The Butterfly Monarch

Monarch
Role Autogyro
National origin United States
Manufacturer The Butterfly LLC
Status In production (2012)
Unit cost
US$18.995 (kit, 2011)

The Butterfly Monarch is an American autogyro, designed and produced by The Butterfly LLC of Aurora, Texas. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction.[1]

Design and development

The Monarch was designed to comply with the US Experimental - Amateur-built rules. It features a single main rotor, a single-seat open cockpit without a windshield, tricycle landing gear with wheel pants and a twin cylinder, liquid-cooled, two-stroke, dual-ignition 64 hp (48 kW) Rotax 582 engine in pusher configuration.[1]

The Monarch's fuselage is made from metal tubing and mounts a two-bladed main rotor with a diameter of 8 m (26.2 ft), with an electric pre-rotator to shorten take-off distances. The aircraft has an empty weight of 360 lb (160 kg) and a gross weight of 630 lb (290 kg), giving a useful load of 270 lb (120 kg). The tail surfaces are made from Kevlar. The landing gear is of 4130 steel construction, incorporates springs and has a long stroke of 18 in (46 cm) to allow almost vertical landings, including descent rates of 500 ft/min (2.5 m/s) at touchdown. The tricycle landing gear is supplemented by a triple tail caster.[1][2]

Optional equipment available includes a cockpit fairing with a windshield, rotor brake, auxiliary 6 U.S. gallons (23 L; 5.0 imp gal) fuel tank and an airshow smoke system.[2]

Operational history

By December 2012 eight examples had been registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration.[3]

Specifications (Monarch)

Data from Bayerl and The Butterfly[1][2]

General characteristics

Performance


References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al.: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12, page 177. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X
  2. 1 2 3 The Butterfly LLC (November 2012). "The Monarch Butterfly Specifications". Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  3. Federal Aviation Administration (30 December 2012). "Make / Model Inquiry Results". Retrieved 30 December 2012.

External links

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