Berkut aircraft
Encyclopedia : B : BE : BER : Berkut aircraft
Berkut aircraft are tandem-seating two-seat homebuilt canard aircraft that are built primarily of carbon fiber and fiberglass.
The Berkut aircraft was designed by Dave Ronneberg as part of a business partnership between Ronneberg and Don Murphy between 1989 and 1992. In 1992 their partnership dissolved, and Ronneberg brought the airplane to market as a kit. A series of lawsuits between the two resulted in bankruptcy for both. The kit was resurrected by Renaissance Composites in 1996. In 2001 Renaissance sold out to [link] Berkut Engineering. That company withdrew the aircraft from the market in 2002. Ronneberg continues with the project, which is now directed at UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) markets.
The Berkut is descended from the Rutan Long-EZ, with the primary differences being retractable gear, dual canopies, and molded fuselage, strakes, and spar. Early Berkuts used wings and canard that were aerodynamically-similar to the Long-EZ, but constructed of carbon fiber instead of fiberglass (fuselage and winglets remained fiberglass). Later versions (kits produced after spring 2000) used fully-molded canards and wings, leaving only minor fairings and tip surfaces to be carved from foam. The Berkut has always used the Roncz canard airfoil, which is more tolerant of bug and rain contamination than the original GAU airfoil used on the Long-EZ.
Early Berkuts used a retractable landing gear system designed by Shirl Dickey for his E-Racer homebuilt, while later kits had gear legs produced using in-house castings and leg struts. Some early Berkuts utilized hydraulic nose-gear extension systems, but most have used an electro-mechanical jackscrew.
While the Long-EZ was originally designed for the Lycoming O-235, the Berkut was designed from the outset for the larger Lycoming IO-360 engine. The airplane was later adapted (with a different engine mount and battery location) to accept the IO-540, which most builders chose. With the 540, some have reportedly reached speeds of 300 mph in level flight.
A flight test of the airplane, and photographs, can be found here: http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepBerkut.html
See also
- Rutan Long-EZ
- Rutan VariEze
- Rutan Defiant
- Steve Wright Stagger-Ez
- Cozy MK IV
- Velocity SE
- Velocity XL
- Canard
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.