CTSW light sport aircraft by Flight Design

The CT-SW uses all-carbon fibre construction with Kevlar strengthening. Basic empty weight of the CTSW is 295kg when equipped with BRS recovery parachute system. The aircraft is certified as a light sport aircraft with an all-up weight of 600kg.

The CTSW is equipped with a Rotax 912 S, 4 cylinder, 4 stroke aircraft engine, which puts out 100 HP and drives a three-blade, fixed-pitch “Neuform” propeller. The craft has dual controls, with a center mounted throttle.

Carbon fibre aircraft designs are generally more expensive to manufacture and repair than all-metal, and must normally only be in reflective white finish to prevent differential heating and twisting of the structure. 

But carbonfibre structures are normally stronger and more crash-resistant, and can offer more aerodynamically efficient shapes with less drag. Fuel capacity is 130 litres carried in two integral wing tanks. Load-factor limits are +4/-2g.

Flight controls are rods to the ailerons and all-moving horizontal stabiliser and cable to the rudder. The aircraft has side-by-side seating and dual floor-mounted central control columns with top-mounted push-to-talk button and wing-leveller engage/disengage button. 

All three control surfaces can be trimmed using small, console-located manual trim wheels, but in practice only the pitch trim was required. This adjusts a geared trim tab at the rear edge of the horizontal stabiliser.

Wheel and parking brakes are hydraulically actuated discs controlled by a central-console lever. Ground manouevring is by a steerable nosewheel controlled by the rudder pedals. 

The electrically operated flaps have five positions (-12° for cruise, 0° for take-off, 15° for take-off and approach, and 30° or 40° for normal or short landing). The cockpit can be heated by ducted engine air and cooling/ventilation is by cockpit louvres.

Electrical power for flight instruments, lights, communications (single VHF and transponder), navigation (GPS) and flaps is provided by an engine generator charging a single 12V battery. 

The panel features four standard flight instruments, but instead of an artificial horizon the assessed aircraft had a central turn and slip indicator with surrounding airspeed and vertical-speed indicators and altimeter. An E2B-type compass was fitted at the top of the forward windscreen. Navigation was provided by a Honeywell GPS moving-map display.

he CT-SW has a novel, simple “wing-levelling” autopilot to allow the pilot to conduct limited hands-free/head-in cockpit tasks. The recovery-parachute operating handle is on the rear cabin wall and linked to a fuselage co-mounted ELT.