STARKRAFT HAS dropped plans to market its Model 700 piston-twin as a kitplane and is arranging financing to certificate the eight-place, all-composite aircraft.
A prototype was flown for the first time in December 1994, powered by two 260kW (350hp), liquid-cooled Teledyne Continental TSIOL-550s mounted in the nose and tail in a tractor-pusher arrangement. Design changes planned for the production aircraft include a 1.2m (4ft) fuselage stretch, to improve cabin comfort; the addition of a foreplane, to increase lift; and an increased fuel capacity, to extend range. Maximum take-off weight will be increased from 3,300kg to 4,080kg.
The target price is $1-1.2 million, and Fort Scott, Kansas-based StarKraft plans to begin delivering certificated aircraft by early 1997. Several power plant options are being examined, including a new 520kW liquid-cooled piston engine and Allison 250 and Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprops. The 520kW engine would give a cruise speed of 347kt (640km/h) and a range of 3,700km (2,000nm), StarKraft estimates.
Engineering assistance is being provided by Aircraft Design, which helped develop the Lancair IV high-performance kitplane. StarKraft, which is looking at the possibility of offshore production of the Model 700, is projecting sales of 20 aircraft in 1995 and 40 each in 1996 and 1997. The company has longer-term plans to develop a stretched aircraft and a smaller, single-engine, version with fixed gear.
Source: Flight International
