CT: Composite Tourer
Design: Flightdesign, Germany
Built: Ukraine (f**king CAA delayed the delivery by ~3 months insisting on production facility audits and all that jazz - with best inetntions no doubt but still annoying as hell)
Engine: Rotax 912S 100hp
Cruise: ~110 kts at ~14 litres (ordinary unleaded)/hour (not sure where they got 18l/hour quoted in the article...) with flaps at -12 (full range - -12 - +40)
Currently we're restricted to 110 kts due to flutter defect of a trim tab discovered on another CT at speeds in excess of 125 kts. I've been up to 130 kts but the Rotax is whining too loudly at max revs
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Takeoff distance: Hmmmm... I can get her in the air in ~150 feet and then she climbs at 1200-1400 fpm at65-70 kts pointing the nose ~30 degrees up
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She'll stall at 42 kts (requirement for microlight class) but below 50 kts controls are really wonky and need work to keep flying straight. I land at 60 with full flaps and she needs flying all the way down - it feels like she floats for ages and you have to say "Down girl, down"
It's a two seater with
loads of space (there's ~ 6-8 inches between shoulders of pilot/passenger) - there's more space around you than you get in a normal sized family saloon.
130 liters of fuel in 2 wing tanks.
She's all carbon fibre and weighs 265kg empty - that's 585lbs!
The drag is, as usual, the legalities - Flightdesign spent a small fortune certifying her as a microlight in the UK hence 265 empty weight to get into 450kg MTOW requirement which leaves all sorts of nonsense fuel loads for 2 biggish blokes inside... But hey - with 600 kgs take-off weight she'll break up at 7.2g... I can live with those figures
Light weight also means that one has to be careful when winds are blowing - I was rolling down the runway, a gust came in and she just hopped in the air - ouch!
I have loads of pics - inside and outside but can't get them uploaded anywhere at the moment
