The Tapanee Levitation 2 is a Canadian
STOL amateur-built 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 ...
, designed and produced by
Tapanee Aviation of
Mont-Saint-Michel, Quebec. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction.
[Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 71. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851]
The Levitation 2 was offered for sale in 2011, but as of 2012 the company no longer advertises that it is available.
Design and development
The aircraft is a two-seat development of the four-seat
Tapanee Levitation 4. It features a
strut-braced 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 ...
, an enclosed cockpit with two seats in
side-by-side configuration
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 ...
that is wide, fixed
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
tractor configuration
In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...
.
The Levitation 2 is made from welded steel tubing and
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
, with its flying surfaces covered with
doped 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 ...
. Its span wing has an area of and mounts
flaps. The wing is supported by "V" struts and
jury struts
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 ...
. The aircraft's recommended engine power range is and standard engines used include the
Lycoming O-320
The Lycoming O-320 is a large family of naturally aspirated, air-cooled, four-cylinder, direct-drive engines produced by Lycoming Engines. They are commonly used on light aircraft such as the Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee. Different variants ...
four-stroke powerplant. Construction time from the supplied kit is estimated as 1750 hours.
Operational history
In 2007 a single example was
registered with
Transport Canada
Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transporta ...
and in December 2011 the company reported one aircraft had been completed.
Specifications (Levitation 2)
References
External links
Photo of the sole Tapanee Levitation 2{{Tapanee Aviation aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Tapanee Aviation aircraft