Country of origin:

Australia

Description:

Two-seat light sport and training monoplane

Power Plant:

One 58 kw (78 hp) Aerovee four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

In the mid 1980s Mr Dan Denney formed Denney Aerocraft Company in Boise, Idaho to build a two-seat ultralight aircraft known as the Kitfox, and in the first year 21 kits were delivered. Powerplant installed was the 39 kw (52 hp) Rotax 503, but later the 48 kw (65 hp) Rotax 532 became available. Later again the 46 kw (62 hp) KFM-112 engine with an electric starter was installed. The wings could fold and a tow-bar connection allowed the aircraft to be towed behind a vehicle. A number of Kitfox aircraft have been completed in Australia from kits imported from the United States.

In 1989 Calair Corporation (later Skyfox Aviation) of Caloundra, QLD re-designed the Kitfox for Austraian certification, making some 30 modifications, fitting a 58 kw (78 hp) Aeropower engine built in Perth, WA, and fitting a New Zealand built propeller. The new aircraft, known as the CA-21 Skyfox VH-CAL (c/n CA21-001) flew for the first time at Caloundra on 15 September 1989, being registered to Calair Corporation of Caloundra. Certification tests to category 101.55 were made during the following months, and a Type Certificate was received in early 1990. This aircraft was still flying as 55-4140 in 2009, having served as the Skyfox research and development aircraft until 1998.

The first production model to CAO 101.55 standard flew on 22 June 1990. Construction of the fuselage was of all-welded steel tube. Each wing had two aluminium tube spars with plywood ribs and fibreglass drooping tips. Apart from a fibreglass engine cowling, the aircraft was fabric covered. Designed to carry two 90 kg (198 lb) persons, the cabin was 1.1 m (43.3 in) wide and was fitted with padded one-piece fibreglass seats. 10 kg (22 lb) of luggage could be carried behind the seats, although an underwing or an under-fuselage cargo pod was optional.

The Skyfox was developed for pleasure, training and surveillance. It was a conventional three-axis control machine and initial engine used was the 58 kw (78 hp) Aeropower unit which was built in Perth, WA, this essentially being an adaptation of a four-cylinder Volkswagen unit.

Two further airframes were built (c/ns CA-21-002 and CA-21-003) and these latter two were used for stress tests and were never flown. Parts from these, and one other, which was used for advertising on the Bruce Highway at Glenview, QLD for some years, were used in the construction of an aircraft for display at the Queensland Air Museum.

Aircraft in the CA-21 series comprised 38 aircraft, two being used as test airframes, and one (c/n 013) not being allotted. Aircraft up to c/n 30 were completed up to March 1991, when the company re-structured to become Skyfox Aviation, and a further seven were completed. Some were registered in the general aviation VH category but most have now ended up in the 55- RAA series of registrations.

The CA-22 was built for ultralight regulations and development of the JAR/VLA variant produced the CA-22A. This became the first Australian-built aircraft to be certified in the Normal Category, but ultralight certification was also available. In the 1990s production of the CA-22 Eland and CA-25 Impala continued for some time in parallel until the introduction of the Skyfox CA-25N Gazelle, which mainly differed in having a tricycle undercarriage, and, because of the number of differences, required a new Type Certificate.

Accommodation was provided for two side-by-side in an enclosed cabin with an entrance door on each side. Baggage capacity was 10 kg (22 lb).