Photograph:
Blackshape Prime 24-0685 at Parkes, NSW in September 2019 (David C Eyre)
Country of origin:
Italy
Description:
Two-seat high-performance light sport aircraft
Power Plant:
One 75 kw (100 hp) Rotax 912ULS3 four-cylinder horizontally-opposed liquid-and-air-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 7.94 m (26 ft 1 in)
- Length: 7.178 m (23 ft 7 in)
- Height: 2.41 m (7 ft 11 in)
- Wing area: 9.51 m² (102.36 sq ft)
- Never exceed speed: 340 km/h (211 mph)
- Max speed: 300 km/h (186 mph)
- Cruising speed: 275 km/h (171 mph)
- Stalling speed flaps down: 65 km/h (40 mph)
- Max rate of climb: 351 m/min (1,150 ft/ min)
- Range: 1,100 km (690 miles)
- Endurance: 4.5 hours
- Fuel capacity: 66 litres (14.5 Imp gals)
- Design loadings: +4 /-2G
- Empty weight: 296 kg (654 lb)
- Loaded weight: 472 kg (1,042 lb)
History:
Described as “the Ferrari of the air” the Blackshape Prime BK-100 was a sleek high-tech two-seat in tandem light sport aircraft built from carbon fibre. The manufacturer had its headquarters in Monopoli in the Apulian district of Italy. By 2016 some 70 examples had been delivered to 20 countries. The Company was founded by Luciano Belviso, an aeronautical engineer, and Angelo Petrosillo, a lawyer and university professor. Angelo Investments, an international company, invested in the Company initially and later purchased it.
The design was initially developed in Germany as the Millenium Master in 2006-2007 but financial difficulties caused the project to fold and it was later obtained by the Italian company.
The prototype was completed and flown for the first time in 2007. It was placed on display at the Aeroshow at Friedrichshafen in Germany in 2009. The aircraft has only been supplied as a ready to fly unit.
Mr Petrosillo visited Australia in 2016 and stated “What makes our aircraft different is that we are using technology that has been used in military aircraft and we apply that to general aviation and light sports aircraft. This is a high-performance aircraft that is suited to both training and flight schools, or for recreational use. Or it’s also for that guy who’s not a pilot but he owns a Maserati, a Ferrari, a yacht and a house for his third wife, and is now looking for something fun.”
Mr Petrosillo during his visit stated he was looking for distributors in Sydney and Canberra and was interested in establishing sales and maintenance bases in Perth, WA, Melbourne, VIC, Sydney, NSW, Brisbane, QLD and New Zealand. The Company was also developing a four-seat variant known as the BK-160, to be powered by a Lycoming IO-320-D1B engine.
The Prime was developed from an aircraft known as the Millenium Master. The Prime was a cantilever, low-wing monoplane with two seats in tandem under a bubble canopy with a retractable tricycle undercarriage. It had double slotted flaps and standard engine was the Rotax 912ULS3 driving a two-blade MTV-33-1-A constant speed propeller but a Rotax 914ULS3 engine could also be installed, this model having a cruising speed of 280 km/h (174 mph).
Two examples were expected to arrive in Australia in April 2017, one to be used as a demonstrator by the importer, PLA Aviation, and the other for a customer, the aircraft operating initially from PLA’s home base at Tooradin, VIC. The first aircraft registered with the RAA became 24-0685 (c/n BPU037), followed by 24-0650 (c/n BPU035).
In 2020 at the Singapore Air Show two new variants were placed on display, one configured for surveillance, having two sensors mounted on the wings and described as ‘optionally piloted’. The second, known as the BK-160 Gabriel, was a variant aimed at the sports and training market and had the 119 kw (160 hp) Lycoming O-320 engine installed driving a three-blade propeller, whilst the surveillance or UAV model could be fitted with an 86 kw (115 hp) Rotax 915 engine with a two-blade propeller.