The NST Minimum is a German

powered hang glider A foot-launched powered hang glider (FLPHG), also called powered harness, nanolight, or hangmotor, is a powered hang gliding, hang glider harness with a internal combustion engine, motor and propeller (aircraft), propeller in pusher configuratio ...

that was designed and produced by NST-Machinenbau of

Werther, North Rhine-Westphalia Werther is a town in the district of Gütersloh in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the Teutoburg Forest, approximately 10 km (6 miles) north-west of Bielefeld. It is best known for the Werther's Original cara ...

. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied complete and ready-to-fly.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 70. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X

Design and development

The Minimum features a cable-braced

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

-style

high-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 ...

, weight-shift controls, single-place or two-place accommodation, wheel-launching and landing and a single engine in

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. The aircraft uses a standard hang glider wing, made from bolted-together

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 has ...

tubing, with its double surface wing covered in

Dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...

sailcloth. The wing is supported by a single tube-type

kingpost A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above fro ...

and uses an "A" frame control bar. The engine is a

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

, single cylinder

Solo 210 The Hirth F-36 is a single-cylinder, two-stroke, carburetted aircraft engine designed for use on ultralight aircraft, especially powered paragliders and ultralight trikes. It is noted for its extremely small equipped weight of including exh ...

of , depending on the model. The engine is mounted behind the pilot, while the fuel tank is mounted above. The landing gear consists of two wheels mounted below the control bar and a single tail wheel mounted on a vertical strut. A folding propeller is a standard feature. As it takes-off and lands on wheels, the Minimum can only operate from smooth hard runways.

Operational history

The single-place version was reported in 2003 as having sold in substantial numbers.

Variants

;Minimum :Single-place version powered by a

engine of . The fuel tank capacity is . ;Minimum 1+1 :Two-place version powered by a Solo 210 engine of . The fuel tank capacity is .

Specifications (Minimum)

References

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Minimum In mathematical analysis, the maxima and minima (the respective plurals of maximum and minimum) of a function, known collectively as extrema (the plural of extremum), are the largest and smallest value of the function, either within a given ran ...

2000s German ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Powered hang gliders