Photograph:
(Photograph not yet available)
Country of origin:
United States of America
Description:
Single-seat light sporting aircraft
Power Plant:
One 9.3 kw (12.5 hp) McCulloch MAC-101 single-cylinder two-stroke air-cooled engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 9.8 m (32 ft)
- Length: 5.2 m (17 ft)
- Height: 1.8 m (6 ft)
- Wing area: 11.9 m² (128 sq ft)
- Max speed: 64 km/h (40 mph)
- Cruising speed: 56 km/h (35 mph)
- Never exceed speed: 80 km/h (50 mph)
- Stalling speed: 39 km/h (24 mph)
- G limits: +5 / -3
- Max glide ratio: 9:1
- Rate of climb: 69 m/min (225 ft/min)
- Fuel capacity: 11 litres (2.5 Imp gals)
- Take-off roll: 60 m (200 ft)
- Landing roll: 30 m (100 ft)
- Empty weight: 70 kg (155 lb)
- Payload: 93 kg (205 lb)
- Loaded weight: 163 kg (360 lb)
History:
The Skybaby was one of many ultralight aircraft designed and manufacturered in the 1980s to meet US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicle regulations. It was produced in the form of plans for construction by amateur builders by Skyhigh Ultralights Inc, first becoming available in 1983. It was a cable-braced high-wing light aircraft with a single open cockpit and conventional tailwheel undercarriage, the engine being in the pusher configuration.
It was constructed of wood, the fuselage being built around a wood torsion box that was filled with foam for stiffness. The tailboom was constructed of 6061-T aluminium tube whereas the wing was constructed of Douglas fir spars and wing ribs, being covered with doped aircraft fabric. The wing had half-span ailerons and cable bracing from a single kingpost. The undercarriage was of the suspended bungee type and was steerable. A number of small engines were available for installation, including the McCulloch MAC-101 which produced 9.3 kw (12.5 hp) at 9,000 rpm and the Yamaha KT-100 engine of 11 kw (15 hp), these being engines converted from Go-Kart use. The MAC-101 engine was a two-stroke, single-cylinder air-cooled unit originally built for Go-Kart racing and was first introduced to the market in 1967, being used in the 1970s and into the 1980s as an ultralight aircraft engine.
Examples of kits were imported to this part of the world, one being ZK-FVO (c/n RJW.2) first registered in December 1989 and withdrawn from service in August 1995.