The Milholland Legal Eagle is an American high wing,

strut-braced 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 ...

, single engine,

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 ...

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 ...

-equipped

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 conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

that is available as plans from

Better Half VW The Better Half VW is an American aircraft engine, designed by Leonard Milholland of Brookshire, Texas, in 1993 for use in ultralight aircraft. The engine is supplied in the form of plans for homebuilt aircraft, amateur construction.Bayerl, Rob ...

Brookshire, Texas Brookshire is a city in Waller County, with a population of 5,066 people. It is in rural Texas. Location Brookshire is located at (29.783737, –95.954325)., 34 miles west of downtown Houston along Interstate 10, 7 miles west of Katy. It is p ...

, and also produced in kit form by J&N Bolding Enterprises of

Baytown, Texas Baytown is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Harris and Chambers counties. Located in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, it lies on the northern side of the Galveston Bay complex near the outlets of t ...

, and is intended for amateur construction.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page B-37. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. Buchanan, Sam
"Legal Eagle XL: An RV-6 owner discovers the simple pleasures of building and flying an airplane that rewards low and slow,"
November 16, 2012, ''Kitplanes'' retrieved April 17, 2020Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 46. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 33. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X The Legal Eagle is so named because it is capable of being built in compliance with the United States

FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles Ultralight aircraft in the United States are much smaller and lighter than ultralight aircraft as defined by all other countries. In the United States, ultralights are described as "ultralight vehicles" and not as aircraft. They are not requ ...

regulations, even when equipped with a

four-stroke engine 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 directio ...

.Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 35. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The Legal Eagle features an open cockpit and is powered by a

Half VW The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is an air-cooled, gasoline-fuelled, boxer engine with four horizontally opposed cast-iron cylinders, cast aluminum alloy cylinder heads and pistons, magnesium-alloy crankcase, and forged steel crankshaft and con ...

engine. The design features a

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 ...

of welded

4130 steel 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common ...

tubing, mated to an all-wood wing made from

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

(and derived from the Mini-MAX). The struts and tail surfaces are made from 6061 T6 aluminium tubing. The flying surfaces are covered with 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 rear fuselage is normally left as an open truss structure to save weight and to ensure that the aircraft does not exceed the FAR 103 maximum speed of 55 knots (102 km/h; 63 mph). Like the fuselage, the taildragger landing gear is sprung steel. The XL wing is reportedly designed for easy-but-infrequent detachment (e.g.: seasonal relocation) by two people. The aircraft has been developed into several variants of the basic design including the XL version for larger pilots and a two-seat ultralight trainer and

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

Variants

;Legal Eagle :Basic model with a empty weight, powered by a

engineDowney, Julia: ''2008 Kit Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 24, Number 12, December 2007, page 44. Primedia Publications. ISSN 0891-1851 ;Legal Eagle XL :Model for larger pilots with a wider and taller seat, greater wing area and longer tail. empty weight ;Double Eagle :Model with two seats in side-by-side configuration with a empty weight and a gross weight. Designed as an ultralight trainer and Light Sport Aircraft. Powered by a

Volkswagen air-cooled engine The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is an air-cooled, gasoline-fuelled, boxer engine with four horizontally opposed cast-iron cylinders, cast aluminum alloy cylinder heads and pistons, magnesium-alloy crankcase, and forged steel crankshaft and co ...

giving a cruise speed.

Specifications (Legal Eagle)

References

External links

{{Commons category, Milholland Legal Eagle
Legal Eagle official websiteDouble Eagle official website
1990s United States ultralight aircraft Light-sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Conventional landing gear

Design and development

Variants

Specifications (Legal Eagle)

See also

References

External links