Development
The Zipper was designed in the early 1980s by established Canadian aircraft designer Chris Heintz and put into production by his company Zenair, of Midland, Ontario. Heintz's motivation for the Zipper was the ultralight aviation boom that was occurring in Canada at that time and the introduction of new aviation regulations by Transport Canada legally permitting the operation of ultralights.
The Zipper incorporates many unique features, all aimed at making the aircraft more portable. This focus was due the nature of operations in the early days of the ultralight popularity. Aircraft were not flown great distances to fly-ins or other sites, but were transported by trailer or on car top to be flown locally at remote locations.
The Zipper has a quick-folding wing, built around a D-cell leading edge and spar. There are no wing ribs and the trailing edge of the wing is established by a cable which tensions the sailcloth wing covering. The wing is folded by releasing the anti-drag cables next to the nose wheel and folding the wings back along the tailboom, still supported by their struts. The wing is designed to +6 and -3 g.
The Zipper features conventional three-axis controls, which was unusual in ultralights designed at this time. The all-metal, one piece, all-flying rudder and the elevator are quickly removable for transport. The tailboom is aluminum and square in cross section.
The standard powerplants provided with the Zipper kits were the JPX PUL 425 engine of 26 hp (19 kW) and the Rotax 277 of 28 hp (21 kW). Fuel capacity is 6 US gal (5 imp gal; 23 L). The twin-engined Zipper II used a similar engine configuration to its competitor, the Ultraflight Lazair, placing both engines close together to minimize engine-out requirements.
Read more about this topic: Zenair Zipper
Famous quotes containing the word development:
“The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“I have an intense personal interest in making the use of American capital in the development of China an instrument for the promotion of the welfare of China, and an increase in her material prosperity without entanglements or creating embarrassment affecting the growth of her independent political power, and the preservation of her territorial integrity.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“America is a country that seems forever to be toddler or teenager, at those two stages of human development characterized by conflict between autonomy and security.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)