The Solo Wings Windlass is a South African ultralight trike designed and produced by Solo Wings of

Gillitts, KwaZulu-Natal Gillitts is a town in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Overview It is about inland from the Durban city centre at an elevation of 1800 feet (600 m ASL). Although Durban is semi-tropical and very humid, Gillitts is above the humidity ...

. The aircraft was also sold in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by Bateleur Sky Sports of

Palm Coast, Florida Palm Coast is a city in Flagler County, Florida. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 75,180, more than twice the 32,832 counted in 2000. The population was estimated to be 89,800 in 2019. It is the most populous city in Flagler ...

in the early 2000s, under their own name.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page C-30. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. Downey, Julia: ''2000 Trike and 'Chute Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 17, Number 2, February 2000, page 45. Kitplanes Acquisition Company. ISSN 0891-1851Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 110. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X

Design and development

The aircraft was designed to comply with the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

microlight category, including the category's maximum gross weight of . The aircraft has a maximum gross weight of . It 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, a two-seats-in- tandem open cockpit,

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 ...

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 is made from tubing, with its 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. Its span wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame control bar. The

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

includes suspension on all three wheels and a steerable nose wheel. The aircraft has been used for

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

and for this role has dual controls, including dual ground steering. The standard engine supplied is the Rotax 503 twin cylinder,

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 ...

, air-cooled

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

. Wings used include the Aquilla and . In the early 2000s the company had planned to phase the Windlass out, but customer demand has kept the model in production through 2012.

Operational history

The aircraft placed well in a number of European microlight competitions and was used to set an altitude record of in 1987.

Specifications (2000 model Bateleur Windlass)

References

External links

* {{Solo Wings aircraft 1980s South African ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Ultralight trikes Solo Wings aircraft