Silent Club
A Silent Club towed by an Ultralight
Role DU class sailplane
National origin Italy
Manufacturer Alisport

The Silent Club is a single seater sailplane of Italian manufacture. It is of the FAI type DU Class glider. It is sold by Alisport ready-to-fly or kit-built as pure glider or self-launching glider. The self-launching version is fitted with a single-blade propeller belt-driven by a two-stroke engine or optionally by an electric motor.

The electric version was the first production electric-powered commercially available aircraft and appeared in 1997. It is driven by a 13 kW (17 hp) DC electric motor running on 40 kg (88 lb) of batteries that provide 1.4 kWh of energy.[1]

The highly modified version, the Alisport Silent Club-J is a self-launching aerobatic jet motor glider shown on the U.S. airshow circuit and all over the world by Bob Carlton.[2] It is powered by twin AMT-USA AT-450 jet engines (200 N (45 Lbf) of thrust each) originally developed for radio-controlled aircraft.[3]

Design and development

  • The fuselage is carbon and glass fiber composite with epoxy resin.
  • The wingspan is 12 meters without winglets.
  • The flaperons stretch for 10.0 meters of the full wingspan.
  • Schempp-Hirth-type spoilers extend on the upper wing surface only.
  • Fixed or retractable main wheel behind the pilot, with shock absorber and drum brake activated via spoiler control lever aft travel.
  • The Silent Club has light ailerons, light elevator, along with a generous rudder. The roll rate is quick due to the lively feel of the ailerons.
  • Stall is predictable and recovery is simple. In level flight as airspeed is reduced when approaching the stall speed the sailplane vibrates a little, at this point decreasing the angle of attack results in airspeed increase and normal flight resumes, from a climbing attitude the sailplane stalls decisively, the nose pitches down gently and recovery is easy with stick forward.
  • Spin entry is obvious and recovered with rudder and stick.

Specifications

General characteristics

  • Crew: One pilot
  • Length: 6.35 m (20 ft 10 in)
  • Wingspan: 12.00 m (39 ft 4 in)
  • Height: 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in)
  • Wing area: 10.3 m2 (111 sq ft)
  • Aspect ratio: 14.0
  • Empty weight: 125 kg (276 lb)
  • Gross weight: 290 kg (639 lb)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 200 km/h (124 mph, 108 kn)
  • Maximum glide ratio: 31 at 85 km/h (53 mph)
  • Rate of sink: 0.70 m/s (138 ft/min)

See also

Related development

References

  1. ↑ AliSport. "Silent Club>Electric Self-launch Sailplane". Archived from the original on 2009-04-20. Retrieved 2009-11-04.
  2. ↑ "Silent Wings Airshows, jet sailplane". Archived from the original on 11 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
  3. ↑ "AMT-USA jet engine product information". Archived from the original on 2006-11-10. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
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