Computer-Aided Design is now so common we know it simply as CAD, but it allows great precision in the conceptual as well as manufacturing phase (CAM), as this fascinating perspective shows. Shark mockup builder and interior stylist Peto Zelman is seen at Aero 2007, flanked by designer, Jaro Dostal.
Recognize that tail? You’ve seen it twice before on designs that earned Special Light-Sport Aircraft approval: Interplane’s Skyboy and FlyItalia’s Sport Rider. Designer Jaro Dostal’s signature is the shark fin vertical stabilizer. Skyboy is sold in the U.S. by LSA America. SportRider (MD-3 Rider in Europe) is not presently available in the USA. *** Now from the fertile mind of Dostal comes the Shark. It will be produced by Comp-Let, a producer of composite parts for many companies including Diamond, Aeropro, and FK Lightplanes. Jaro’s design bureau is leading the development effort. “SportShark will fit LSA rules with a larger wing, simpler flaps, fixed landing gear and prop,” declared Comp-Let. “We are finishing the aerodynamic design calculations (forces, structure, stability). Designers prepared a cockpit mockup. We have started to work on a fuselage model. The plan is to fly a prototype by spring 2008. Serial production will start gradually by summer.” Shark is but one example of a new LSA as the industry continues its acceleration. Keep clicking ByDanJohnson.com for more…
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