Aero Designs Pulsar Explained

The Aero Designs Pulsar is an American two-seat, low wing, ultralight and homebuilt aircraft that was designed by Mark Brown and first produced by Aero Designs of San Antonio, Texas, introduced in 1985. When it was available the Pulsar was supplied as a ready-to-fly aircraft and as a kitplane for amateur construction.[1] [2]

The aircraft was later produced by Skystar Aircraft of Nampa, Idaho and then by Pulsar Aircraft of El Monte, California. Each subsequent manufacturer introduced new variants.[3]

Design and development

The Pulsar was a development of the Star-Lite Aircraft Star Lite and features a cantilever low-wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration open cockpit under a bubble canopy, fixed tricycle landing gear or optionally conventional landing gear with wheel pants and a single engine in tractor configuration.

The aircraft is made from composites. Its 251NaN1 span wing employs a NASA MS(1)-0313 mod airfoil, mounts flaps and has a wing area of 80square feet. The cabin width is 39inches. The acceptable power range is 64to and the standard engines used are the 640NaN0 Rotax 532 two-stroke, the 1000NaN0 BMW R1100S or the 1000NaN0 Rotax 912ULS or the 1150NaN0 Rotax 914 turbocharged powerplant.[4]

The Pulsar Series II has a typical empty weight of 660lb and a gross weight of 1200lb, giving a useful load of 540lb. With full fuel of the payload for the pilot, passengers and baggage is 438lb.

The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a 1150NaN0 engine is 2500NaN0 and the landing roll is 5000NaN0.

The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 1000 hours.

Operational history

In March 2014 130 examples were registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration, although a total of 195 had been registered at one time.[5] In March 2014 five were registered with Transport Canada[6] and 29 with the CAA in the United Kingdom.[7]

Variants

Pulsar
  • Original model, powered by a 640NaN0 Rotax 532 two-stroke powerplant and introduced in 1985 by Aero Designs.
    Pulsar XP (also called the XP912)
  • Improved model, with higher gross weight, powered by an 800NaN0 Rotax 912UL four-stroke powerplant and introduced in 1992 by Aero Designs.
    Pulsar Series II
  • Improved model, powered by a 1000NaN0 Rotax 912ULS four-stroke or 1150NaN0 Rotax 914 turbocharged powerplant and produced by SkyStar Aircraft.
    Pulsar III
  • Improved model, powered by a 800NaN0 Rotax 912UL four-stroke or 850NaN0 Jabiru 2200 powerplant, tricycle landing gear or conventional landing gear and produced by Pulsar Aircraft starting in 1989. A total of 500 kits were claimed to have been delivered by 2005.
    Pulsar SP100
  • Super Pulsar introduced in 2001, powered by an 800NaN0 Rotax 912UL four-stroke or 1200NaN0 Jabiru 3300 powerplant, Continental or Lycoming engines, produced by Pulsar Aircraft.

    Notes and References

    1. Purdy, Don: AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition, page 253. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.
    2. Web site: American airplanes: Ab - Ak . Aerofiles.com . 2000-03-21 . 2014-03-05 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121205051134/http://aerofiles.com/_ab.html . 2012-12-05 .
    3. Web site: American airplanes: Pl - Py . Aerofiles.com . 2014-03-05.
    4. Web site: The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage. 5 March 2014. Lednicer. David. 2010. https://archive.today/20130809234123/http://www.ae.illinois.edu/m-selig/ads/aircraft.html. 9 August 2013. dead. dmy-all.
    5. Web site: Make / Model Inquiry Results. 25 March 2014. Federal Aviation Administration. 25 March 2014. March 6, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140306031716/http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/AcftRef_Results.aspx?Mfrtxt=&Modeltxt=FOXTROT&PageNo=1. dead.
    6. Web site: Canadian Civil Aircraft Register . 5 March 2014 . . 5 March 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110718042755/http://wwwapps2.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/ccarcs/aspscripts/en/quicksearch.asp . 18 July 2011 .
    7. Web site: GINFO Search Results Summary. 5 March 2014. Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom). 5 March 2014.

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