The Viperfan was designed to resemble a military jet trainer, but powered by a pusher piston engine. It featured a cantilever low-wing, a two-seats-in-tandem enclosed cockpit under a bubble canopy, retractable tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration.[1]
The aircraft was made from composite materials. Its 24.51NaN1 span wing-mounted flaps and had a wing area of 85square feet. The cabin width was 31inches. The acceptable power range was 240to and the standard engines envisioned to be used were the 285to Continental IO-520 and TSIO-520, or the 3500NaN0 Continental TSIOL-550 powerplant, driving the tail-mounted propeller through an extension shaft.[1]
The Viperfan had a typical empty weight of 1450lb and a gross weight of 2500lb, giving a useful load of 1050lb. With full fuel of the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage was 450lb. The aircraft was fully aerobatic and stressed to +/-6g.[1]
The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a 3500NaN0 engine was 10000NaN0 and the landing roll was 16000NaN0.[1]
The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the planned kit to be 2000 hours.[1]
The aircraft was not a success due to problems with vibrations in the engine-to-propeller extension shaft and so the aircraft was converted to turbojet power. Eventually it was completely redesigned to become the Viper Aircraft ViperJet MKII.[2]
By 1998 the company reported that one aircraft had been completed and was flying.[1]
In May 2015 no examples were registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration and it is unlikely any exist anymore.[3]