Stolp SA-900 V-Star

Last updated
SA-900 V-Star
Stolp SA-900 V-Star at Paine Field.jpg
Role Homebuilt aircraft
National origin United States
Manufacturer Stolp Starduster Corporation
Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co
StatusPlans available (2014)
Number built65 (1998)
Unit cost
US$195.00 (Plans only, 2014)

The Stolp SA-900 V-Star is an American aerobatic homebuilt biplane, currently produced by Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co in the form of plans for amateur construction. In the 1990s it was also available as a kit from Stolp Starduster Corporation of Riverside, California. [1]

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Most of the country is located contiguously in North America between Canada and Mexico.

Homebuilt aircraft planes constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity

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.

Biplane Airplane wing configuration with two vertically stacked main flying surfaces

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a similar unbraced or cantilever monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and the quest for greater speed made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.

Contents

Design and development

The V-Star was designed as a low-cost, economical and easy to fly design, with a light wing loading and short runway requirements. It features a strut-braced biplane layout, with cabane struts, interplane struts and flying wires, a single-seat open cockpit, fixed conventional landing gear with wheel pants and a single engine in tractor configuration. [1]

Conventional landing gear aircraft undercarriage arrangement with main gear forward plus tail support

Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail. The term taildragger is also used, although some claim it should apply only to those aircraft with a tailskid rather than a wheel.

Tractor configuration arrangement of propellers on an aircraft to face forward

An aircraft constructed with a tractor configuration has the engine mounted with the airscrew in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air, as opposed to the pusher configuration, in which the airscrew is behind and propels the aircraft forward. Through common usage, the word "propeller" has come to mean any airscrew, whether it actually propels or pulls the plane.

The aircraft fuselage is made from welded 4130 steel tubing. Its 23.00 ft (7.0 m) span wings are made from spruce and plywood, with the whole aircraft covered with doped aircraft fabric. The wings employ a Clark YH airfoil and have a total area of 141.0 sq ft (13.10 m2). The engine used is the 65 hp (48 kW) Continental A65 or other similar powerplants. [1] [2]

Fuselage aircraft main body which is the primary carrier of crew, passengers, and payload

The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, and cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, as well, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage, which in turn is used as a floating hull. The fuselage also serves to position control and stabilization surfaces in specific relationships to lifting surfaces, which is required for aircraft stability and maneuverability.

Spruce genus of plants

A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea, a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. Spruces are large trees, from about 20–60 m tall when mature, and have whorled branches and conical form. They can be distinguished from other members of the pine family by their needles (leaves), which are four-sided and attached singly to small persistent peg-like structures on the branches, and by their cones, which hang downwards after they are pollinated. The needles are shed when 4–10 years old, leaving the branches rough with the retained pegs. In other similar genera, the branches are fairly smooth.

Plywood manufactured wood panel made from thin sheets of wood veneer

Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards which includes medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and particle board (chipboard).

The V-Star has a typical empty weight of 700 lb (320 kg) and a gross weight of 1,000 lb (450 kg), giving a useful load of 300 lb (140 kg). With full fuel of 15 U.S. gallons (57 L; 12 imp gal) the payload for the pilot and baggage is 210 lb (95 kg). [1]

The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a 65 hp (48 kW) engine is 400 ft (122 m) and the landing roll is 600 ft (183 m). [1]

The designer estimates the construction time from the kit that was available in the 1990s as 1800 hours. [1]

Operational history

By 1998 the company reported that 65 aircraft were completed and flying. [1]

In March 2014, 13 examples were registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration, although a total of 24 had been registered at one time. In Canada in March 2014 there were two registered with Transport Canada and in the United Kingdom a further two were registered with the CAA. [3] [4] [5]

Specifications (V-Star)

Data from AeroCrafter and The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage [1] [2]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Purdy, Don: AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition, page 264. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ISBN   0-9636409-4-1
  2. 1 2 Lednicer, David (2010). "The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage" . Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Federal Aviation Administration (13 March 2014). "Make / Model Inquiry Results" . Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  4. ↑ Transport Canada (13 March 2014). "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register". Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom) (13 March 2014). "GINFO Search Results Summary" . Retrieved 13 March 2014.
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