The Fisher FP-101 is an American single-seat, high-wing,

conventional landing gear 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 ...

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 co ...

single engine

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...

that was available in kit form from Lite Flite of

South Webster, Ohio South Webster is a village in northeast Scioto County, Ohio, United States. It lies along State Route 140, and the population was 866 at the 2010 census. History South Webster was platted by John Bennett in 1853. The village was named after D ...

and later Fisher Flying Products of Edgeley, North Dakota.Taylor, John WR: ''Janes All the Worlds Aircraft 1986–87'' page 662, Janes Publishing Company, 1986.

Development

The FP-101 was designed by Michael Fisher of Lite Flite and first flown in the middle of 1982. It was intended to meet the requirements of the US FAR 103 ''Ultralight Vehicles'' category, including that category's maximum empty weight. The company name was later changed to Fisher Flying Products and production continued under that company name until the FP-101 was supplanted in production by the Fisher FP-202 Koala. The aircraft is of predominantly wooden construction, with a wooden

geodesic In geometry, a geodesic () is a curve representing in some sense the shortest path ( arc) between two points in a surface, or more generally in a Riemannian manifold. The term also has meaning in any differentiable manifold with a connecti ...

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

and wood framed wings and tail surfaces all covered in doped

aircraft fabric Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as are ...

. The high wing is supported by

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 ...

"V"

strut A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension. Human anatomy Part of the functionality o ...

s with

jury strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s. The control system is standard three-axis type including

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

elevators An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...

and tail-mounted

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

. The conventional configuration fixed main landing gear is made from steel tube with bungee suspension, while the tail wheel is steerable. The engine cowling is built from

fiberglass Fiberglass ( American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

. Pilot access to the cockpit is via a fold-down door on the right-hand side of the fuselage. The windshield is fashioned from

Lexan Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily worke ...

and side windows are optional. The standard powerplant when the aircraft was introduced was the

Rotax 277 The Rotax 277 is a , single-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, that was built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightwe ...

single cylinder,

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...

powerplant driving a two-bladed wooden propeller.

Recoil start Rope start (also called pull start or ''rewind start'') is a method of starting an internal combustion engine, usually on small machines, such as lawn mowers, chainsaws, ultralight aircraft, small outboard motors and portable engine-generators. A ...

was standard, with electric start as optional. The standard empty weight for the FP-101 was and the gross weight , giving a useful load.

Operational history

The majority of FP-101s were delivered to customers in the United States where they are flown as unregistered ultralights. In October 2009 eight were registered in the US as Experimental - Amateur-builts and eleven were registered in Canada as basic ultra-light aeroplanes.

Specifications (FP-101)

References

External links

{{Fisher Flying Products 1980s United States ultralight aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1982 High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft

Development

Operational history

Specifications (FP-101)

See also

References

External links