The Sunward SA 60L Aurora is a Chinese

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 ...

, designed and produced by

Sunward Aircraft Sunward may refer to: * Sunward SA 60L Aurora, a Chinese light-sport aircraft by Sunward Aircraft **Sunward ST and Sunward STB, amphibious ultralite trike aircraft * Sunward Cohousing, an intentional community located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, US * ...

, a division of Hunan Science and Technologies Co Ltd, an industrial machine manufacturer located in the Lu Gu High Technology Development Zone. The aircraft is intended to be supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 78. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 82. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The Aurora was designed to comply with the US light-sport aircraft rules. It 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 under a

bubble canopy A bubble canopy is an aircraft canopy constructed without bracing, for the purpose of providing a wider unobstructed field of view to the pilot, often providing 360° all-round visibility. The designs of bubble canopies can vary drastically; so ...

, fixed

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 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 aircraft's span wing has a rectangular planform and employs flaps. The standard engine available is the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n-made

Rotax 912ULS 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, ...

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. The

Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the civil aviation authority of the People's Republic of China, under the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and inv ...

granted the design a type design approval in mid-2013. Bayerl et al. note that the Aurora closely resembles the Fly Synthesis Texan, but that the manufacturer claims the Aurora is an original design. The aircraft can be equipped for banner-towing,

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...

and has an airshow smoke generation system available. In July 2014 the company announced an improved version, the SA 60V, with an upgraded engines installation using Austrian, rather than Chinese components and an

IFR In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fly ...

capable instrument panel. The design was added to the

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 ...

's list of approved special light-sport aircraft on 20 August 2019.

Operational history

Reviewer Marino Boric described the design in a 2015 review as "stylish" and "elegant".

Variants

;SA 60L :Original model ;SA 60V :Upgraded model with engine installation improvements and IFR instrumentation

Specifications (SA 60L Aurora)

References

External links

* {{Sunward aircraft

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

Light-sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft