The Apollo Fox is a Hungarian ultralight and

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 restrictio ...

produced by

Apollo Ultralight Aircraft Apollo Ultralight Aircraft is a Hungarian aircraft manufacturer based in Eger. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of ultralight aircraft, gyroplanes and ultralight trikes, in the form of kits for amateur construction and r ...

, of Eger. The aircraft is supplied complete ready-to-fly.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 26. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XBertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 123. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 28. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The Apollo Fox was derived from the Aeropro Eurofox, which itself was a metric adaptation of the

Denney Kitfox The Denney Kitfox is a series of small side-by-side, two-seat, high-wing, single engine kit aircraft, designed and originally manufactured by Dan Denney and his company Denney Aerocraft of Boise, Idaho. The aircraft is amateur-built and ...

. The Kitfox in turn is a derivative of the

Avid Flyer The Avid Flyer is a family of American single engine, high-wing, strut-braced, conventional landing gear-equipped, two seat ultralight aircraft designed for kit construction in the 1980s. Its several variants sold in large numbers. In 1987 a Fly ...

. The Apollo Fox was adapted to comply with the

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The (; FAI; en, World Air Sports Federation) is the world governing body for air sports, and also stewards definitions regarding human spaceflight. It was founded on 14 October 1905, and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It maintai ...

microlight rules and US

rules. It features a

strut-braced In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

high-wing 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 confi ...

, a two-seats-in-

side-by-side configuration 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 ...

enclosed cockpit, fixed

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

or optionally

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. The aircraft

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 ...

is made from welded steel tubing, while the wing is built with

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 has ...

spars and ribs. The fuselage and flying surfaces are covered in doped aircraft fabric. Its span wing is supported by V-struts and

jury struts In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

and features

Junkers Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG (JFM, earlier JCO or JKO in World War I, English: Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works) more commonly Junkers , was a major German aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturer. It was founded there in Dessau, Germ ...

-style

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. Standard engines available are the Rotax 582

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

, the

Rotax 912UL The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, late ...

and 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 directio ...

powerplant. The cabin width is . The aircraft's wings fold for storage or ground transportation and can be folded by one person in ten minutes.

Operational history

In 2003 a Rotax 912ULS-equipped Fox was flown by Andor Kántás and Csongor Lathky from

Sármellék Sármellék is a village in Zala County, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the ...

, Hungary to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, a distance of .

Specifications (Fox)

References

External links

Official website
{{Apollo Ultralight Aircraft 1990s Hungarian ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Light-sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Apollo Ultralight Aircraft aircraft