| Wright MPA Mk 1 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Front quarter view of the MPA Mk 1, in its first configuration | |
| Role | Human-powered aircraft |
| National origin | United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Peter Wright |
| First flight | 1972 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Wright MPA Mk 1 was the first of two human-powered aircraft designed and built by Peter Wright, an engineer from Melton Mowbray, England. [1] [2]
Design of the aircraft began in October 1969, with construction itself beginning mid-1971. [2] [3] It was completed by February 1972, with that taking 500 hours. Wright's approach was to reduce the aircraft's weight and its construction time by minimising the amount of materials used to construct the aircraft. [1]
The aircraft was a mid-wing monoplane. The pilot sat in a semi-recumbent position, and powered a rear-mounted 2-bladed propeller via bicycle pedals driving a bicycle chain and driveshaft transmission. [3] The framework for the pilot support and the transmission was made from mild steel tubing, with the remainder of the aircraft being constructed from expanded polystyrene, plastics, balsa, with carbon fibre being used to reinforce the structure. [3] Compared to other human-powered aircraft of the era, the MPA Mk 1 had a very large wing area, with a very low wing loading. This affected the number of opportunities available to undertake flights. [3] The aircraft was fitted with a tricycle undercarriage, with the front wheel being powered, and two small trailing wheels castering. The empennage was of a cruciform type, with an all-flying elevator and a conventional fin and rudder. There was no lateral control. [4]
The first flight was made at Langar airfield near Nottingham, in February 1972, when it covered 120 yards (110 metres) at an altitude of 1 ft (0.3 metres). [3] When initially tested, the pilot had rudder control only, with the elevator being fixed, and the undercarriage adjusted to give the aircraft the correct incidence for take-off. [2] Eventually, flights of up to 300 yards (275 metres) were made. [2] In 1975, it was reported that the aircraft was in store, pending the availability of a suitable flying site. [5]
Wright went onto design and produce a second human-powered aircraft, the Micron. [1]
Data from Jane's all the world's aircraft 1973-74 [4]
General characteristics
Performance
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
The Gossamer Albatross is a human-powered aircraft built by American aeronautical engineer Dr Paul B MacCready's company AeroVironment. On June 12, 1979, it completed a successful crossing of the English Channel to win the second Kremer prize worth £100,000.
The Monarch B was a human-powered aircraft, designed and built by graduates and undergraduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and won the £20,000 first prize for the Kremer World Speed Competition. It is a successor to the Monarch A HPA which preceded it.
The Focke-Wulf A 20 Habicht was an airliner developed in Germany in the late 1920s. It was a high-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed tailskid undercarriage. The fuselage was deep and seated four passengers in a fully enclosed cabin. The type was not bought by the airlines and only a few examples were built.
The SZD-48 Jantar Standard 2 is a Standard Class glider that was designed and produced in Poland starting in 1977.
The Southampton University Man Powered Aircraft on 9 November 1961 became the first human-powered aeroplane to make an officially authenticated take-off and flight. It was designed and built by Southampton university students between 1960 and 1961 for an attempt at the Kremer prize, but it was never able to complete the 'figure-of-eight' course specified to claim the prize money.
The Weybridge Man Powered Aircraft is a British single-seat man-powered aircraft built and flown by members of the Weybridge Man Powered Aircraft Group.
The HPA Toucan is a British two-seat human-powered aircraft built and flown by members of the Hertfordshire Pedal Aeronauts and was the first two-person human-powered aircraft to fly.
The Timm T-840 was a twin engine, high wing passenger aircraft designed and flown in the United States in 1938. Equipped with a tricycle undercarriage and low speed aerodynamic devices, it could be configured to carry between six and ten passengers. Only one was built.
The Softeks V-24 Lastivka is a four-seat, twin pusher engined utility aircraft, designed and built in Ukraine in the 2010s for survey and transport work. The first prototype flew late in 2012.
The IIL IS-9 was a low powered, experimental pod and boom style motor glider, designed and built in Romania in the late 1950s.
The Goodhart Newbury Manflier was a two-place human-powered aircraft designed by Nicholas Goodhart. Its most notable feature was that the two pilots were placed in separate fuselages, spaced 70 ft apart.
The Paxton man-powered aircraft was the project of architect Tony Paxton, to create a compact human-powered aircraft, suitable for sports flying.
The Micron was the second of two human-powered aircraft designed and built by Peter Wright, an engineer from Melton Mowbray, England.
The Olympian ZB-1 was the first human-powered aircraft to have flown in the United States. It was designed, built, and flown by Joseph A. Zinno, of North Providence, Rhode Island. Zinno had previously been a USAF Lieutenant Colonel, and undertook the challenge of making a human-powered aircraft as a post-retirement project.
The BURD was a two-place human-powered biplane, designed and built by graduates and undergraduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with Professors Eugene Covert and James Mar acting as project advisers. It was developed with the specific goal of winning the £50,000 Kremer prize then on offer.
The BURD II was a two-place human-powered biplane, designed and built by graduates and undergraduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is very similar to the original BURD, which suffered a structural collapse during testing in 1975, but incorporated changes to its structure and its control systems.
The LP Dedal-2 human-powered aircraft was the project of Leon Polniak, a Franco-Polish engineer based in Kraków, Poland, and was a development of his earlier, unfinished, Dedal design. Dedal is Polish for Daedalus.
The Dragonfly was a human-powered aircraft, designed and built by the Prestwick Man Powered Aircraft Group, based at the Prestwick International Airport in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
The Reluctant Phoenix is a British human-powered aircraft, designed and built in the 1960s by the British engineer Daniel Perkins. It was notable for being an inflatable delta-wing tailless design, and for being flown indoors.
The Halton Jupiter was a human-powered aircraft which established distance and duration records in the early 1970s.