The Pop's Props Cloudster is a single seat, open-cockpit,
parasol 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 ...
, single-engine
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 confi ...
, that was first flown in 1995. The aircraft was produced by
Pop's Props of
Cooksville, Illinois
Cooksville is a village in McLean County, Illinois, United States. The population was 157 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bloomington– Normal Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
Cooksville is in eastern McLean County, east-nor ...
and made available as plans or in
kit form. The company is no longer in business and kit production has been transferred to
Simplex Aeroplanes of
Old Saybrook, Connecticut
Old Saybrook is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,481 at the 2020 census. It contains the incorporated borough of Fenwick, as well as the census-designated places of Old Saybrook Center and Saybro ...
.
[Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page B-65. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. ][Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 222. BAI Communications. ][Downey, Julia: ''1999 Kit Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 15, Number 12, December 1998, page 62. Primedia Publications. ISSN 0891-1851]
The aircraft was designed for the
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 req ...
category, including the category's empty weight limit. The standard empty weight of the Cloudster is .
Design and development
The aircraft was designed for safe low and slow flying from unimproved surfaces.
The Cloudster is constructed of wood and covered in
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 landing gear is
conventional with sprung main gear and a tailwheel. The wing is
strut
A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension.
Human anatomy
Part of the functionality o ...
-braced with two parallel main struts and
jury strut
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 ...
s per side. Available engines include the liquid-cooled engine
Kawasaki 340-LC of , the
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 ...
of as well as several
Rotax
Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Product ...
and
Cuyuna engines. The designer recommended power range is .
Due to the laborious wood and fabric construction, builder completion time is estimated at 400 man-hours from the kit. The kit can be ordered as one kit or as several sub-kits.
The Cloudster was later developed into the
Zing
Zing or ZING may refer to:
*Zing (model-checker), infrastructure for verification of concurrent software via model checking
*Zing (punctuation) or irony punctuation, invented by English printer Henry Denham in the 1580s
*Zing (quartet), the 2010 S ...
.
Variants
;Pop's Props Cloudster
:Original version with wingspan and stall speed.
;Simplex Cloudster
:Improved version with wingspan and stall speed introduced in February 2011. The wing was shortened to reduced
adverse yaw Adverse yaw is the natural and undesirable tendency for an aircraft to yaw in the opposite direction of a roll. It is caused by the difference in lift and drag of each wing. The effect can be greatly minimized with ailerons deliberately designed to ...
effects.
Specifications (Pop's Props Cloudster)
See also
References
External links
*
{{Pops Props
1990s United States ultralight aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Cloudster
High-wing aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1995