Lazair, Lazair ultralight aircraft, Dale Kramer's Lazair ultralight by Ultraflight Sales, Ultralight News newsmagazine.

Ultralight News is a directory of aircraft that generally fit into what are described as ultralight aircraft, advanced ultralight aircraft, ultralite aircraft, ultralight planes, experimental aircraft, amateur built aircraft, or homebuilt or kit built aircraft in the United States and Canada. These include weight shift aircraft, more commonly known as microlight trikes, powered parachutes, and powered para-gliders.
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Lazair ultralight, ultra lite aircraft, amateur built, experimental, homebuilt aircraft.

The Lazair was a very unique plane in its day and maintains that even to this day, its longevity is a testament to its design and workmanship .It is powered by two Rotax 185 9.5 hp engines, one mounted on each  wing, in the tractor configuration like a conventional twin engine aircraft.

The wing is of a D-cell design that is very light and aerodynamically clean, a rare sight on an ultralight of that era, and talk about light the empty weight is only 210 lbs.

The tail is an inverted V  which meant a reduction in drag over conventional 3 appendage tail ,they also double as the rear landing gear structure.

The Lazair was designed and built in Canada around 1979 there was 3 series that were manufactured as kits only, each series a modification of minor improvement to the next.

The first of the series was equipped with the control stick mounted above on the upper fuselage structure, through a control mixing assembly the control stick inputted coordinated yaw inputs into the ruddervators hence it had no rudder peddles.

Due to customer demand Series ll included rudder peddles. Series lll saw a change to landing gear they where widened for better ground handling also the control stick was mounted on the floor in the more conventional manner, jury struts where installed to increase the negative g loading, and toe brakes were includes as standard equipment.

Other things to note The early series came with 5.5 hp McCullough chainsaw engines, these were soon upgraded to the Rotax 185cc  9.5 hp to accommodate better performance on floats the Rotax engines were adopted from a portable high pressure water pump used in firefighting all parts are still available for these engines from firefighting equipment suppliers, (just don't say there for an airplane) that can scare some companies and may refuse to sell to you for fear of law suits.

One of the most common questions I get asked about my Lazair is" Why does it have double props" No it wasn't some new technology to increase efficiency, not performance anyway ,it was purely a decision  based on economics.

They already had a good stock of carbon fiber props for the 5.5 hp and instead of going thru a costly process of acquiring new propellers they simply doubled up the smaller props to absorb the extra power that the Rotax produced . I am also inclined to think that their choice of the rotax 185 somewhat based on this abundant supply of small props, seeing that the solo 210 engine was already in good supply,  it was lighter, produced more power and was aircraft proven already, but they would have probably had to stick 3 or more props together, highly impractical. anyway probably a shrewd decision at the time.

The Lazair is a absolute pleasure to fly, it is perfect for that low and slow journey over the country side, it is versatile, it can be fitted with skis or floats.

The aircraft is very well designed and constructed by Dale Kramer some of these ships are approaching 20 years old and they are still in great shape with a little TLC and as long as properly trained pilots fly them , they could last well into the 21 century. They also enjoy an unprecedented safety record, the few fatalities that I could find on the TSB and NTSB where attributed solely on pilot error.

In regards to what's stated above, I would like to say that I have heard of and witnessed the results of improperly prepared or trained pilots attempting to teach themselves how to fly.

 Personally I find it sad, when I see the wreckages of Lazairs that were flown by low time or no time self taught pilots ,one example is of a pilot ( I use the term loosely) had recently acquired a good working machine with no license and very low time he attempted take off ,got to some height above the ground, stalled the aircraft, crashed and destroyed it, well that's an embarrassing situation not to mention dangerous and stupid.

This is only one of several accounts that I know of. The supply of Lazairs is finite and they are priced too low to a point where they are considered almost disposable to some.

Remember please get professional flight training before you attempt to fly, you will not only potentially save your own life but reduce the chance of wiping another one of these unique aircraft out of existence.

Story courtesy of http://persweb.direct.ca/highland/lazair/

You might also want to drop into a group UltralightNews has started on the Lazair at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lazairflyers/

Dale Kramer's Lazair ultralight by Ultraflight Sales

Empty Weight: 210 lbs.
Gross Weight: 530 lbs.
Wing Span: 36.3 ft.
Wing Area: 148 sq.ft
Engine: 2 - Rotax 185 cc - 9.5 HP
Cruise Speed: 40 .mph
Stall Speed: 25 .mph
VNE: 65 .mph
Construction: Aluminum tube/mylar/tedlar/rivet together/inverted V tail
Building time: 750 .hrs

Original Manufacturer: Ultraflight Sales

Lazair, Lazair ultralight aircraft, Dale Kramer's Lazair ultralight by Ultraflight Sales, Ultralight News newsmagazine.

Lazair ultralight Lazair ultralight aircraft Lazair - Ultraflight Sales
Lazair ultralight Lazair ultralight aircraft Lazair - Ultraflight Sales
 

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