The Grinvalds Orion is one of the earliest (1981)
composite
Composite or compositing may refer to:
Materials
* Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances
** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts
** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials
...
kit- and homebuilt aircraft. A 2/4 seater with a single
pusher engine
A bank engine (United Kingdom/Australia) (colloquially a banker), banking engine, helper engine or pusher engine (North America) is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grad ...
, it was built in France and the United States in small numbers with several variations.
Design and development
Designed in 1975 and first flown in 1981,
[ the Orion was one of the earliest kitbuilt aircraft to be constructed from ]composite material
A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...
s.[ It is a low wing ]cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...
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 a T-tail
A T-tail is an empennage configuration in which the tailplane is mounted to the top of the fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs from the standard configuration in which the tailplane ...
, of conventional layout except for its pusher configuration; this places the cabin well ahead of the leading edge and provides an excellent downward view. The Orion is built from Kevlar
Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...
reinforced glassfibre
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 cloth ...
shells, with foam filling in the wings.[ The latter, which have 4.5° of dihedral, are straight edged and only slightly tapered, with blunt tips. They carry electrically driven split ]flap
Flap may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Flap'' (film), a 1970 American film
* Flap, a boss character in the arcade game ''Gaiapolis''
* Flap, a minor character in the film '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland''
Biology and he ...
s.[ Its cabin seats four in two side-by-side rows and is entered by centrally hinged gull wing doors. The engine, a ]Lycoming O-360
The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 producing ...
variant of either 180 hp or 200 hp (134/149 kW) is mounted over the wing trailing edge line and drives a three-bladed propeller, mounted at the extreme tail, via a long shaft.[ Behind the wing the fuselage tapers on its underside; it carries a broad fin with a straight, swept leading edge and rudder, on top of which is the straight, tapered tailplane and horn balanced ]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 ...
. Below the fuselage is a long, shallow ventral
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
strake
On a vessel's hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of planking or plating which runs from the boat's stempost (at the bows) to the sternpost or transom (at the rear). The garboard strakes are the two immediately adjacent to the keel on ea ...
. The tricycle undercarriage
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 ...
is electrically retractable. The main legs fold inwards; when deployed, they splay out strongly.[
]
Operational history
The first prototype of the plan-built G-801 Orion flew for the first time on 2 June 1981, configured as a two-seater and powered by a 65 hp (48.5 kW) engine.[ The first kit-production aircraft, designated G-802 Orion, differed from the G-801 chiefly by having a wider cabin and a slightly longer fuselage (increased by 140 mm or 5.5 in).][ This first flew in November 1983, powered by a 180 hp Lycoming.][ By early 1985 140 plans for G-801s and 80 G-802 kits had been sold, but the development programme was halted by the death of its designer on 3 April 1985 whilst demonstrating the aircraft.][
Plans and kits were distributed by Aérodis in France and by Aerodis America Inc. in the USA.][ Individual builders, often using the original moulds at Brienne-le-Chateau, continued to innovate.][ Around 1990 Jaques Darcissac built an Orion with a fuselage strengthened with wire mesh and with a more robust undercarriage, which he named the Darcissac-Grinvalds DG-87 Goéland (Seagull in English) and this name has been used by three other builders.][ Other builders have also given their aircraft different names, such as Gerfaut, Gypaète and Scorpion. A new version of the Orion, tailored for US market was designed, known as the AA200.][
By the end of 2008 about 17 Orion variants had been flown, with another nine under construction.][ Most have been registered in France,][ though three are on the US register.][
]
Aircraft on display
The first prototype 801 Orion, ''F-PYKF'', is normally in the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, Le Bourget Airport, Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
where it can be viewed with advance permission,[
]
Specifications (Gerfaut G802B or Orion G801)
See also
References
{{Use dmy dates, date=January 2012
1980s French sport aircraft
Orion
Homebuilt aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1981
T-tail aircraft