The AeroVolga LA-8 is an 8-seat

amphibious aircraft An amphibious aircraft, or amphibian, is an aircraft that can Takeoff, take off and Landing, land on both solid ground and water. These aircraft are typically Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing, though Amphibious helicopter, amphibious helicopte ...

designed and built in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. First flown in 2004, about six had been sold by mid-2012.

Design and development

The LA-8 has its origin with the Chaika L-6, first flown in 2000, and its immediate successor the L-6M, promoted by AeroVolga and first flown in 2001. Both of these were twin engine, V-tailed

, the latter differing in its hull design, undercarriage and maximum take-off weight. Chaika developed the L-6M into the

L-4 L4 or L-4 may refer to : Transportation * SP&S Class L-4, an 1884 steam locomotives class * USS ''L-4'' (SS-43), a 1915 United States Navy L-class submarine * HMS ''L4'', a 1918 British L class submarine * Lawson L-4, a 1924 American unflown bip ...

and AeroVolga developed it into the LA-8. These are very different designs: the LA-8 has a

T-tail A T-tail is an empennage wikt:configuration, configuration in which the tailplane of an aircraft is mounted to the top of the vertical stabilizer, fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs fr ...

and is some 25% longer than the L-4, with

tricycle gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...

. The LA-8 is largely built from

plastic foam Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptabili ...

and

PVC Polyvinyl chloride (alternatively: poly(vinyl chloride), colloquial: vinyl or polyvinyl; abbreviated: PVC) is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic (after polyethylene and polypropylene). About 40 million tons o ...

filled

glass fibre Glass fiber ( or glass fibre) is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass. Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the inventio ...

sandwich. Its wing is divided into watertight compartments. The amphibian is a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

high-wing 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 wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...

with straight tapered wings; most of the sweep is on the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

. The prototype originally had downturned

wing tip A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft. Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...

s but these were replaced with extended upturned tips by 2006 and by early 2011 a later aircraft had

winglets Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft ...

which extended both above and below the tips. There is no dihedral. Its twin engines are placed above and ahead of the wing

leading edge The leading edge is the part of the wing that first contacts the air;Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. alternatively it is the foremost edge of an airfoil sectio ...

, as close to the centre-line as the clearance between

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

and fuselage allows. The prototype was powered by two LOM M337AK air-cooled six-cylinder

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically powered (usually by ...

inverted inline engines. Two engine types have been fitted to production aircraft: the LA-8C models have more powerful LOM M337Cs and the LA-8L variants

Lycoming IO-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming O-3 ...

air-cooled flat-sixes. The two- step hull is also subdivided into watertight compartments. Two fixed underwing stepped floats at about 75% span stabilize the aircraft on water. The cabin is under the wing, with two long continuous transparencies, one on each side plus two shorter panels in the main entry hatch in the rear roof behind the trailing edge. There is seating for eight, including one or two pilots. The LA-8's

has a slightly tapered, straight-edged, swept

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

with a sub-fin extension; both the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

and the single piece, externally mass balanced

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

have electrically actuated

trim tab Trim tabs are small surfaces connected to the trailing edge of a larger Flight control surfaces, control surface on a boat or aircraft, used to control the trim of the controls, i.e. to counteract hydro- or aerodynamic forces and stabilise the ...

s. The LA-8 has a tricycle undercarriage with mainwheels retracting into the fuselage sides and the nosewheel retracting rearwards. A

ballistic parachute A ballistic parachute, ballistic reserve parachute, or emergency ballistic reserve parachute, is a parachute ejected from its casing by a small explosion, much like that used in an ejection seat. The advantage of the ballistic parachute over a co ...

is an option. The LA-8 first prototype flew for the first time on 20 November 2004. The first production aircraft flew in August 2006 and the first Lycoming powered machine was completed in mid-2010.

Operational history

By mid-2012 six LA-8s had been produced for customers as well as the three prototypes. Two were with Russian operators, one flying around

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

and the other on

Lake Seliger Seliger ( rus, Селиге́р, p=sʲɪlʲɪˈgʲer) is a lake in Ostashkovsky District of Tver Oblast and (in the extreme northern part) in Demyansky District of Novgorod Oblast of Russia, in the northwest of the Valdai Hills, a part of the V ...

. Two went to an operator in

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. By 2023, 22 had been delivered.

Variants

;LA-8C: Baseline version powered by 2x LOM Praha M-337C-AV01. ;LA-8C-RS: Long range variant of LA-8C powered by 2x LOM Praha M-337C-AV01. ;LA-8L: Variant powered by 2x Lycoming IO-540B4B5 engines. ;LA-8L-RS: Long range version of LA-8L with 2x Lycoming IO-540B4B5 engines. ;LA-8HC: Flying boat / Hydroplane / skis based on the LA-8C. ;LA-8HL: Flying boat / Hydroplane / skis based on the LA-8L. ;LA-8LDM: High specification variant. ;LA-8FF: Fire-fighting variant.

Specifications (LA-8L-RS)

Notes

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title= Jane's All the World's Aircraft : development & production : 2012-13, last= Jackson , first= Paul A. , year=2012, publisher=IHS Global, isbn=978-0-7106-3000-1 , page=514 {{cite book , title= Jane's All the World's Aircraft : development & production : 2013-14, last= Jackson , first= Paul A. , year=2013, publisher=IHS Global, isbn=978-0-7106-3040-7 , pages=509–510 Amphibious aircraft 2000s Russian civil aircraft AeroVolga aircraft