While making the rounds
of the newer SportPlanes at Arlington 2004, I had the chance to
spend some quality time with Pacific AeroSport's Chris Klix. You
many remember Chris from his Glasair days and from his work with
OMF aircraft, but right now he is importing one of the cutest
little single seat composite airplanes we've seen in many
years.
The Twister, designed by Silence Aircraft of Verl, Germany, and
built by DG Flugzeugbau of Bruchsal, Germany, is to be sold in the
USA and Canada in fast-build kit form by Pacific AeroSport, LLC. It
is equipped with a BRS 1050 ballistic parachute recovery system,
attached to a cockpit "safety cell" using technology borrowed from
the Formula 1 racing world.
The Twister's Jabiru 2200 engine, coupled with electrically
retractable landing gear, will provide a 146-mile per hour cruise,
with a very low fuel burn of only 3 gallons per hour. The carbon
fiber and fiberglass structure uses Nomex honeycomb cores for a
light and stiff airframe. The wings and tail structure follows DG
glider design practice, allowing quick and easy removal for storage
in a Cobra trailer. The FAA is in the process of evaluating the
Twister fast-build kit for inclusion on the "51%" list, meeting the
criteria for Experimental-Amateur built kits.
Quite reminiscent of the highly regarded British Spitfire, the
Twister is a lovely little single place retractable geared aircraft
powered by a 80 HP Jabiru engine. With incredibly curvy lines, and
excellent engineering, the 80 horsepower Twister manages to climb
at 1500 fpm and move along at quite a clip -- while burning very
little MoGas -- about 3-4 gph. While performance and handling are
certainly great concerns when you look at an aircraft, it behooves
the erstwhile SportPlane buyer and builder to take a look at the
engineering behind the aircraft as well.
Those that take a good hard look at the Twister are going to be
amazed. Some of the engineering in this aircraft is quite
extraordinary... especially when you consider features that allow
the aircraft to break down into lightweight, easily managed
subcomponents for transport, in an equally easy, and speedy
fashion.
We're also quite intrigued as space by some of the smaller
details... such as the LED Nav lights, that are about as "trick" as
anything we have ever seen. Developed by the designers of the
aircraft, it's one of those little details that lets you know that
somebody put a great deal of time and attention into assembling
this bird.
The demo bird is still in flight test and the last few issues
are getting worked out... but as soon as they do, we're REALLY
looking forward to flying this bird. It's high on our "must-fly"
list....