Olympic Desert Eagle Explained

The Olympic Desert Eagle was an American homebuilt aircraft that was designed and produced by Olympic Ultralights of Port Angeles, Washington. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.[1]

Design and development

The Desert Eagle featured a strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration semi-enclosed cockpit, fixed tricycle landing gear without wheel pants and a single engine in pusher configuration.

The aircraft was made from bolted-together aluminum tubing, with its flying surfaces covered in Dacron sailcloth. Its 331NaN1 span wing which mounted flaps, had an area of 165square feet and was supported by "V" struts and jury struts. The cabin width was 50inches. The acceptable power range was 65to and the standard engine used was a 800NaN0 Motavia powerplant.

The Desert Eagle had a typical empty weight of 495lb and a gross weight of 1200lb, giving a useful load of 705lb. With standard full fuel of the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage was 645lb.

The standard day, sea level, no-wind takeoff run with a 800NaN0 engine was 2000NaN0 and the landing roll was 1500NaN0.

Factory options included optional fuel tanks of and capacity. The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit to be 240 hours.

Operational history

In February 2015 no examples were currently registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration, as the sole one's registration had expired on 30 September 2013.[2]

Variants

Desert Eagle
  • Base model
    Desert Eagle Ag-Wagon
  • Agricultural aircraft model reported as under development in 1998

    Notes and References

    1. Purdy, Don: AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition, page 215. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.
    2. Web site: Make / Model Inquiry Results. 21 January 2014. Federal Aviation Administration. 21 January 2014.