The Aviatik Alliance Aleks-251 is a twin engine,

parasol 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 wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

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 ...

in the early 2010s. It can carry up to six passengers.

Design and development

The Aleks-251 has had a long development time. The project was first made public in 2003 by the Rida design bureau, who intended to make the first flight in late 2004. There were no further progress reports until the foundation of the Aviatik Alliance Company and the appearance of the near-complete prototype at the Moscow Salon in August 2009. The aircraft flew for the first time on 10 September 2010. The Aleks-251 is mostly constructed of metal, only using composites in the nosecone, engine cowlings and

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 ...

tip. It has a parallel chord, square tipped wing with a full-span combination of slotted ailerons and flaps. The parasol configuration allows the twin 127 kW (170 hp) LOM 332S inverted inline engines to be mounted forward of and under the wing, close together. The wing is braced to the fuselage with a pair of inverted V-

strut A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension. A stay is sometimes used as a synonym for ...

s to the engine mountings. The hull of the Aleks-251 has a single step and is divided into six watertight compartments. The cabin, 3.10 m (10 ft 2 in) long, 1.40 m (4 ft 7 in) wide and 1.30 m (4 ft 3 in) high seats the pilot and six passengers in three rows, the central one with three seat, the front pair just 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 ...

but behind the propeller disks. Other seating configurations, e.g. for medical evacuation with a stretcher and two attendants, are possible. Access is by hinged transparencies. A straight edged, swept back fin carries both the horn-

balanced rudder Balanced rudders are used by both ships and aircraft. Both may indicate a portion of the rudder surface ahead of the hinge, placed to lower the control loads needed to turn the rudder. For aircraft the method can also be applied to elevator (air ...

and, at about ⅓ height, the parallel chord, strongly dihedralled

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

. The port

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 ...

and, in production aircraft the rudder, have

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. On water the Aleks-251 is stabilized by a pair of floats, each mounted on a single strut which rotates their float to the

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 ...

once airborne. On land it has a fully retractable

tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

. The

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 ...

main legs rotate forwards by much more than 90° to retract the wheels into the upper nose forward of the cabin windscreen. A MVEN ballistic recovery parachute is fitted. Well before the first flight Aviatik Alliance had announced that production aircraft would have different engines, possibly

turboprops A turboprop is a gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. F ...

, but that a choice had not yet been made.

Accidents

On 9 September 2024, Aviatik Alliance Aleks-251 # RA-1240G crashed during a test flight near Vatulino airfield in Ruza, Moscow Oblast. Both pilots died.

Specifications

References

External links

*{{official website, https://web.archive.org/web/20120426023156/http://www.aviatik-alliance.com/, name=Aviatik Alliance website 2010s Russian civil utility aircraft Amphibious aircraft Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft Aleks-251 Parasol-wing aircraft Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear Cruciform tail aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2010