GALLERY

Aeroprakt Choices

A22LS FOXBAT

If you’re looking for a rugged aircraft that’s easy to handle, has amazing short field performance, yet is capable of cruising at 95 knots, while (legally) carrying a good load – you’ve come to the right place!

But first, here are six basic reasons to have a long hard look at a Foxbat:

It is a very short take-off and landing (VSTOL) aircraft
So what? Simply – control and safety. Getting off and back on to the ground quickly, at a slow speed, means less wear & tear on the landing gear, and less potential damage to the propeller from stones and gravel. And less inertia to bring to a halt if the unthinkable happens on take-off or landing!

There is a huge amount of room in the cabin
It’s probably the biggest, airiest cabin in its class. This means that whether you’re learning, or flying with a friend, you’re not jammed shoulder to shoulder, the controls are easier to use, and room to move makes for greater safety all round.

The visibility is, in the words of one owner, ‘almost scary’
The doors are glazed to the floor, the windscreen is massive and even the rear section of the fuselage is glazed. If you’re teaching in the Foxbat, this makes for superb circuit visibility. If you’re touring, you can see everything on the ground for miles around. The seats are positioned correctly, so tall people do not get a sore neck having to duck down to see under the wing in flight and yet can easily see over the nose.

The flight handling is superbly balanced and safe
Stalling is a non-event, even without flap. There is no tendency at all to drop a wing and you can side-slip safely with or without flap. At slow speeds, the controls are light and effective – at higher speeds they firm-up and make cruising a more relaxed affair than in some sensitive ‘performance’ related aircraft.

It has a metal airframe
So? In two words, safety & durability.
Safety: an all-metal airframe has good impact characteristics. Metal will bend and absorb forces before breaking, helping to protect occupants in the event of an accident. In comparison, composites do not absorb impacts well, usually fragmenting suddenly without bending.
Durability: correctly proofed, metal structures are durable and resistant to the external environment. Unlike composites, metal is not susceptible to structural changes caused by UV radiation, high temperatures and other weather effects. For example, composites can become significantly weakened if the surface temperature rises above 40 degrees – very easily done in even mild sunlight on a summer day.

Last but not least, it’s easy to get into and out of

Fed up of contorting yourself to get over the control sticks? Or jamming your legs to get under the control yokes? Forget it in a Foxbat. The centre stick makes entry and exit as simple as getting into & out of bed! Even the optional control yokes are set high so you can just slide in under them.

A32 VIXXEN

The A32 is the latest addition to the Aeroprakt range of aircraft. Before release, the A32 was in development and testing for over 3 years. Much of this development has centred on ‘state-of-the-art’ aerodynamics. The A32 has undergone an extensive flight-test programme to ensure that theoretical improvements actually work in practice.

The results speak for themselves:

The aircraft is aerodynamically ‘clean’
At a glance, it’s easy to see the faired landing gear legs and wheels and the fairings at the top and bottom of the wing lift-struts. The fuselage is smooth with aerodynamic fairings fitted to the wing roots at the leading and trailing edges. What’s not so easy to see at a glance is the work inside the engine bay to reduce significant areas of drag. All these changes result in an aircraft that flies fast, glides well, stalls slow and uses less fuel than many other LSAs.

The cabin is very light and airy
The windscreen curves up level with the top of wing, resulting in excellent headroom and refined aerodynamics. The fuselage ‘monocoque’ needs no diagonal struts inside the windshield, so there is an unimpeded, panoramic view forward. Additionally, there is no horizontal cross-member behind the seats, resulting in easy seat positioning and a low CofG for the luggage compartment in the floor behind the seats.

The doors are fully sealed
The door design incorporates composite frames with convex polycarbonate transparencies, which seal against the airframe to keep noise and aerodynamic drag to a minimum.There is also a special design of door handle mechanism which requires no spring-loading, increasing service life and giving easy access and secure closing.

The seats are set high
The high-set seats have two significant benefits for pilots and co-pilots alike – a great view over the nose and excellent knee room. These benefits have been achieved without compromising one of Aeroprakt’s great signature benefits – there’s no need to duck your head to see under the wing when you’re flying the aircraft. The seats, which tilt forward for luggage access, have storage pockets behind the back-rests and are adjustable fore and aft using a spring locator at the front of the seat.

There is an all-flying tailplane (‘stabilator’) with an anti-servo tab

There are three main reasons for introducing an all-flying tail plane on the A32 – the first on an Aeroprakt aircraft. First, control forces and trim drag are reduced. Second, an all-flying tail is simpler to produce; fewer moving parts means greater reliability. Finally, it has some aerodynamic advantages over a fixed stabiliser/elevator combination enabling more precise control of the aircraft – particularly when taking off and landing.