The Parrish Dart is an American canard-configuration

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 by Jimmy R. Parrish and produced by Parrish Aircraft Xperimental, Inc. of

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. It first flew in the Autumn of 1995. When it was available the aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 354. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Design and development

The Parrish Dart started in 1983 as a

delta-wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitab ...

ed design, but was developed into a canard configuration resembling a

Rutan Long-EZ The Rutan Model 61 Long-EZ is a tandem 2-seater homebuilt aircraft designed by Burt Rutan's Rutan Aircraft Factory. The Long-EZ has a canard layout, a swept wing with wingtip rudders, and a pusher engine and propeller. The tricycle landing ...

. It features a cantilever

mid-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 con ...

, a two-seats-in-

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 ...

enclosed cockpit under a

bubble canopy A bubble canopy is an aircraft canopy constructed without bracing, for the purpose of providing a wider unobstructed field of view to the pilot, often providing 360° all-round visibility. The designs of bubble canopies can drastically vary; s ...

, fixed

tricycle landing gear 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 ...

main gear with a retractable nosewheel and a single engine in pusher configuration. The aircraft is made 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 clo ...

, with the

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 ...

a fibreglass sandwich and the wings and canard built from fibreglass spars and solid-core fibreglass airfoil shapes cut with a hot-wire foam cutter. Its span wing has a wing area of . The cabin width is . The cockpit features a

side-stick __NOTOC__ A side-stick or sidestick controller is an aircraft control stick that is located on the side console of the pilot, usually on the righthand side, or outboard on a two-seat flightdeck. Typically this is found in aircraft that are equ ...

at both seat positions and a right-mounted console. Rudder pedals and brakes are only fitted for the front seat. The acceptable power range is and maximum engine weight is . The standard engine used is the

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. The designer estimated the construction time from the supplied plans as 1500 hours.

Operational history

By 1998 the company reported that one aircraft had been completed and was flying. In April 2015 only one example, the prototype, was 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 ...

Specifications (Dart)

References

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External links

Photo of the Parrish Dart

Dart Dart or DART may refer to: * Dart, the equipment in the game of darts Arts, entertainment and media * Dart (comics), an Image Comics superhero * Dart, a character from ''G.I. Joe'' * Dart, a ''Thomas & Friends'' railway engine character * Dar ...

1990s United States sport aircraft 1990s United States ultralight aircraft 1990s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Canard aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1995