The Urban Air Samba is a Czech designed and built light aircraft of the 1990s which incorporates composite construction. It remained in series production in 2017.[1]
Production of the Urban Air's designs, including the Samba, was taken up by Distar Air of Ústí nad Orlicí, Czech Republic in about 2010.[1] [2]
Urban Air SPO designed and built their first model, the two-seat side-by-side Urban Air UFM-13 Lambada, which first flew in 1996. From their original model, they developed the UFM-10 Samba which was of similar overall design, using all-composite construction. The wings were reduced in span and a conventional tail unit was incorporated in place of the 'T' layout of the Lambada. The earlier tailwheel undercarriage was replaced by a fixed tricycle layout.
The Samba XXL is a further development, introduced in 2003 for the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale microlight category, with a modified fuselage providing a larger and repositioned cockpit canopy, modified engine cowling and a more streamlined tail unit.[1] [3]