Socata TB-30 Epsilon

TB 30 Epsilon
Role	Light military trainer aircraft
Manufacturer	Socata (Aérospatiale)
First flight	22 December 1979
Introduction	1983
Primary users	French Air Force Portuguese Air Force Togolese Air Force
Produced	1979-1989

The Socata TB 30 Epsilon is a light military trainer aircraft produced by Socata (then part of Aérospatiale). It is a tandem two-seater with a metal airframe. The first prototype flew on 22 December 1979.

In 1978, the French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) published a requirement for a new basic trainer aircraft to partially replace the Fouga Magister in the early parts of the syllabus for pilot training. The new aircraft was expected to have tandem seating, be powered by a 224 kW (300 hp) piston engine and have a three-hour endurance. Similar designs were proposed by the SOCATA subsidiary of Aérospatiale (based on their TB 10 Tobago light aircraft) and by GEPAL (the GEPAL Mk II). The SOCATA proposal, the TB 30B, was chosen in February 1979.

The first of two prototypes flew on 22 December 1979, but testing showed that the Epsilon had poor handling and it was redesigned with a new swept back fin supplemented by a ventral strake and a larger tailplane, while the wing was fitted with elliptical tips increasing the wingspan from 7.40 m (24 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) to 7.59 m (24 ft 11 ³⁄₄ in). The first prototype flew again with these changes on 31 October 1980, and it was soon found that the handling problems had been fixed.

The Epsilon is a low winged cantilever monoplane of all metal construction. It is powered by a Lycoming O-540 flat-six piston engine driving a two-blade propeller, and is fitted with a retractible nosewheel undercarriage. The pilot and instructor are sat in tandem under a sliding Plexiglas canopy, with cockpit layout designed to aid transition to the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet to which French students graduate after completing the Epsilon part of their training syllabus.

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