The Sun Flightcraft Air-Chopper is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

powered parachute A powered parachute, often abbreviated PPC, and also called a motorized parachute or paraplane, is a type of aircraft that consists of a parafoil with a motor and wheels. The FAA defines a powered parachute as ''a powered aircraft a flexible o ...

that was designed by Herbert Hofbauer and produced by

Sun Flightcraft Sun Flightcraft (formally Pro-Design & Sun Flightcraft) is a former Austrian aircraft manufacturer based in Innsbruck, founded by Herbert Hofbauer. The company at one time specialized in the design and manufacture of powered parachutes in the ...

of Innsbruck. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied complete and ready-to-fly.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 87. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X The aircraft was introduced before 2003 and production ended in about 2008 when the model was discontinued. The company no longer manufactures powered parachutes.

Design and development

The Air-Chopper was designed to comply with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

category, including the category's maximum gross weight of . The aircraft has a maximum gross weight of . It employs a Cruiser 26 Elan rectangular canopy or, optionally, a Chiron Sycon-Aircraft elliptical parachute-style wing. Features include 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 ...

accommodation with dual throttles,

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

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...

engine in pusher configuration with a 2.62:1 "E" gearbox driving a

contra-rotating Contra-rotating, also referred to as coaxial contra-rotating, is a technique whereby parts of a mechanism rotate in opposite directions about a common axis, usually to minimise the effect of torque. Examples include some aircraft propellers, res ...

Coax-P The Coax-P is a contra-rotating propeller developed by NeuraJet of Senftenbach, Austria and Sun Flightcraft of Innsbruck, Austria for the Rotax 503 and Rotax 582 aircraft engines for use on ultralight aircraft.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et ...

aircraft propeller An aircraft propeller, also called an airscrew,Beaumont, R.A.; ''Aeronautical Engineering'', Odhams, 1942, Chapter 13, "Airscrews". converts rotary motion from an engine or other power source into a swirling slipstream which pushes the propeller ...

to eliminate torque effects. The aircraft carriage is built from bolted 6082-T6 aluminium tubing with 7075-T6 aluminium hardware, plus steel bolts. In flight steering is accomplished via foot pedals that actuate the canopy brakes, creating roll and yaw. On the ground the aircraft has handlebar-controlled nosewheel steering similar to a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

. The main landing gear incorporates

fibreglass 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 ...

spring rod suspension. Factory options included balloon tires, leather seats, a front wheel brake, front headlight, side panniers and dual control canopy steering. The aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for crew and baggage is .

Specifications (Air-Chopper)

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.sunflightcraft.com/en/paraplanes.php Air-Chopper 2000s Austrian sport aircraft 2000s Austrian ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Powered parachutes