| AX2000 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A HKS 700E powered AX2000 | |
| Role | microlight |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Cyclone Airsports Ltd |
| First flight | c.1997 |
| Number built | at least 29 |
| Developed from | Cyclone AX3 |
The Cyclone AX2000 is a British built three axis microlight, first flown in the 1990s. It seats two in side-by-side configuration.
The AX2000 is a development of the earlier Cyclone AX3, [1] a UK regulation compliant variant of the French Ultralair Premier AX3. This, in turn, was a three axis development of the US Chotia Weedhopper from the early 1980s. [2]
The Cyclone AX2000 is an aluminium tube framed three axis microlight with flying surfaces covered with a polyester fabric with outer PVF lamination (URLAM). The whole aircraft is built around a long, high aluminium keel boom, which bears the engine, wings and empennage. The wing is a two spar structure, with surfaces formed by upper and lower battens rather than ribs. It carries conventional, full span, tapering ailerons but no flaps. [1] The tailplane is mounted on the keel and has an anti-balance/trim tab on the starboard elevator. [1] [3] There is a small fixed fin below the keel but none above; the rudder is balanced and extends below the elevators, moving in a cut-out. [3]
The short, deep fuselage is built around a wire braced tube beam. Lift and landing loads are taken by V-shaped, cross braced pairs of lift struts from the bottom of the fuselage to each wing, assisted by a centre line strut to the boom at the wing leading edge. The cockpit enclosure is non-structural, with forward opening doors to a pair of side-by-side seats. These are equipped with separate rudder pedals but the occupants share a central control column. The AX2000 has a tricycle undercarriage mounted close to the fuselage. [1]
The engine is mounted, uncowled, ahead and above the wing leading edge, with the propeller shaft on the boom line. One of three engines may be fitted: a 48 kW (64 hp) Rotax 582/48 or 38 kW (51 hp) 503 2V, both upright twin cylinder two strokes, or the 45 kW (60 hp) HKS 700E (either V3 or Beta variants), flat twin four stroke. [3] Both Rotax engines drive propellers with ground adjustable pitch: the 582 has a three blade, composite propeller and the 503 a two blade wooden one. [1]
As well the new engines, the AX2000 differs chiefly from the AX3 in having a completely double surface wing of reduced area and modified structure, a change of alloy for the main keel beam, a revised and lightened fuselage with new undercarriage, an increased fuel capacity and the addition of an elevator anti-balance trim tab. [1]
The AX2000 is certificated as a glider tug, for gliders of class 1 and 2. A V-shaped forward tow line extension joins the main line to a pair of tug pillars attached to the rear spar on the under surfaces of the AX2000's wing. [1]
In mid-2011 there were 29 AX2000s on the UK civil aircraft register. [4]
Data from Civil Aircraft Authority microlight type approval data sheet (TADS) no.BM53 issue 9 [3]
General characteristics
Performance
The Fantasy Air Allegro is a Czech two seat, high wing, tricycle gear, single engine monoplane light-sport aircraft or microlight originally designed and built by Fantasy Air and later produced in the United States by Allegro LSA.
The Remos G3 Mirage and Remos GX are German high wing, two seat, single engine light aircraft, built by Remos AG of Pasewalk. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or complete and ready-to-fly.
The CFM Shadow is a British Microlight or Group A aircraft designed in the 1980s by David Cook who went on to run ‘Cook Flying Machines’ - where the aircraft was manufactured as a choice of a BMAA fully built machine or an LAA home build kit. It is of high wing, pusher, pod and boom layout and seats two. Around 400 have been built.
The Coavio DF 2000 is a single-engine, high-wing all-metal ultralight aircraft with side-by-side seating for two. Built in Italy, production began in 2004.
The Lilienthal Bekas is a 2/3 seat, high wing single engine pusher ultralight from Ukraine. First flown in 1993, it has been produced in large numbers and in several variants.
The Dyn'Aéro MCR4S is a four-seat development of the French two seat, single engine Dyn'Aéro MCR01. It first flew in early 2000 and is sold as a kit for homebuilding in several versions by SE Aviation of Pontarlier.
The B&F Fk9, also marketed as the FK-Lightplanes FK9, is a German-designed single-engine, two-seat ultralight, first flown in 1989. It has been developed from a mixed structure, fabric covered aircraft to a wholly composite machine. It remains in production at factories in Germany and Poland and has sold in large numbers, flying on four continents.
The TL Ultralight TL-132 Condor and TL-232 Condor Plus are single engine, highwing ultralight aircraft designed and built in the Czech Republic in the mid-1990s. They remain in production in 2010.
The Raj Hamsa X-Air is an Indian, two-seat, high-wing, tricycle gear, tractor configuration, ultralight aircraft produced by Raj Hamsa Ultralights of Bangalore, Karnataka in kit form, for amateur construction.
The Jora Jora is a high wing, T-tail, single-engine, two-seat ultralight designed in the Czech Republic in 1993. More than 160 had been sold by 2009.
The Groppo XL and Groppo Trail are very similar single engine, tandem seat, high wing ultralight aircraft designed and built in Italy. Both can be supplied complete or in kit form. The two models differ chiefly in undercarriage type.
The MFI BA-12 Sländan is a single seat ultralight of pod and high boom configuration and with a butterfly tail. It was designed and built in Sweden in the 1980s and led to a two-seat, slightly larger, development called the BA-14.
The Tisserand Hydroplum is a small amphibious aircraft with a single, pusher engine, built in France in the 1980s. Originally a single-seat, high-wing monoplane, it was developed into a two-seat biplane for production in kit form as the SMAN Pétrel.
The Just Escapade is a single-engine, high-wing light aircraft, seating two in side-by-side configuration. It was jointly developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 2000s and by 2010 some 145 Escapades and its "bush plane" variant, the Highlander, had been built and many more kits sold.
The Tiger Cub Developments (TCD) Sherwood Ranger is a single engine, tandem two seat biplane microlight designed and built in the United Kingdom in the early 1990s. Kits were originally produced by TCD; later, design rights were acquired by The Light Aircraft Company Ltd (TLAC) who resumed kit production in 2009.
The Club ULM Rotor Ptenets-2 is a Russian ultralight aircraft, designed and produced by Club ULM Rotor of Kumertau, Bashkortostan. The aircraft is supplied complete and ready-to-fly.
The Alpi Pioneer 400 is an Italian four-seat light aircraft, designed produced by Alpi Aviation, of Pordenone. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.
The TechProAviation Merlin HV 100 is a Czech amateur-built aircraft, designed and produced by TechProAviation of Olomouc. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction.
The Sochen Phoenix was a single engine, three axis control microlight designed and produced in small numbers in South Africa in the early 1980s.
The Swiss Piccard Eureka was designed to be an easily transportable single seat three-axis ultralight. Its development was brought to a halt by the Swiss ban on ultralight aircraft in 1984.
