The Ellipse Zenith is a French

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 ...

, single-place,

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame cover ...

that was designed and produced by La société Ellipse of

Étuz Étuz is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. See also *Communes of the Haute-Saône department The following is a list of the 539 communes in the French department of Haute-S ...

.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 43. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X

Design and development

The Zenith was designed as a competition hang glider and was built in only one size. With structural reinforcement it is also suitable for adding a motorized harness for

powered hang glider A foot-launched powered hang glider (FLPHG), also called powered harness, nanolight, or hangmotor, is a powered hang gliding, hang glider harness with a internal combustion engine, motor and propeller (aircraft), propeller in pusher configuratio ...

operations. The Zenith is made from

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 wing 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 span wing is cable braced from a single

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 nose angle is 132° and the aspect ratio is 7.7:1.

Variants

;Zenith 150 :Sole unpowered model with a wing area of , wing span of , aspect ratio of 7.7:1 and a pilot hook-in weight range of . ;Zenith 150 Moteur :Powered model with structural reinforcement and a wing area of , wing span of , aspect ratio of 7.7:1 and a pilot hook-in weight range of .

Specifications (Zenith 150)

References

{{Ellipse aircraft Hang gliders