The Stargate YT-33 is an American

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 and intended to be produced by Stargate, Inc of

McMinnville, Oregon McMinnville is the county seat of and largest city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The city is named after McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2019 census, the city had a population estimate of 34,743. McMinnville is at the confluence of ...

, introduced in 1994. The aircraft is a 2/3 scale replica of the

Lockheed T-33 The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

jet trainer.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 359. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. Listed as "under development" in 1998, the YT-33 was planned to be supplied as a kit for amateur construction, but it is unlikely any kits were ever shipped.

Design and development

The YT-33 features a cantilever

low-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 ...

, 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 ...

, retractable

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 jet engine. The aircraft is made from

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

. Its span wing has a wing area of . The prototype uses a thrust Turbomeca Marboré IIC jet powerplant. The aircraft has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . The aircraft has a fuel capacity of or of

Jet-A Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial av ...

. The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off distance is and the landing roll is . The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the proposed kit to be 3000 hours.

Operational history

By 1998 the company reported that one aircraft had been completed and was flying. On 18 April 2018 the one example that had been 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 ...

was de-registered and the aircraft may not exist any more.

Specifications (YT-33)

References

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External links

Video of the aircraft
YT-33 1990s United States sport aircraft Low-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Replica aircraft Single-engined jet aircraft