Photograph:
A Delta Technology Nomad (unknown)
Country of origin:
United States of America
Description:
Single-seat ultralight sport aircraft
Power Plant:
[DS-26 Nomad]
One 7.46 kw (10 hp) Unitrek 140-10 8.2 cubic inch air-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 11 m (36 ft 1 in)
- Length: 6.7 m (22 ft)
- Wing area: 13.68 m² (147.34 sq ft)
- Cruising speed at 85% power: 56 km/h (35 mph)
- Stalling speed: 39 km/h (24 mph)
- Approach speed: 50 km/h (31 mph)
- Flair speed: 39 km/h (24 mph)
- Wing load: 2.46 lb/sq ft
- Lift-off speed: 48 km/h (30 mph)
- Take-off roll: 69 m (225 ft)
- Rate of climb: 56 m/min (185 ft/min)
- Fuel capacity: 9.46 litres (2.08 Imp gals)
- Range at cruising speed: (106 miles)
- Empty weight: 69 kg (152 lb)
- Usable payload weight: 95 kg (210 lb)
History:
In the early 1980s Delta Technology in the United States produced a number of ultralight aircraft of high-wing configuration with conventional tail surfaces on a monoplane wing, the ailerons and elevators being operated by a control stick, the rudder being operated by pedals. It was of aluminium tubing construction, the wings being built from pre-mouded leading-edge forms and preformed sheet metal structural parts. The wing and tail surfaces were covered with Dacron.
The aircraft was provided to the amateur builder in kit form and the Unitrek 140-10 engine, which was rated at 7.46 kw (10 hp) or 38.55 kg (85 lb) of thrust, was mounted in a pusher position aft and below the main wing driving a two-blade Ritz wooden propeller through a 1:1.98 reduction gear. Fuel was carried in a high-density polyethylene tank behind the pilot’s seat. The DS-26 model was able to take engines in the 21 kw to 37 kw (28 hp to 50 hp) range, including units in the Rotax series.
Development through 1984 led to the Nomad 11 (DS-26), Honcho 11 (DS-27) and Super Honcho (DS-28), the latter being of all-metal construction with a strutted wing design, an energy-absorbing roll-cage fuselage structure, three-axis control and a wing structure with differential ailerons, hydraulically dampened independent suspension and a 10 year lifespan on double-surface wing coverings.
A small number of examples were imported to this region, the DS-26 Nomad and DS-27 Honcho series being made available from Skyhawk Aviation Pty Ltd of Dromana, VIC.