', page 195-201. Butterfield Press, 1993. The Merlin won the Pilot's Choice Award as Best Ultralight at the Aircraft Sport Expo in 1988. Burch formed Macair Industries in Baldwin, Ontario to produce the aircraft. Initially there were two versions: the Merlin M50 powered by the

Rotax 503 The Rotax 503 is a , inline 2-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catlog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge Airfoils, 1995. As of 2011 the Rot ...

two-stroke powerplant and the Merlin GT and Sport 65 version powered by the

Rotax 532 The Rotax 532 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary valve engine, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive engine that was formerly manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It was designed for use on ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF cat ...

and later

582 __NOTOC__ Year 582 ( DLXXXII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 582 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...

. The Honda-based CAM 100 engine was also available as an option. In 1991 Burch moved production of the Merlin to

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, USA under a new company name, Malcolm Aircraft. Within a short time that company went out of business and the Merlin was picked up by a new company in 1993 operating under the name of Merlin Aircraft who marketed the Merlin GT. After three years the company ceased business and the rights to the design were acquired 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 ...

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 k ...

who continue to produce kits. Marketing in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

was conducted by Aerocomp (now

Comp Air Comp Air Inc, formerly known as Aerocomp Inc, is an aircraft manufacturer based in Merritt Island, Florida, owned by Ron Lueck.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', pages 97-100. BAI Communications, 1998. Downey, Julia: '' ...

) for some time, but this arrangement has been ended. Blue Yonder's current model is the Merlin EZ which has an option of engines: the Rotax 582 of , the

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 ...

with and the 912ULS with . The

Rotax 618 The Rotax 618 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, liquid cooled, gear reduction-drive engine that was formerly manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It was designed for use on ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catalog'', pages 6-105. ...

two-stroke powerplant of was an option until that engine was discontinued by

Rotax Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Produc ...

. The Merlin was used as the testbed aircraft for development of the Hexadyne P60 engine. The Merlin EZ uses the same foam-rib construction as previous models, but with a constant- chord wing with a

Clark Y Clark Y is the name of a particular airfoil profile, widely used in general purpose aircraft designs, and much studied in aerodynamics over the years. The profile was designed in 1922 by Virginius E. Clark using thickness distribution of the Germ ...

airfoil replacing the previously tapered wing. The fuselage is of 4130 welded steel tube construction, covered in aircraft fabric. The factory estimates build times at 350–450 hours of labour.

Merlin Manufacturers

Blue Yonder is the fourth manufacturer of the Merlin design. Companies who have built the Merlin were:

Variants

;Merlin M50 :Initial model, tapered wings, powered by a

engine ;Merlin GT/Sport 65 :Initial model, tapered wings, powered by a

and later by a

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...

or CAM 100 enginePurdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 93. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ;Merlin EZ :Current model, constant chord wings, 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 ...

;Merlin TG :

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 ...

model, constant chord wings, powered by a

Specifications (Merlin EZ Rotax 912ULS)

References

External links