Pipistrel Virus
The Pipistrel Virus is an ultra-light aircraft of the Slovenian company Pipistrel.
History
The development of the virus on the basis of its sister model sine began in 1997. The maiden flight took place in 1999, a year later, the series production began. In the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 Ivo Boscarol participated with a virus to the Slovenian UL Championships, from which he emerged as the winner in each case.
In the years 2007 and 2008 a modified version of the virus won the overall title of the NASA challenge. This variant with shortened wings was launched in 2008 as a virus SW in series.
Construction
The virus is a modern two-seat ultralight aircraft in plastic design, the fuselage was acquired by the sinus. In addition to the standard version with tricycle landing gear with tail wheel is also a version available. The shoulder wing differs from its sister model mainly by the shorter wings: In the standard version of the virus has a wingspan of 12.64 m, the version Virus SW ( "short wing" ) is 10.71 m.
As engine comes standard Rotax 912 UL with 80 hp. The short wing variant is to be beyond even with the 100 -hp Rotax 912 ULS have ( Virus 912 SW 100 )
Since 2010 there are adapted to the Zulassungebedingungen the U.S. LSA category versions of Virus and Virus SW. Since the U.S. regulations exclude a variable pitch propeller for this class, the angle of attack of the propeller blades on these versions in motorized flight is fixed. If you turn off the engine, the propeller of the standard version automatically moves into gliding position.