The LAK-12 is a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

mid-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-seat, FAI Open Class glider that was designed and produced by Lietuviškos Aviacinės Konstrukcijos (LAK) () in

and later by Sportine Aviacija and Sport Aviation USSR.

Design and development

The LAK-12 was designed in the 1980s as an open class racer. The aircraft is made from

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

, foam and

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

. Its span foam-core wing employs a Wortmann FX67-K-170

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more Lift (force), lift than Drag (physics), drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foil (fl ...

at the

wing root The wing root is the part of the wing on a fixed-wing aircraft or winged-spaceship that is closest to the fuselage,Peppler, I.L.: ''From The Ground Up'', page 9. Aviation Publishers Co. Limited, Ottawa Ontario, Twenty Seventh Revised Edition, 1 ...

, transitioning to a FX67- K-150 section at 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 ...

. The wings feature both double-panel upper surface air brakes and flaps that can be set to -7°, -4°, 0°, +5°, +11° and +15°. Water ballast is held in 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 ...

s and dumped through a centre-

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 ...

valve. The

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 ...

is a single retractable monowheel suspended by an oil/nitrogen oleo, plus a tailskid. The cockpit

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

is of one-piece and forward hinged.

Operational history

According to Sportine Aviacija, the current type certificate holder, 253 were manufactured over a twenty-five year production run. In April 2018 there were 17 LAK-12s listed on the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

registry, all single-place and certified in the ''Experimental - Racing/Exhibition'' category and three registered with

Transport Canada Transport Canada () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

in the ''Limited Class''.

Variants

;LAK-12 Lietuva: span open-class sailplane. ;LAK-12 Lietuva 2R:Two-seat version of the LAK-12 with tandem cockpit in an extended fuselage. ;LAK-12E: Experimental span variant built in 1988 and tested in 1988 and 1989, incorporating boundary control via blowholes on the lower surface. Only one produced.

Aircraft on display

The sole LAK-12E currently hangs from the ceiling of the Lithuanian Aviation Museum in Kaunas.

Specifications (LAK-12)

References

External links

{{LAK aircraft 1980s Lithuanian sailplanes LAK aircraft Glider aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1986 Mid-wing aircraft