Pipistrel virus sw kit

The cockpit is of reinforced Kevlar construction, and accommodates two personnel. It offers luxurious interiors and leather seats, while the colour configuration can be customised upon request. The instrument panel made of carbon fibre is equipped with modern avionics such as a GPS-controlled autopilot, instrument flight rules IFR suite and a constant-speed propeller controller.

The aircraft measures 6. The SW 80 has a maximum take-off weight of The SW 80 The flight, which began on January 8, was not an attempt to circumvent the globe in record time, but rather a display of efficiency and performance as the LSA crisscrossed the continents, successfully completing extreme missions such as a flight above Mt. Everest and a 2, nm flight from Concepcion, Chile to Easter Island. At the completion of the journey, the flight had produced some incredible numbers.

Pipistrel designers managed the teardrop shape successfully. The wing-fuselage intersection appears to have been carefully studied, as does the thick laminar-profile wing with its tapered outer panels and full-span camber-changing flaperon. That wing has proved remarkably versatile, appearing, in various incarnations, on half a dozen different airplanes. The wing, which, like the rest of the extremely light pounds empty and strong 12 G ultimate carbon-fiber airframe, is perfectly smooth and true, contributes a lot to the cleanness of the design.

Modern composite airframes attain an aerodynamic perfection that Eastman Jacobs, the s pioneer of the laminar-flow airfoil, could only despair of achieving. On airplanes like these, extensive laminar flow actually exists.

The full-span trailing-edge flap is controlled by a lever on the floor between the seats. It has four positions: reflexed minus 5 degrees , neutral, takeoff 9 and landing This is one of the complications that make the Virus a more sophisticated aircraft than others of its general size and shape.

Another is the airbrake, which is operated by a handle that drops down from the overhead between the seats. A third refinement is the variable-pitch propeller. Not a self-regulating constant-speed, it is adjusted by a large knob on the instrument panel; you rotate it to change pitch and pull it outward several inches to feather. The controllable-pitch prop enables a small engine to achieve a high cruising speed as well as strong takeoff acceleration and climb.

The surfaces are flawless and wave-free, and the control-surface gaps are covered with sailplane gap-sealing tape. Large doors on both sides of the cabin swing upward and are held open by snaps on the undersurface of the wing. Almost the entire door is a window. You climb aboard by sitting sidesaddle on the edge of the seat — taking care not to kick or step on the very light and definitely non-load-bearing wheelpants — and swinging your legs aboard. The slightly reclined seats are fixed, and the rudder pedals move forward and aft along a rail for pilots of different sizes.

Throttle and pitch trim are on a low console between the seats. It has no pilot-operated mixture control, but it does have a choke to enrich the mixture for starting, like an old car. It can run on LL but prefers mogas, so it not only uses very little fuel — 2. No sylph myself, I was surprised by the strong acceleration on takeoff and the steady climb rate of 1, fpm at 80 kias on a day when the temperature at 3, feet was degrees.

Airplanes Helicopters Civil aircraft Airliners Military aircraft. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Pipistrel Virus. Edit source History Talk 0. Cancel Save.