The Stoddard-Hamilton Glasair II is an American amateur-built aircraft that was designed by Tom Hamilton and produced by

Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft, based in Arlington, Washington, was a designer and supplier of high-performance homebuilt aircraft kits, offering parts and plans to homebuilders. The company's popular ''Glasair'' aircraft series are low wing, two- ...

and later

Glasair Aviation Glasair Aviation USA, LLC is a Chinese-owned aircraft manufacturer based in Arlington, Washington that produces the Glasair and Sportsman 2+2 line of homebuilt aircraft. More than 3000 Glasair kits have been delivered worldwide. History To ...

as a kit for amateur construction. It was first flown in 1989, and remained in production in 2012.Downey, Julia: ''1999 Kit Aircraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 15, Number 12, December 1998, page 68. Primedia Publications. ISSN 0891-1851Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', page 261. BAI Communications.

Design and development

A development of the earlier

Glasair I The Glasair I, originally built as the prototype Glasair TD taildragger, is a high-performance homebuilt aircraft built of fiberglass. Created by Tom Hamilton as a fast, two-seat kitplane, the Glasair TD was derived from the earlier Tom Hamil ...

, the Glasair II features a cantilever

low-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 ...

, a two-seats-in-

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

enclosed cockpit accessed via gull-winged doors, fixed or retractable

tricycle landing 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 ...

or fixed

conventional landing gear 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 ...

and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, a tractor configuration is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration ...

. The Glasair II 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 ...

standards and was extensively tested. Its wing has been tested to +10.5 g. As indicated by its name, the aircraft is made from

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 ...

. Its span wing employs a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

GA(W)-2

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 ...

. The wings have an area of and mount flaps. The acceptable power range for the Super II RG or Super II FT versions is , with the

Lycoming O-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between , with the basic O-360 producing . The engine family has been installed in ...

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

powerplant a commonly used engine.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 183. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X The manufacturer estimates construction time for the Super II RG or Super II FT versions as 3000 hours. The Glasair II was later developed into the Glasair III.

Operational history

By December 2011 there were 1200 examples reported completed and flying making it one of the most successful two seat kit aircraft ever designed.

Variants

;Glasair II-S : stretch GlasairSH-2FC-FMRX

;Glasair Super II FT :Fixed tricycle landing gear version, in production in 2011. GlaasairRG

;Glasair Super II RG :Retractable tricycle landing gear version, in production in 2011. ;Glasair Super II TD :Fixed taildragger landing gear version, in production in 1998, but production presently completed.

Specifications (Glasair Super II RG)

References

External links

* {{Glasair aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft

Glasair II The Stoddard-Hamilton Glasair II is an American amateur-built aircraft that was designed by Tom Hamilton and produced by Stoddard-Hamilton Aircraft and later Glasair Aviation as a kit for amateur construction. It was first flown in 1989, and r ...

Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1989 1980s United States civil utility aircraft Single-engined piston aircraft Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear