The Pop's Props Cloudster is a single seat, open-cockpit,
parasol wing, 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 con ...
, that was first flown in 1995. The aircraft was produced by
Pop's Props of
Cooksville, Illinois 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.
[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 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. The landing gear is
conventional with sprung main gear and a tailwheel. The wing is
strut-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 of as well as several
Rotax 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.
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 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