Striplin FLAC
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The Striplin FLAC (''Foot Launched Air Cycle'') is an American
flying wing A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft that has no definite fuselage, with its crew, payload, fuel, and equipment housed inside the main wing structure. A flying wing may have various small protuberances such as pods, nacelles, blis ...
ultralight aircraft 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 Aircraft flight control system, conventional three-a ...
that was designed by Ken Striplin in 1977, first flying in October 1978. The aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page E-15 Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. ''Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1980-81'', Jane's, 1980. pp. 552-3.


Design and development

The aircraft preceded the US
FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles Ultralight aircraft exist outside of the United States. In most countries, ultralights are a class of aircraft. A completely different legal concept is valid within the USA. The FAA makes explicitly clear that ultralight vehicles are not air ...
rules, but fits into the category, including FAR 103's maximum empty weight of . The aircraft has a standard empty weight of . It features a cantilever
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 ...
, a single-seat, partially enclosed cockpit,
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 ...
and twin Soarmaster engines powering a single propeller in
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 ...
. Twin go-cart engines have also been employed. The aircraft 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, foam,
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 ...
, with the wings finished in doped
aircraft fabric covering Aircraft fabric covering is a term used for both the material used and the process of covering aircraft open structures. It is also used for reinforcing closed plywood structures. The de Havilland Mosquito is an example of this technique, as are ...
. Its span wing features a
laminar-flow airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more lift than drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foils of similar function designed w ...
, 50%-span
elevon Elevons or tailerons are aircraft control surfaces that combine the functions of the elevator (used for pitch control) and the aileron (used for roll control), hence the name. They are frequently used on tailless aircraft such as flying wings. ...
s and
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 ...
rudders that can both be deployed simultaneously for use as air brakes. The aircraft has a 22:1
glide ratio In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio (or L/D ratio) is the lift generated by an aerodynamic body such as an aerofoil or aircraft, divided by the aerodynamic drag caused by moving through air. It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under give ...
. The FLAC has laminated fiberglass main
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 ...
legs and a nose wheel that is steerable. The aircraft was also designed to be at least nominally foot-launchable to comply with the informal US requirements for ultralights of that period that they be able to do so. Foot launching was carried out by opening a hinged door in the fuselage floor. In flight the aircraft has been described as unstable, particularly in pitch and at least one accident was attributed to its instability.


Specifications (FLAC)


References


External links


Photo of a Striplin FLAC
{{Ken Striplin aircraft 1970s United States ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Twin-engined single-prop pusher aircraft
FLAC FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software ...
High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1978