Aviat Aircraft is expanding its aerobatic and utility aircraft capabilities with the introduction of two new tailwheel aircraft, dubbed the Millennium Swift and 110 Special.
The Millennium Swift is a re-engined version of the 1940s' Globe Swift GC-1B, a sport aircraft designed to appeal to fighter pilots returning from the Second World War.
Seating two in a side-by-side cockpit, Aviat's lengthy redesign has yielded a more-modern airframe with more load, range and efficiency than the original.
The Millennium Swift sports a modified NASA-developed aerofoil with 70% laminar flow and a 155kW (210hp) Teledyne Continental IO-360-ES. It offers a cruise speed of 200kt (370km/h) at 75% power. A new retractable landing gear and structural redesign allows a maximum gross take-off weight of 1,125kg (2,475lb) and an empty weight of 1,165kg.
Another key element in the redesign effort was to make the aircraft affordable to produce. "We eliminated about 2,000 individual parts from the aircraft [from more than 5,000] and made the exterior almost entirely sheet wrapped," says company owner Stuart Horn. Aviat is also designing a cockpit for the Millennium Swift that incorporates modern, passive sound-reduction technology.
The first flight is expected in the middle of this year, says Horn, with FAA certification following "about 90 days later".
First deliveries would trail certification by about five months, he says. Aviat hopes initially to sell about 50 aircraft a year and will price the instrument flight rules-equipped Swift at between $180,000 and $200,000.
Aviat's second design resurrection is the two-seat 110 Special, a revival of the 1940s' Mono Coupe 110 that was certificated as a side-by-side, high-wing, strut-braced racer.
According to Aviat, the Special will be adept at basic and advanced aerobatics, "-but with speed and utility to make it a useful sport and private aircraft". Power comes from a 150kW Textron Lycoming AEIO-360 engine, fitted with an inverted oil system. Cruise speed will be 170kt.
The Special will be priced at around $150,000. A prototype is already in preliminary assembly and is expected to fly in the second quarter of this year. Certification is scheduled to coincide with that of the Millennium Swift.
"We are able to move more quickly on these new models because we already have type certificates to work from," says Horn.
Source: Flight International
