North Wing Sport X2 Explained

The North Wing Sport X2 is an American ultralight trike, designed and produced by North Wing Design of Chelan, Washington. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.[1]

Design and development

The X2 was designed to comply with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale microlight category and the US light-sport aircraft rules. It is listed on the Federal Aviation Administration's list of accepted SLSAs.[2] [3]

The X2 features a strut-braced hang glider-style high-wing, weight-shift controls, a two-seats-in-tandem open cockpit with a cockpit fairing, tricycle landing gear with wheel pants and a single engine in pusher configuration.

The aircraft is made from bolted-together aluminum tubing, with its double surface wing covered in Dacron sailcloth. Its 9.61NaN1 span wing is supported by struts and uses an "A" frame weight-shift control bar. The SLSA's powerplant is a twin cylinder, liquid-cooled, two-stroke, dual-ignition 640NaN0 Rotax 582 engine. Other engines are available for the kit-built versions, including the four cylinder, air and liquid-cooled, four-stroke, dual-ignition 800NaN0 Rotax 912UL and the 600NaN0 HKS 700E engine. With the Rotax 582 engine the aircraft has an empty weight of 4500NaN0 and a gross weight of 10600NaN0, giving a useful load of 6100NaN0.

A number of different wings can be fitted to the basic carriage, including the North Wing Apache 3 or the North Wing Quest GT5. The North Wing M-Pulse 2 was formerly the standard wing.

Variants

Sport X2 Apache
  • Fully equipped version
    Sport X2 Navajo
  • Minimally equipped version

    Notes and References

    1. Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12, page 217. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X
    2. Web site: EAA's Listing of Special Light-Sport Aircraft. 11 August 2013. Experimental Aircraft Association. 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20140228070151/http://sportpilot.org/learn/slsa. 28 February 2014. dead.
    3. Web site: SLSA Make/Model Directory. 11 August 2013. Federal Aviation Administration. 15 July 2013.