Blue Yonder EZ King Cobra
Canadian homebuilt light aircraft
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Blue Yonder EZ King Cobra is a Canadian designed and built, single-engined, single-seat aircraft provided as a completed aircraft or in kit form by Blue Yonder Aviation. The aircraft is approximately a 60% scale replica of the Second World War Bell P-63 Kingcobra fighter.[1]
| EZ King Cobra | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Kit plane |
| National origin | Canada |
| Manufacturer | Blue Yonder Aviation |
| Designer | Wayne Winters |
| Primary user | Private owners |
| Number built | 1 |
| History | |
| Introduction date | 1998 |
| First flight | 1998 |
| Developed from | Merlin |
| Variant | EZ Harvard |
The aircraft can be constructed in Canada as a basic ultra-light, or amateur-built aircraft, but is not currently available as an advanced ultra-light.[2][3]
Development
The EZ King Cobra was designed by Wayne Winters of Indus, Alberta and based on the earlier EZ Merlin. The project was started as a customer request for an ultralight category scale replica of a fighter and was later offered as a commercially available kit aircraft.
Winters created the EZ King Cobra by designing a new cantilever wing based on the Merlin wing, itself based on the Lazair wing design. The fuselage is constructed of welded 4130 steel tube and has a canopy and fin that resembles the original fighter design. The aircraft retained the Junker's ailerons of the original Merlin wing along with the Clark "Y" airfoil and construction featuring a leading edge "D" cell and foam ribs. The prototype is powered by a Rotax 582 two stroke engine of 64 hp (48 kW).[1][4]
The prototype of the new design flew in 1998. In the basic ultralight version gross weight is limited to the category maximum of 1,200 lb (544 kg).[1]
The EZ King Cobra can accommodate a variety of powerplants:[5]
Operational history
Despite being widely demonstrated no further orders have been received for the type and the prototype remains the sole flying example.[2]
Specifications (Rotax 582)
Data from Blue Yonder website[1]
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Capacity: 657 lb (298 kg) useful load
- Length: 21 ft 0 in (6.4 m)
- Wingspan: 27 ft 0 in (8.2 m)
- Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.8 m)
- Wing area: 158 sq ft (14.7 m2)
- Airfoil: Clark Y[4]
- Empty weight: 543 lb (246 kg)
- Gross weight: 1,200 lb (544 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Rotax 582 fixed pitch, 64 hp (48 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 120 mph (194 km/h, 100 kn)
- Cruise speed: 90 mph (146 km/h, 78 kn)
- Stall speed: 30 mph (49 km/h, 26 kn)
- Range: 460 mi (740 km, 400 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 14,000 ft (4,270 m)
- Power/mass: 18.75 lb/hp (0.09 kW/kg)