The Zenair Zipper is a Canadian ultralight high-wing, single seat aircraft that was designed by Chris Heintz and produced by

Zenair Zenair Ltd is a Canadian kit aircraft producer founded by aeronautical engineer Chris Heintz and based in Midland, Ontario. History The company was founded in 1974 when Heintz started to manufacture Zenith kits from his two-car garage. ...

. The Zipper is a highly innovative design that strongly emphasizes portability over speed or carrying capacity.Cliche, Andre: ''Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide'' 8th Edition, page E-46. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001.

Development

The Zipper was designed in the early 1980s by established Canadian aircraft designer Chris Heintz and put into production by his company Zenair, of

Midland, Ontario Midland is a town located on Georgian Bay in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Huronia/Wendat region of Central Ontario. Located at the southern end of Georgian Bay's 30,000 Islands, Midland is the economic centre of the region ...

. Heintz's motivation for the Zipper was the

ultralight aviation 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 ...

boom that was occurring in Canada at that time and the introduction of new aviation regulations by

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 ...

legally permitting the operation of ultralights. The Zipper incorporates many unique features, all aimed at making the aircraft more portable. This focus was due to the nature of operations in the early days of the ultralight popularity. Aircraft were not flown great distances to

fly-in A fly-in, also called an aviation meet, is a pre-arranged gathering of aircraft, pilots and passengers for recreational and Socialization, social purposes. Fly-ins may be formally or informally organised, members of the public may or may not be ...

s or other sites, but were transported by trailer or on car top to be flown locally at remote locations. The Zipper has a quick-folding wing, built around a D-cell

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 ...

and spar. There are no wing ribs and the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

of the wing is established by a cable which tensions the sailcloth wing covering. The wing is folded by releasing the anti-drag cables next to the nosewheel and folding the wings back along the tailboom, still supported by their struts. The wing is designed to +6 and -3 g. The Zipper features conventional three-axis controls, which was unusual in ultralights designed at this time. The all-metal, one piece, all-flying

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

and the

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

are quickly removable for transport. The tailboom is aluminum and square in cross section. The standard powerplants provided with the Zipper kits were the JPX PUL 425 engine of and the

Rotax 277 The Rotax 277 is a , Single-cylinder engine, single-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, that was built by Rotax, BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catalog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge ...

of . Fuel capacity is . The twin-engined Zipper II used a similar engine configuration to its competitor, the

Ultraflight Lazair The UltraFlight Lazair is a family of Canada, Canadian designed and built twin-engine Ultralight aircraft (Canada), ultralight aircraft that were sold in kit form between 1979 and 1984. It was one of the first twin-engined ultralights ...

, placing both engines close together to minimize engine-out requirements.

Operational history

Zenith Aircraft Company Zenith Aircraft Company is a designer, developer and manufacturer of kit aircraft. History The independent, privately owned company was formed in 1992 in Mexico, Missouri, and is based in 20,000+ sq. ft. production facilities at Mexico Memori ...

President Sebastien Heintz, son of the designer Chris Heintz, learned to fly in a Zenair Zipper. In December 2008 there were four Zippers still registered in Canada. Consisting of two Zippers, one Zipper-RX and one Zipper II

Variants

;Zipper :Powerplant is one JPX PUL 425 or

212 Year 212 ( CCXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Asper and Camilius (or, less frequently, year 965 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 212 for this ye ...

;Zipper-RX :Powerplant is one

engine of 28 hp ;Zipper II :Powerplants are two JPX PUL 212. There were 12 built.

Specifications (Zipper PUL 425 engine)

References

External links

Photo of twin-engined Zipper IIPhoto of twin-engined Zipper II in flightPhoto of single engined ZipperDetail photo of Zipper tail boom and controlsDocumentary about the Zenair Zipper from 1984
{{Zenair 1980s Canadian ultralight aircraft Homebuilt aircraft

Zipper A zipper (N. America), zip, zip fastener (UK), formerly known as a clasp locker, is a commonly used device for binding together two edges of textile, fabric or other flexible material. Used in clothing (e.g. jackets and jeans), luggage and oth ...