Photograph:
Slepcev Storch Moose VH-AYQ (c/n SS4-100) in Serbia in 2006 (Storch Aviation)
Country of origin:
Australia
Description:
Four-seat light STOL utility aircraft
Power Plant:
One 269 kw (360 hp) Vedeneyev M-14P nine-cylinder supercharged air-cooled radial engine
Specifications:
- Wingspan: 10.66 m (35 ft)
- Length: 7.62 m (25 ft)
- Wing area: 18.58 m² (200 sq ft)
- Max speed: 194 km/h (121 mph)
- Cruising speed: 180 km/h (112 mph)
- Stalling speed: 59 km/h (37 mph)
- Service ceiling: 4,572 m (15,000 ft)
- Rate of climb: 457 m/min (1,500 ft/min)
- Take-off distance: 61 m (200 ft)
- Landing distance: 61 m (200 ft)
- Fuel capacity: 400 litres (88 Imp gals)
- Empty weight: 800 kg (1,764 lb)
- Loaded weight: 1,500 kg (3,307 lb)
History:
The Storch Moose was the last in the line of STOL aircraft produced by Storch Aviation of Beechwood, NSW, and was the largest and most powerful aircraft in the range. Introduced in 2002, and enlarged to seat four, it was fitted with a 269 kw (360 hp) Vedeneyev radial engine and was aimed at the market for a more powerful variant of the type with performance similar to the original Fieseler Fi 156 Storch German design. Of similar construction to the other models in the range, it had a loaded weight of 1,500 kg (3,307 lb).
The prototype, known as the SS Mk 4 M-X Moose VH-AYQ (c/n SS4-100), was first flown in 2002, being registered on 9 August that year. It was conveyed to the United States where it was displayed at the annual Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-in at Oshkosh in Wisconsin, later being sold in the US.
The Storch Moose was available in kit form only, and was of all-metal construction with fabric covering on the movable surfaces. It came complete with upholstered seats, hydraulic disk brakes and doors on each side but without the engine, engine mount, propeller, battery, instruments, or fabric. The wings were constructed of all aluminium skin . In 2005 Storch Aviation closed its facility in Australia and moved production to Europe.