Silence Twister
| Twister 1100 | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Silence Twister on display at Old Warden airfield | |
| Role | Single-seat ultralight homebuilt monoplane |
| National origin | Germany |
| Manufacturer | Silence Aircraft |
| First flight | 30 September 2000 |
| Status | In production (2013) |
| Number built | 21 (2011) |
The Silence Twister is a German ultralight designed by Silence Aircraft for amateur construction, either from plans or kits. The prototype first flew on 30 September 2000.
The Twister is a single-seat low-wing monoplane with elliptical wings and tailplane. It has a retractable conventional landing gear with a fixed tailwheel. The design drew inspiration from the Supermarine Spitfire, and the shapes of the Twister's wings, fin and tailplane all recall the famous World War II fighter. Designed to take engines up to 94 hp (70 kW) the prototype was fitted with a 53.6 hp (40 kW) single-rotor MidWest Wankel engine. This rotary motor was very compact and allowed a sleek engine cowling, but the engine was rejected and production aircraft use the 85 hp (63 kW) Jabiru 2200 or the 95 hp (71 kW) ULPower UL260i engines.
An electric aircraft version was under development in 2010.
Twenty-one examples had been completed and flown by December 2011.
The Twister prototype was fitted with Silence Aircraft's own automatic variable-pitch propeller called the "VProp". The LAA have yet to allow the VProp to be fitted on UK aircraft, so UK Twisters have fixed-blade propellers instead.
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 2003-04
General characteristics
Performance
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