The Ellipse Zenith is a French

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

, single-place,

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

that was designed and produced by

La société Ellipse Ellipse is a French aircraft manufacturer, located in Étuz. The company specializes in building hang gliders and ultralight trikes.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 43. Pagefast Ltd, Lan ...

Étuz Étuz is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. See also *Communes of the Haute-Saône department The following is a list of the 536 communes in the French department of Haute-S ...

.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 43. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster OK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X

Design and development

The Zenith was designed as a competition hang glider and was built in only one size. With structural reinforcement it is also suitable for adding a motorized harness for

powered hang glider A foot-launched powered hang glider (FLPHG), also called powered harness, nanolight, or hangmotor, is a powered hang glider harness with a motor and propeller often in pusher configuration, although some can be found in tractor configuration. ...

operations. The Zenith is made from

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

tubing, with the wing covered in

Dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...

sailcloth. Its span wing is cable braced from a single kingpost. The nose angle is 132° and the

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

is 7.7:1.

Variants

;Zenith 150 :Sole unpowered model with a wing area of , wing span of , aspect ratio of 7.7:1 and a pilot hook-in weight range of . ;Zenith 150 Moteur :Powered model with structural reinforcement and a wing area of , wing span of , aspect ratio of 7.7:1 and a pilot hook-in weight range of .

Specifications (Zenith 150)

References

{{Ellipse aircraft Hang gliders