The Eastern Ultralights Snoop is a family of American ultralight aircraft that was designed by Bob Able and produced by Eastern Ultralights, starting in 1981. The aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page E-36. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001.

Design and development

The Snoop is characterized as a "Ripsilver" or unauthorized

Eipper Quicksilver Quicksilver is a line of single and two-place high wing, single-engine, ultralight aircraft that evolved from weight-shift hang gliders including Bob Lovejoy's High Tailer. The earliest powered version, the Quicksilver C, was created as a se ...

derivative. 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 aircraft has a standard empty weight of . It features a cable-braced

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 open cockpit,

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 pusher configuration. The aircraft is made from bolted-together

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 ...

tubing, with the flying surfaces covered in

Dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foo ...

sailcloth. Its wing is cable-braced from an inverted "V"

kingpost A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above f ...

. The pilot is accommodated on an open seat and is provided with conventional three-axis flight controls. The

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

includes suspension on all three wheels, but no nosewheel steering. The

Cuyuna UL II The Cuyuna 430 and Cuyuna 340 are a family of two-stroke, twin-cylinder piston snowmobile engines that were redesigned to serve as ultralight aircraft powerplants.Cuyuna Development Company: ''Cuyuna Engines'', Cuyuna Development Company, undat ...

engine is mounted on the wing

leading edge The leading edge of an airfoil surface such as a wing is its foremost edge and is therefore the part which first meets the oncoming air.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, ...

and drives the pusher propeller which is located aft of the wing's

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 199 ...

though an extension shaft. This arrangement allows the aircraft to remain sitting on its nosewheel while unoccupied, unlike most ultralight pusher aircraft.

Variants

;Snoop I :Single-seat model with spoilers used for roll control, a span wing and no flaps. ;Snoop + :Single-seat model with ailerons used for roll control, a shorter wing and flaps. ;Snoop II :Two-seat trainer model.

Specifications (Snoop I)

References

{{reflist

External links

Photo of a Snoop IPhoto of a Snoop I
1980s United States ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft