Articles about GlaStar aircraft
Title: Glasair GlaStar
Author/Publisher: Wikipedia
Excerpt: The Glasair GlaStar (sometimes Glastar) is an American amateur-built aircraft that was designed by Tom Hamilton and produced byStoddard-Hamilton Aircraft and later Glasair Aviation. It was first flown in 1994 and was superseded in production by the Glasair Sportsman 2+2 circa 2005. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.
External link to source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasair_GlaStar
Title: Stoddard-Hamilton GlaStar: Stoddard-Hamilton breaks the Glasair mold
Author: Marc Cook
Publisher: AOPA
Excerpt: Like a Monty Python's Flying Circus skit that promises a political satire but veers into visual farce — "The penguin on your television will now explode," for instance — Stoddard-Hamilton has abruptly careened off the expected path. For more than 15 years, the company has cranked out composite kit airplanes famous for ever-increasing speed and big-airplane features.
External link to source: http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/1995/October/1/Stoddard-Hamilton-GlaStar
Title: Flight Review: Practical Glass
Author: Marc Cook
Publisher: Kitplanes
Excerpt: The GlaStar is a rugged, simple airplane that has been built in sufficient quantity by a wide range of individuals, so there are few surprises. Here are the key inspection points for any pre-built GlaStar you’re considering.
External link to source: http://www.kitplanes.com/issues/27_11/flight_reports/Flight_Review_Ammenti_Glastar_9362-1.html
Title: GlaStar SH-4 Aircraft Performance Report
Authors: Brien Seeley; CAFE Board
Publisher: CAFE Foundation
Excerpt: The high-wing GlaStar combines a wide range of features into a versatile aircraft that is fun to fly, easy to reconfigure, and pleasing to the eye. Its design was intended to fit in a niche between the Kitfox/RANS Courier and the RV series of aircraft.
External link to source: http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pdf_cafe_apr/Glastar%20APR%20A.pdf
Title: Buying Used Homebuilts: A Few Right Choices
Author: (Staff report)
Publisher: Aviation Consumer
Excerpt: Backcountry Fun: There are too many options when it comes to slow experimentals with short takeoff runs and astounding climb performance to name here. But there are a few standouts in the field. The same Glasair that makes the low-wing Glasair-III offers the GlaStar. The original version of this aircraft is a side-by-side two seater. The current Sportsman model is a 2+2. The used market is almost entirely the two-place taildraggers. The model offers terrific takeoff and landing performance with reasonable stall speeds and a good payload.
External link to source: http://www.aviationconsumer.com/issues/39_6/industrynews/5909-1.html
Title: LAA Type Acceptance Data Sheet GlaStar
Author: LAA Engineering
Publisher: Light Aircraft Association
Excerpt: The Glastar seats two side-by-side in an enclosed cockpit. The wings, tailplane and all control surfaces are of conventional riveted aluminium alloy construction. The forward fuselage structure consists of a welded 4130N chrome-molybdenum steel tube truss. The fuselage external shape is formed by composite female-moulded shells reaching from the firewall to the finpost, being non-structural in the forward fuselage but structural in the rear fuselage and fin area, where the sandwich skin shells and internal moulded bulkheads form a monocoque structure. The composite fuselage and fin mouldings are of vinyl-ester/glass composite sandwich as utilised in the Glasair aircraft.
External link to source: http://www.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/engineering/TADs/295%20GLASTAR.pdf
Title: Homebuilt Aircraft Cockpit Dimensions
Author: Ron Wanttaja
Publisher: Wanttaja.com (Also published by Kitplanes as "Anthro--What? (Finding a Cockpit that Fits)”)
Excerpt: Over the past several years, I've taken a tape measure with me whenever I might encounter a homebuilt aircraft. The following table is the result. The categories of measurement are:
Shoulder Room
- This is the width of the cockpit at the approximate shoulder height for a typical occupant. This does NOT take account of extra room available in the wing strakes of many pusher aircraft.
Hip Room
- Hip room is the available width at the top of the seat. For side-by-side airplanes, this is the space available for one occupant. (This is different from the shoulder-width category to eliminate the effect of any center console.)
Height to Overhead
- The distance from the top of the seat to the ceiling, along the approximate path a pilot's back will go. This category is blank for open-cockpit airplanes, or in aircraft under construction that do no yet have a canopy.
Legroom
- The distance from the back of the pilot's seat to the rudder pedals.
External link to source: http://www.wanttaja.com/avlinks/cockpit.htm
Title: Understanding composites
Author: Zach Chase
Summary: Here is advice from Zach Chase about composite materials used in aircraft. Zach is the owner of FiberTech Composites, Inc. in Ft. Pierce, FL.
- Lots can go wrong with composite materials used in aircraft, and you’d never know.
- With rivets you can see if the rivet is no good, but with composites, defects could be invisible to the naked eye.
- There are many variables in preparing composites. For example:
- The air in air tools could contaminate the work area.
- You could use too much or not enough catalyzer in the epoxy.
- You could use acetone when you shouldn't, or omit acetone when you should use it. - In spite of the risk with working with composites, out of 200 aircraft Zach has inspected, only one had to have the bulkhead removed (because of its poor quality, not due to failure).
- There are almost 400 GlaStars now flying, and there has never been a failure due to poor workmanship in working the composite materials.
Title: FAA Registry
Make / Model Inquiry Results
Model Name Entered: GLASTAR
Author: Federal Aviation Administration
Excerpt: US-Registered GlaStars as of March 6, 2014
External link to source: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/AcftRef_Results.aspx?Mfrtxt=&Modeltxt=GLASTAR&PageNo=1