The World Aircraft Spirit is a
Colombian/
American 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 by Max Tedesco and produced by
World Aircraft Company. The aircraft was publicly introduced at
AirVenture
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsi ...
in 2011 and production is expected to commence in 2014. It is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly aircraft.
[Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 76. Belvoir Publications. ]
Design and development
The Spirit 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 co ...
, a 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 ...
enclosed cockpit 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 aircraft is made from
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 ...
sheet. Its span wing has an area of and mounts
flaps. The wing is supported by "V" struts and
jury struts. The aircraft's recommended engine power range is and standard engines used include the
Rotax 912ULS
The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, later ...
,
Continental O-200
The Continental C90 and O-200 are a family of air-cooled, horizontally opposed, four-cylinder, direct-drive aircraft engines of 201 in³ (3.29 L) displacement, producing between 90 and 100 horsepower (67 and 75 kW).''Federal Aviation Admini ...
and the
Lycoming IO-233 four-stroke powerplants.
The aircraft has a design maximum gross weight of , but is restricted to if flown in the US
light-sport aircraft category.
The Spirit
airframe is constructed in Colombia and then shipped to World Aircraft's facility at
Henry County Airport in
Paris, Tennessee for final assembly and paint. Kits shipped are fully assembled and then disassembled for customer delivery and may be shipped painted as well. Construction time from the supplied kit is estimated as 110 hours.
As of October 2012, the design appears on 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 ...
's list of approved special light-sport aircraft.
Operational history
By December 2011 55 examples had been completed and flown.
Specifications (Spirit)
References
External links
*
{{World Aircraft Company aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Light-sport aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft