The Historical Ryan STA was 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 Historical Aircraft Corporation of

Nucla, Colorado Nucla is a statutory town in Montrose County, Colorado, United States. The population was 585 as of the 2020 census, down from 711 in 2010. Its name comes from the town founders' intent that it serve as a "nucleus" for the surrounding farms an ...

. The aircraft was an 85% scale replica of the original Ryan STA and when it was available was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 178. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Design and development

The aircraft featured a wire-braced and strut-braced

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 ...

, two seats in separate

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

open cockpits with windshields, fixed

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 ...

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 co ...

. The aircraft

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 aircraf ...

was made from welded steel tubing, while the wings had wooden spars and

ribs The rib cage, as an enclosure that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum in the thorax of most vertebrates, protects vital organs such as the heart, lungs and great vessels. The sternum, together known as the thoracic cage, is a semi- ...

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 ...

. Several prefabricated components were supplied as part of the kit, including the fuselage frame,

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 ...

, engine mount and tail assembly. The manufacturer rated the STA kit as suitable for beginners and estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 1500 hours. The kit could be completed to represent an STA, a military PT-16 or a PT-20. The aircraft's span wing had an area of . The cockpit width was and the standard engine used was the CAM 100 powerplant. It had a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for pilot, passenger and baggage was .

Operational history

In January 2014 no examples remained 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 ...

. Although one aircraft had been registered in 1997, it was listed as destroyed and deregistered in 2002. It is likely that no examples exist today.

Specifications (STA)

References

{{Historical Aircraft Corp aircraft Ryan STA 1990s United States sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Replica aircraft