Cirrus VK-30

"VK30" redirects here. For the German tank project, see VK 30 series.

VK-30
Role	Amateur-built airplane
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Cirrus Design
Designer	Jeff Viken, Alan and Dale Klapmeier
First flight	11 February 1988
Introduction	1987
Number built	about 13
Unit cost	$64,000 USD (Airframe kit without engine in 1995)

Cirrus Design VK-30 at Sun 'n Fun in 2006

The Cirrus VK-30 is a single-engine pusher-propeller homebuilt aircraft originally sold as a kit by Cirrus Design (now called Cirrus Aircraft), and was the company's first model.

As a kit aircraft the VK-30 is a relatively obscure design with few completed aircraft flying. Its most important legacy is that the work done on developing and marketing the aircraft convinced the designers that the best way to proceed in the future was with a more conventional layout and with a certified production aircraft. Thus the lessons of the VK-30 were directly responsible for the design of the Cirrus SR20 and SR22, which have been the best-selling four-to-five-seat fixed wing aircraft in the world for twelve consecutive years.

Design and development

The VK-30 design was conceived in the early 1980s as a kit plane project by three college students, Jeff Viken and Alan Klapmeier from Wisconsin’s Ripon College, and Alan's brother, Dale Klapmeier, who was attending the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. Jeff Viken's wife, Sally, designed the VK-30’s flap system. Together, in the Klapmeiers' parents' barn in rural Sauk County, Wisconsin, they formed Cirrus Design as the company to produce the VK-30 (VK standing for Viken-Klapmeier).

The aircraft has an all-composite construction, and was designed to achieve natural laminar flow over the fuselage as well as the wing and tail surfaces to provide a very low-drag design, using a NASA NLF(1)-0414F airfoil. The prototype incorporated some parts from production aircraft, including the nose gear from a Piper Cherokee and the main landing gear from a Lake LA-4. The VK-30 was designed to be a five-seat aircraft from the start, which made it considerably larger than most other amateur-built aircraft of its day. It incorporated a mid-engine design, driving a three-bladed pusher propeller behind the tail through an extension shaft. The powerplant was a Continental IO-550-G developing 300 hp (224 kW).

The VK-30 first flew on 11 February 1988 and kit deliveries commenced shortly thereafter.

Operational history

The company estimated that there were 13 VK-30s completed and as of April 2011 ten were still registered with the Federal Aviation Administration in the USA.

Accidents

On 22 March 1996, retired astronaut Robert F. Overmyer died at age 59 in the crash of an Allison turbine-powered VK-30. He was testing the aircraft for stall recovery characteristics at aft center of gravity limits.

Aircraft on display

• EAA AirVenture Museum, Oshkosh, Wisconsin - 1
• Florida Air Museum, Lakeland, Florida - 1

Specifications (VK-30)

Source: EAA AirVenture Museum

General characteristics

• Crew: one pilot
• Capacity: four passengers
• Length: 26 ft 0 in (8.00 m)
• Wingspan: 39 ft 8 in (12.20 m)
• Height: 10 ft 8 in (3.28 m)
• Wing area: 126 ft² (11.7 m²)
• Empty weight: 2400 lb (1087 kg)
• Loaded weight: 3,600 lb (1630 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 3,600lb (1630kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Continental IO-550-G constant speed, 300hp (223 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 250 mph at sea level (405 km/h)
• Range: 1,300 statute miles (2,106 km)
• Rate of climb: 1,500 ft/min (7.7 m/s)
• Wing loading: 28.6 lb/ft² (143 kg/m²)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Dickey E-Racer
• Grinvalds Orion
• Rutan Long-EZ

Related lists

• List of pusher aircraft by configuration
• List of civil aircraft

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons