In preparation for the S-LSA American certification of its amphibious skiplane Akoya, LISA Airplanes continues to carry on a series of test flights in France at both Chambery-Savoy Airport and Bourget Lake. Meanwhile, the French company is completing its industrial process and has unveiled its choices regarding materials.
The latest tests involved intensive taxiing tests on the lake to prove the stability of the seafoils and maneuverability of the Akoya at low speed, company officials said.
Flying every week, the first production Akoya allows the validation of most of the announced performance, company officials said. Recently, the test pilot Gérald Ducoin completed stall tests with several weight and balance configurations and different flap positions in which the aircraft showed a safe behavior. He reports the LSA does not have a “nose-down” tendency, which means that at 45 knots, the airplane tends to go down but the nose of the aircraft always stays above the skyline. The airplane keeps its lateral and longitudinal stability; the pilot just needs to push the stick to restore the speed and reverse the stall. This behavior results from four years of experimentation in wind tunnel and in flight that enhanced design choices related to pilot safety, company officials noted.
Meanwhile, LISA’s engineers are completing the Akoya’s production preparation. All structural components and materials choices are now frozen. The fuselage, wings and many small parts are made of composite materials: fiberglass, Kevlar, and mostly light-weight sandwich structures made of polymer foam core material and carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) resin pre-impregnated (prepreg) supplied by Umeco. This composite is well-known for its great durability and its unequalled strength/weight ratio, company officials said. The mechanical parts are made of aluminum and titanium. All parts are treated against corrosion.
The Akoya, the first airplane from the French company, is a two-seater amphibious airplane. From ground, water or snow, the Akoya takes its passengers at least 1600 km (1000 miles) away thanks to its low fuel consumption of 36 mpg and can reach the speed of 250km/h (135kts), company officials said. It lands on a less than 200-meter field (650-feet) and fold its wings to be parked in a garage.
The Akoya is designed to fulfill the LSA (Light Sport Aircraft) regulation — the new American standard that is to become an international standard such as in Europe with the CS-LSA implementation.
For more information: Lisa-Airplanes.com
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