| Wings & Things of Utah was at Sun N Fun with The
Evolution a new two seat powered parachute, that was uniquely
different in several ways. First it featured a welded 304 stainless
steel fuselage, bungee cord suspension system and was powered by a 4
cylinder 4 stroke Jabiru engine. The factory
chose stainless steel for their craft because it is stronger than
mild steel, and not brittle and prone to fracture as 4130 chromemoly
steel. Plus it is corrosion resistant, virtually maintenance free
and can be polished to a high luster. Another advantage is the
weight saving using smaller diameter tubing. The Evolution comes in
complete with parachute, and engine at 389 lbs.
Each of the 300 plus pieces of tubing are cut,
fitted and tack welded in jigs. The fuselage is then placed in a 360
degree rotating welding stand to help eliminate any welding
distortion.
The craft has suspension on all three wheels. A
rubber dampening air bag for the front wheel and regular aircraft
bungee cords on each of the rear suspension arms.
Power is supplied by the Jabiru 4 cylinder, air
cooled 85 horsepower, direct drive aircraft engine which has been
certified in Australia. The engine is machined from billet aluminum,
using C & C equipment. It has no gaskets, everything is a metal to
metal fit. TBO is 2,000 hours. Because the engine is direct drive
the top RPM is 3250 with cruise on the Evolution coming it at 2200
RPM.
The Evolution uses a 500 square foot APCO chute
and according to the factory at 8,000 feet density altitude, which
is where they fly at, they are able to climb out at over 500 feet
per minute. |
