Originally developed as the Yuma by Alisport, an Italian aircraft manufacturer based in the Northern Italian city of Cremella, the Aquilae (ACK-will-lay) is a kit-built, STOL-capable, Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) distributed in the U.S. by Kent, Illinois-based North American Eagle. Aquilae is the Latin term for Eagle.
As implied by its eligibility for certification as an LSA, the Aquilae’s maximum gross weight is 1,320-pounds. The aircraft is powered by a one-hundred-horsepower normally-aspirated, carbureted, four-cylinder, four-stroke, liquid-and-air-cooled, Rotax 912 ULS engine.
Built entirely with 2024-T3 Alclad aluminum fitted over a 4130 steel tube welded frame, the Aquilae can be had with either a conventional (tail-dragger) or tricycle undercarriage. In addition to being eminently conducive to easy storage the Aquilae’s unique, folding main-wing is fitted with electric flaps and houses a pair of 9.25-gallon fuel-tanks to which the aircraft’s advertised range of between 434 and 508-nautical-miles is ascribed, in part.
All told, the Aquilae’s fuselage measures 22-feet along its longitudinal axis and, at its widest datum, measures 48-inches across. Subject fuselage is topped with a folding—as mentioned—wing spanning 32.5-feet and stressed to a maximum loading of +4/-2G. The aircraft stands 7.67-feet tall and tips the scales at an empty weight of 731-pounds.
By way of performance, the Aquilae manages a Vne of 108-knots and a Vso stall-speed of 27-knots. Climb-rate varies with loading and spans one-thousand to 1,500-feet-per-minute.
An aluminum-float-equipped iteration of the Aquilae is under development—an iteration North American Eagle vice-president of sales Mark Mellicker posits may be available in an amphibious variant. Time, as ever, will tell.
The Aquilae kit conforms with the FAA’s 51-percent amateur build rule. Estimated kit completion time is a brisk three-hundred-hours. Currently, customer deliveries of the first Aquilae kits are slated for summer 2024.
In summer 2023, the Aquilae kit commanded a price of $34,950. Fully kitted-out with engine, avionics, interior, and paint, the buyers may expect airworthy Aquilae specimens to set them back $70,000—more or less.
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