The Acrolite is a family of

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

amateur-built aircraft 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.Armstrong, Kenn ...

, designed by Ron Wilson and produced by

Acrolite Aircraft The Acrolite is a family of Canadian amateur-built aircraft, designed by Ron Wilson and produced by Acrolite Aircraft of Kakabeka Falls, Ontario, in the form of plans for amateur construction.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World ...

of Kakabeka Falls, Ontario, in the form of plans for amateur construction.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', pages 89-90. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', pages 91. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The aircraft in the series all feature one or two seats, fixed

conventional landing gear 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.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...

. The Acrolite

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

s are all made from welded

4130 steel 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common var ...

tubing, with wooden structure wings covered in hot laminated

plywood 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 ...

and control surfaces made from

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

sheet. All other surfaces are covered in doped

aircraft fabric Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as are ...

. Wing arrangements, cockpit and engines vary by model.

Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Co. is an American producer of aircraft parts and services including plans for homebuilt aircraft. History Aircraft Spruce Co. was founded in 1965 by Bob and Flo Irwin as a follow-on to founding Fullerton Air Part ...

supplies plans and materials kits for the Acrolite 1C. The company claims that the 16

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

-only materials packages cost under US$10,000.

Operational history

The Acrolite 1A won a

Canadian Owners and Pilots Association The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) (french: Association canadienne des pilotes et propriétaires d'aéronefs) is a federally registered not-for-profit association that provides information and advocacy services for Canadian pilot ...

"Good Show" award in 1998 and the Acrolite 1B was chosen as one of two finalists in the 1995 Aircraft Spruce & Speciality Scratchbuild Design Contest. In March 2017, five examples were registered with

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transporta ...

, although a total of seven had been once registered.

Variants

;Acrolite 1A :Single-seat

biplane 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 ...

for the Canadian basic ultralight category, first flown in October 1986. Plans no longer available. The prototype was originally powered by a

Kawasaki 440 The Kawasaki 440, also called the T/A 440, is a Japanese twin-cylinder, in-line, two-stroke engine that was designed for snowmobiles and produced by Kawasaki Heavy Industries until the early 1980s.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's G ...

and later by a Rotax 447

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of ...

s powerplant. ;Acrolite 1B :Single-seat biplane for sportsman

aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glide ...

. In addition to the standard wooden wing, optional

2024-T3 aluminium 2024 aluminium alloy is an aluminium alloy, with copper as the primary alloying element. It is used in applications requiring high strength to weight ratio, as well as good fatigue resistance. It is weldable only through friction welding, and has ...

sheet wings can be built. The recommended engine is the Rotax 912UL, although the

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...

or the Rotax 618 two-strokes can be used as well. ;Acrolite 1C :Single-seat biplane for sportsman aerobatics, with performance improvements over the 1B. Engines include

, ,

Hirth F30 The Hirth F-30 is a horizontally opposed four-cylinder, two-stroke, carburetted aircraft engine, with optional fuel injection, designed for use on ultralight aircraft and homebuilts. It is manufactured by Hirth of Germany.Cliche, Andre: ''Ul ...

Rotax 618 two-strokes and the Rotax 912UL, the Rotax 912ULS

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either direct ...

powerplant. ;Acrolite 1M :Single-seat high-wing, strut-braced

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

. Engines include Rotax 447,

Rotax 503 The Rotax 503 is a , inline 2-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catlog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge Airfoils, 1995. As of 2011 the Rot ...

and the

two-strokes or other similar powerplants. Acrolight Aircraft reports that no prototype has been completed or flown by September 2012. ;Acrolite 1T :Single-seat

triplane A triplane is a fixed-wing aircraft equipped with three vertically stacked wing planes. Tailplanes and canard foreplanes are not normally included in this count, although they occasionally are. Design principles The triplane arrangement ma ...

for sportsman aerobatics, with wings covered with

epoxy Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also co ...

fiberglass Fiberglass ( American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

sheet or optionally plywood.

Aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s are only fitted to the middle wing. Engines include Rotax 447,

and the

two-stroke powerplants. ;Acrolite 2M :Two seats in

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

, high-wing strut-braced

intended for the Canadian advanced ultralight category and American

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restricti ...

category, first flown in June 1994. Engines include

, Rotax 618 two-strokes and the Rotax 912UL and

Jabiru 2200 The Jabiru 2200 is a lightweight naturally aspirated, pushrod four-stroke, flat four, air-cooled aircraft engine produced by Jabiru Aircraft. Design and development The conventional direct-drive engine is fitted with an alternator, silencers, ...

four-stroke powerplants. As of August 2012, the design does not appear on the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

's list of approved special light-sport aircraft or on Transport Canada's list of advanced ultralights.

Specifications (Acrolite 1C)

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.acrolite.org/ Homebuilt aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aerobatic aircraft