Photograph:
An American Cascade Kasperwing I-80 (Ultralightnews.com)
Country of origin:
United States of America
Description:
Single-seat light sport aircraft
Power Plant:
One 15 kw (20 hp) Zenoah G-25 242-cc single-cylinder, two-stroke, carburetted engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 11 m (35)
- Length: 3 m (10 ft)
- Wing area: 17 m² (180 sq ft)
- Max speed: 72 km/h (45 mph)
- Cruising speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)
- Stalling speed: 29 km/h (18 mph)
- Fuel capacity: 9.5 litres (2.1 Imp gals)
- Service ceiling: 4,572 m (15,000 ft)
- Range: 137 km (85 miles)
- G limits: +7/-4
- Empty weight: 73 kg (160 lb)
- Loaded weight: 172 kg (380 lb)
History:
The Cascade Kasperwing was an American ultralight flying-wing motorglider which was designed by Witold Kasper and Steven Grossruck. It was initially built by Cascade Ultralites and was introduced to the market in 1976. It was made available in kit form and was designed prior to US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicle rules but, when those Regulations were introduced, it met the empty weight of 115 kg (254 lb). It was a braced, high-wing, single-seat machine with an open cockpit, a tricycle undercarriage and an engine in the pusher configuration. It was built of aluminium tubing with Dacron sailcloth covering.
The Kasperwing was imported to Australia by Mobius Flying Systems of Macgregor, ACT. It was described as having a unique ability to perform almost vertical stable descents, this being achieved by the use of twin rudders, which were carried on tripod struts at each wingtip. These could also be operated as vortex generators and airbrakes. At angles of 30 degrees or more they could induce spanwise vortices that produced extra lift to reduce stalling speed and a rate of sink with zero forward speed. A variety of engines was available, including the Rotax 277.
A number of examples have been registered in Australia under RAA Regulations.
In New Zealand at least five examples have been registered, these being ZK-ESR (c/n MAANZ/014), ZK-FDU (c/n MAANZ/153), ZK-FEH (c/n MAANZ/105), ZK-FFN (c/n MAANZ/207) and ZK-KDH (c/ n MAANZ/028).