Dream Tundra
Tundra | |
---|---|
Prototype Dream Tundra 200 | |
Role | 4 seat kit built STOL utility aircraft |
National origin | Canada |
Manufacturer | Dream Aircraft Inc, Quebec |
First flight | 12 May 2001 |
Number built | 15 (2011) |
The Dream Tundra is a robust, single-engine, high-wing monoplane designed in Canada. Seating four, its short takeoff and landing characteristics can be adapted to land, snow, or water use. It is produced as a kit for homebuilding.[1][2]
Design and development
The Tundra, Dream Aircraft's first and only product to date, is a kit-built aircraft designed for robustness and STOL performance, seating four in two side-by-side rows. It is almost entirely of riveted aluminium construction, though flying surface tips are composite, and is laid out in conventional high-wing, single-engine, form. The kit parts are made by CNC-machining.[3][2]
The wing has constant
Behind the engine the cabin, under the wing, is accessed via top hinged doors on both sides. There is a separate, port side door for baggage. The flat sides of the fuselage taper to the tail. Several undercarriage configurations are available; for land based operations the Tundra builder can choose between
The first Tundra flew on 12 May 2001, powered by a 134 kW (180 hp) Textron Lycoming O-360-A flat four engine. Later Tundras have used either the 150 kW (200 hp) Textron Lycoming IO-360 flat four[3] or the 175 kW (235 hp) Textron Lycoming O-540-B4B5 flat six.[5] Other alterations were made to the later aircraft, principally to the undercarriage (the prototype had wheels mounted on faired V-struts with bungee sprung half-axles), to the cabin doors for ease of access, to the tailplane and fin for ease of building and by the addition of a double cabin floor for better sound insulation.[3][6]
The kit manufacturer estimates the construction time at 1000 hours.[1][7][2]
Operational history
By August 2009 35 kits had been sold, with 11 Tundras flying. About 23 have the tailwheel undercarriage[3] and most, apart from the second prototype C-GAGH, retain the curved fin fillet of the first prototype C-GIPN.
Variants
- Tundra 180
- Initial version with bungee main landing gear suspension and powered by a 134 kW (180 hp) Textron Lycoming O-360-A engine.
- Tundra 200
- Later version with sprung steel main landing gear and powered by a 150 kW (200 hp) Textron Lycoming IO-360 engine.
Specifications (landplane, 200 hp)
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 2010/11[3]
General characteristics
- Capacity: 4
- Length: 7.77 m (25 ft 6 in)
- Wingspan: 10.97 m (36 ft 0 in)
- Height: 2.13 m (7 ft 0 in)
- Wing area: 17.06 m2 (183.6 sq ft) gross
- Airfoil: modified Riblett 660.15
- Empty weight: 658 kg (1,451 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 1,156 kg (2,549 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Textron Lycoming IO-360flat four cylinder, 149 kW (200 hp)
- Propellers: 2-bladed Hartzell metal, 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) diameter
Performance
- Cruise speed: 213 km/h (132 mph, 115 kn) at 75% power
- Stall speed: 49 km/h (30 mph, 26 kn) flaps down
- Never exceed speed: 259 km/h (161 mph, 140 kn)
- Range: 1,083 km (673 mi, 585 nmi)
- Endurance: 5 hr 12 min
- Service ceiling: 4,265 m (13,993 ft) service
- g limits: +3.8/-1.7
- Rate of climb: 5.1 m/s (1,000 ft/min) at sea level
References
- ^ a b Vandermeullen, Richard: 2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide, Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 50. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851
- ^ ISSN 1368-485X
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7106-2916-6.
- ^ "Tundra data". Retrieved 2010-11-27.
- ^ "EAA - Dream Tundra". Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
- ^ Davisson, Budd (August 2005). "The Tundra". EAA Sport Aviation: 34–6.
- ^ Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12, page 99. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X