Photograph:
Eastwood Tyro 10-4134 (c/n 124) at Avalon, VIC in March 2009 (David C Eyre)
Country of origin:
Australia
Description:
Single-seat light sport aircraft
Power Plant:
One 21 kw (28 hp) Rotax 277 two-cylinder, two-stroke, geared engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 8.9 m (29 ft 2 in)
- Length: 5.33 m (17 ft 6 in)
- Wing area: 10.49 m² (113 sq ft)
- Max speed: 113 km/h (70 mph)
- Cruising speed: 101 km/h (63 mph)
- Stalling speed: 52 km/h (32 mph)
- Range: 400 km (249 miles)
- Empty weight: 110 kg (243 lb)
- Loaded weight: 225 kg (496 lb)
History:
The Eastwood Tyro Mk II was a three-axis control rugged ultralight aircraft designed and built by Geoffrey Eastwood for operations under the Australian ANO 95-10 regulations. The aircraft was marketed in Australia by the South Coast Air Centre of Aldinga Airport, SA. The culmination of four years of development, the prototype Tyro first flew in 1981 and subsequently was built in some numbers.
The Tyro was a high-wing, single strut braced monoplane built of aluminium. The wing and tail were covered with Dacron fabric and doped. It was powered by engines in the Rotax range, usually the 277, but examples have been flown with the Rotax 447 and 503. It was said to be highly manoeuvrable, could fly at low speeds and had a reasonable cruising speed. It had a bungee rubber suspension to allow operations from short unprepared airstrips and needed no more than approximately 122 m (400 ft) of cleared area of paddock or bush track for operations.
In the Mk II variant it was used for rural work, including inspecting dams, checking stock and fences and cattle mustering. It was also used by many weekend pilots. It required little maintenance and was available in kit form.
The type has also been fitted with 37 kw (50 hp) Volkswagen conversions (1,600 cc) and cruised with this engine at 121 km/h (75 mph) for 483 km (300 miles). The kit was designed so the average handyman could build the machine from plans and components produced by the manufacturer, and it could be dismantled and transported by trailer.
The type has been very popular, and examples registered under Recreational Aviation Australia (RAA) Regulations have included: 10-0658, 10-0014, 10-0680, 10-0072, 10-0730, 10-0312, 10-0748, 10-0324, 10-0769, 10-0391, 10-0540, 10-1176, 10-0444, 10-0561, 10-1196, 10-0486, 10-0898, 10-1331, 10-0508, 10-1066, 10-1344, 10-1359, 10-1354, 10-1349, 10-1977 (c/n 118), 10-3028 (c/n 119), 10-3054 (c/n T122), 10-3055 (c/n T112), 10-3151, 10-3306 (c/n C0-225V), 10-3654 (c/n T110), 10-3683 (c/n 125), 10-3704 (c/n MTO-1) and 10-4134 (c/n 124).
A Tyro Mk II 10-1460 was built in 1995, and was fitted with a VW 1600 cc conversion engine.