The Ikarus C42 is a two-seat, fixed

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 ...

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

microlight 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 conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

aircraft, manufactured in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

by Comco Ikarus. It is used primarily for

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

, touring and personal flying.

Design and development

The Ikarus C42 is a single-engined high-wing monoplane with side-by-side seats for two in a wide cabin. The C42 is manufactured with either an

Rotax 912 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, la ...

engine or a Rotax 912s engine. The Rotax engine has a low fuel consumption and relatively low noise. The engine drives the

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 ...

, which has ground-adjustable pitch, through a

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

with a 2.273:1 reduction

ratio In mathematics, a ratio () shows how many times one number contains another. For example, if there are eight oranges and six lemons in a bowl of fruit, then the ratio of oranges to lemons is eight to six (that is, 8:6, which is equivalent to the ...

. The aircraft is structurally supported by a backbone of large diameter aluminium tube which runs the length of the aircraft. The cabin and fuselage shell is a

composite material A composite or composite material (also composition material) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or physical properties and are merged to create a ...

which, being non-structural, can be removed for inspection and repair. The wings are constructed of tubular front and rear

spars SPARS was the authorized nickname for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve. The nickname was derived from the USCG's motto, "—"Always Ready" (''SPAR''). The Women's Reserve was established by law in November 1942 during Wor ...

. The wings and flying control surfaces are covered in

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s as ...

Mylar BoPET (biaxially oriented polyethylene terephthalate) is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical stability, dimensional stability, transparency reflectivity, an ...

Polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

laminate Simulated flight (using image stack created by μCT scanning) through the length of a knitting needle that consists of laminated wooden layers: the layers can be differentiated by the change of direction of the wood's vessels Shattered windshi ...

. The wings can be removed or folded (if an optional folding kit is installed) for storage and transportation. 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 ...

s are of composite construction which reduces drag and improves low speed handling. Access to the cabin is provided by two

gull-wing doors In the automotive industry, a gull-wing door, also known as a falcon-wing door, McLaren anhedral door, or an up-door, is a car door that is hinged at the roof rather than the side, as pioneered by Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, first as a race car i ...

Controls

A single

centre stick A centre stick (or center stick in the United States), or simply control stick, is an aircraft cockpit arrangement where the control column (or joystick) is located in the center of the cockpit either between the pilot's legs or between the pil ...

controls the

ailerons 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 ...

and

elevators An elevator (American English) or lift (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive tracti ...

. Electrical pitch trim is controlled by two buttons on the top of the stick, operated by the thumb. A

push to talk Push-to-talk (PTT), also known as press-to-transmit, is a method of having conversations or talking on half-duplex communication lines, including two-way radio, using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode. ...

button is on the front of the stick, operated by the index finger, together with a vertical hand-operated brake lever similar to a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

front brake lever. Rudder pedals are dual control. The distance from the seat to the pedals is fixed because the seat position is not adjustable. The dual control throttle levers are situated between the legs, and pivot from side to side so can be folded out of the way making entry and exit of the aircraft easier. The flaps are controlled by a centrally-mounted lever on the roof of the cabin. The relatively short lever does make the operation of lowering flaps quite physical when combined with holding the centre control stick at the same time.

Aerotowing

In conjunction with a

ULS, the Ikarus C42 may be used to tow gliders. The maximum nominal ultimate strength at weak link must not exceed 660 pounds. Banner towing is allowed with the smaller Rotax 912 UL.

Variants

;C42B :Updated model for the US

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a 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 restrictions on weigh ...

category. ;C42C :Introduced in 2012, this model is an update of the basic design with composite parts,

winglet 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' ...

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 aroun ...

spades, reduced wingspan and a Flettner rudder as well as a new engine mount design derived from the C52. ;C42CS :Introduced in 2015 at the

AERO Friedrichshafen AERO Friedrichshafen is a trade show dedicated to European general aviation. It is held yearly in April on the shores of Lake Constance at the exhibition center of Friedrichshafen, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Ger ...

show, it incorporates a new

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

design consisting of a single curved composite gear main leg per side, new brake design and a redesigned interior.

Specifications (Ikarus C42)

References

External links

Comco Ikarus website in English

BMAA review of the Ikarus C42

{{Comco Ikarus aircraft 1990s German civil utility aircraft High-wing aircraft Ultralight aircraft Light-sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1996 Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear C42 Single-engined piston aircraft