Photograph:
The first AEAR Explorer 500T N718DA displayed at the EAA event at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA in 2000 (Explorer Aircraft)
Country of origin:
Australia
Description:
Utility transport
Power Plant:
[ 500T]
One 450 kw (600 shp) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-135B turboprop
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 14.43 m (47 ft 4 in)
- Length: 9.68 m (31 ft 9 in)
- Height: 4.72 m (15 ft 6 in)
- Wing area: 18.36 m² (197.6 sq ft)
- Max speed: 380 km/h (236 mph)
- Cruising speed: 333 km/h (207 mph)
- Stalling speed: 114 km/h (71 mph)
- Service ceiling: 7,620 m (25,000 ft)
- Rate of climb: 305 m/min (1,000 ft/min)
- Range: 1,759 km (1,093 miles)
- Fuel capacity: 1,049 litres (238 Imp gals)
- Empty weight: 1,724 kg (3,800 lb)
- Loaded weight: 2,812 kg (6,200 lb)
History:
The Explorer 500T and 750T were developments of the AEAR Explorer 350, which was designed and built in Western Australia by Aeronautical Engineers Australia Research Pty Ltd, which, when first completed and registered, became VH-OKA (c/n 350-001) on 15 December 1997. Managing Director was Graham Swannell, who looked at designing a new utility aircraft in the 1980s. The initial design in 1993 was for a ten-seat aircraft fitted with a 300 kw (400 hp) Textron Lycoming IO-720 eight-cylinder engine but when built it was a nine-seater with a Continental TSIO-550 engine. On 19 May 1998 the registration of the prototype was changed to VH-ONA.
The aircraft had an all-metal airframe with a carbon fibre shell, all-metal wings and tail surfaces, and a retractable undercarriage. Explorer Aircraft Inc purchased the prototype and the design in order to develop a family of aircraft, the aircraft leaving Australia in 1999. Further development of the piston engine model led to the prototype being fitted with a Pratt & Whitney PT6A engine and becoming the prototype of the 500T.
In 1998 Explorer Aircraft was established in Jasper, Texas, to continue development and market the design in the United States. The second prototype was there fitted with a Pratt & Whitney PT6-135B engine driving a four-blade Hartzell D9511FK-2 propeller and became the prototype of the Explorer 500T model, flying in this configuration for the first time on 9 June 2000. It made its public debut at the EAA event at Oshkosh, Wisconsin in August 2000.
Subsequently the aircraft was re-engined with an Orenda OE 600A VEE-8 piston engine and became the prototype of the 500R model, this being the same airframe as the 500T but with the Orenda VEE-8 piston engine. Production was reported to have begun in North America in 2002 and development has continued.
A further variant was the 750T, which was a stretched model fitted with a 597 kw (800 hp) Pratt & Whitney PT6-60A engine with an 1,814 kg (4,000 lb) payload, or up to sixteen passengers. Consideration was also given to installing a Czech Republic-built Walter turboprop. This model was to be able to accommodate bulky cargo on the flat cabin floor with a total of 44.59 m³ (480 cub ft) of cargo space. It had a wingspan of 17.7 m (58 ft), a length of 12.3 m (40 ft 6 in), a fuel capacity of 1,513 litres (333 Imp gals), a gross weight of 4,082 kg (9,000 lb) and a cruising speed of 352 km/h (219 mph).