Zenair Zipper - Development

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.