The Prescott Pusher is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, four-seat,

pusher configuration In aeronautical and naval engineering, pusher configuration is the term used to describe a drivetrain of air- or watercraft with propulsion device(s) after the engine(s). This is in contrast to the more conventional tractor configuration, wh ...

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 ...

, with a large cockpit, retractable or fixed gear, 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 and passengers enter the aircraft through a large left-side clamshell door.

Design and development

Company founder, Tom Prescott, worked for

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by the Russian-American aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923, and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian ...

Piper Aircraft Piper Aircraft, Inc. is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, located at the Vero Beach Regional Airport in Vero Beach, Florida, United States and owned since 2009 by the Government of Brunei. Throughout much of the mid-to-late 20th cent ...

, and

Learjet Learjet was a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation, it became a subsidiary of Canadian Bomba ...

. He left Learjet in 1983 to produce the Prescott Pusher. It was tested using a 1/5 scale model in the

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

wind tunnel in 1983. Flying scale models were tested in 1984, which led to the development of the drooped

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 for better low speed handling and reduced drag. The aircraft was modeled using

CAD/CAM CAD/CAM refers to the integration of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). Both of these require powerful computers. ''CAD'' software helps designers and draftsmen; ''CAM'' "reduces manpower costs" in the manufacturi ...

software for creating drawings and defining machine cuts on the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

steel, becoming the first CAD/CAM designed homebuilt aircraft. The AVIA Products Co. was purchased to develop an electrically controlled variable pitch fiberglass pusher propeller. The Prescott Pusher was designed to

FAR Part 23 The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR). A wide var ...

certification standards of the time. It uses

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 ...

construction for the wings and tail surfaces. The

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 ...

landing gear and flaps are hydraulically activated. The nosegear steering is also hydraulic with electric controls. The fuselage uses a

4130 steel 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common va ...

welded square steel tube frame with composite skin covering. Every component can be installed prior to skin installation, and in theory, could even be flown without the skins. The wing skins are formed cold using dry ice, then age hardened to T-42 standards. The engine is mounted far aft with a 12-inch propeller extension.

Operational history

Prescott Aeronautical Corporation was founded by Tom Prescott in 1983. Prescott, who also served as company president, worked alongside

Linden Blue Linden Stanley Blue (born 1936) is an American aviation executive. He is the co-owner and vice chairman of General Atomics, the U.S. military contractor that manufactures the Predator drones used by the United States Marine Corps, Air Force, and ...

investor and CEO, Les Jordan, head of marketing, and Steve Cain, head of public relations. The Prescott Pusher was first displayed at the Experimental Aircraft Association airshow in

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh () is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the western shore of Lake Winnebago and had a population of 66,816 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List o ...

in 1985. In 1989, having produced 68 kits, Prescott Aeronautical Corporation went out of business. By 1991, there were approximately 25–35 builders completing their aircraft in various configurations.

Aircraft on display

Kansas Aviation Museum The Kansas Aviation Museum is a museum located in Wichita, Kansas, near 31st South and George Washington Blvd. The building, designed by Glen H. Thomas, served as Wichita Municipal Airport's terminal from 1935 to 1954. In February of 2024, the ...

Specifications

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline Pusher 1980s United States sport aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Low-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft T-tail aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1985