The Viper Aircraft Viperfan was 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 produced by
Viper Aircraft
The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous snake, venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), ...
of
Kennewick, Washington
Kennewick () is a city in Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima rivers and across from the confluence of the ...
, introduced in the late 1990s. The aircraft was intended to be supplied as a kit for amateur construction, but only one was ever built.
[Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 361. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ][Freeze, Di (November 2005). "The Path to the Viperjet MkII – The Trickest Jet on the Block". Pacific Northwest Aviation & Business Journal (Airport Journals) 4 (10): 8C–14C.]
Design and development
The Viperfan was designed to resemble a military jet trainer, but powered by a pusher piston engine. It featured 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 engine in
pusher configuration.
The aircraft was 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 ...
s. Its span wing mounted
flaps and had a wing area of . The cabin width was . The acceptable power range was and the standard engines envisioned to be used were the
Continental IO-520 and TSIO-520, or the
Continental TSIOL-550 powerplant, driving the tail-mounted propeller through an extension shaft.
The Viperfan had a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage was . The aircraft was fully
aerobatic and stressed to +/-6
g.
The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a engine was and the landing roll was .
The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the planned kit to be 2000 hours.
The aircraft was not a success due to problems with vibrations in the engine-to-propeller extension shaft and so the aircraft was converted to
turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...
power. Eventually it was completely redesigned to become the
Viper Aircraft ViperJet
The Viper Aircraft ViperJet is a small homebuilt jet aircraft by Viper Aircraft Corporation. It is a conventional, low-wing monoplane with swept wings and tail and two seats in tandem under a bubble canopy. The jet intakes are located at the s ...
MKII.
Operational history
By 1998 the company reported that one aircraft had been completed and was flying.
In May 2015 no examples were
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 ...
and it is unlikely any exist anymore.
Specifications (Viperfan)
See also
*
List of aerobatic aircraft
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://viperjet.com/
Viperfan
1990s United States sport aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Aerobatic aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft