The Aerosport Rail is an American minimalist
ultralight aircraft
Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...
, designed by Harris Woods and built by
Aerosport Inc. The aircraft was first flown on 14 November 1970.
Design and development
The Rail is little more than a 2 by 5 inch squared aluminium tube (rail) with all-metal wings and 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 ...
. The pilot sits on the tube, just ahead of and above the wings. Two small
two-cycle
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a four-stroke engine which re ...
engines derated to are mounted on struts behind the seat on either side of centerline, driving
pusher propellers. Individual
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...
fuel tanks are mounted in front of each engine. About 175 sets of plans were sold between 1970 and 1977. The follow-on design, the
Aerosport Quail uses the Rail's wing design for an enclosed
tractor configuration
In aviation, a tractor configuration is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration ...
homebuilt 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 ...
.
Specifications
See also
References
*
Aerofiles''The FLYING RAIL: A Twin-Engine Pusher You Can Build''
by Ben Kocivar, Popular Science
Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...
, Oct. 1971, pp. 55 ff.
{{Aerosport Inc
Rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...
Homebuilt aircraft
1970s United States ultralight aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Twin piston-engined pusher aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1970
T-tail aircraft
Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear