The Express Series 90 is an American

homebuilt 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 ...

that was designed and produced by the Express Aircraft Company of

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

, introduced in the late 1980s. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter – Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 152. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Design and development

The Express Series 90 is a development of the earlier

Wheeler Express The Wheeler Express (or later known as EDI Express) is a four-seat low-wing composite homebuilt aircraft. Development Designed by Ken Wheeler and developed by Wheeler Technology as a high-speed homebuilt aircraft for cross-country flights, the f ...

designed by Ken Wheeler. It incorporates a 20% larger tail which gives it a wider center of gravity range, while also enhancing pitch and yaw stability. The aircraft features a cantilever

low-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 four-seat enclosed cabin, fixed

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 ...

with

wheel pants An aircraft fairing is a structure whose primary function is to produce a smooth outline and reduce drag.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, Third Edition'', page 206. Aviation Supplies & Academics Inc, Newcastle Washington, 1997. ...

and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

. The Series 90 is made from composites. Its span wing mounts flaps and has a wing area of . The cabin width is . The standard engine used is the

Lycoming IO-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming ...

four stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directi ...

, air-cooled, six cylinder powerplant. The aircraft has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for pilot, passengers and baggage is . The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 2000 hours.

Operational history

In December 2013 three examples were registered in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration 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 ...

Specifications (Series 90)

References

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External links

Photo of an Express Series 90
Series 90 1980s United States civil utility aircraft 1980s United States sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft