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Plane& Pilot - July 2007
AMD’s Patriot Is Here
At the AMD facility in rural Eastman, Ga., we found the first
Patriot, a full-sized LSA. It’s roomy and spare, a bit
over-instrumented for day VFR, and there’s room for more in the
panel. Specifications are preliminary, but firm: nose to tail on
its tricycle gear, it’s 20.7 feet; the wingspan is 32.7 feet;
there are slight dihedral, twin-strut, twin-spar support
flaperons. The cabin is four feet wide. Each of the two fuel
tanks holds 12 gallons of 100LL.
There’s no flying tail, which is new for a Chris Heintz design.
Pilots have separate sticks (no Y-sticks in the LSAs) with dual
toe brakes. AMD will also build a spec panel using panel-design
software that displays customer preferences while logging
behind-panel requirements. The interior is tasteful, with accent
materials on seats, doors and luggage compartment. Expect
optional AmSafe shoulder-harness airbags. John Degonia, AMD’s
director of sales, reports they’re testing open-door flight
possibilities.
The Continental O-200 engine and Sensenich prop are solid and
familiar, exactly what Heintz says training facilities desire.
Speeds are typical LSA: a 124-mph cruise, 46-mph clean stall,
41-mph dirty stall and 143-knot VNE. Max climb is 1,100 fpm; max
range is 652 statute miles. Takeoff and
landing at 400 feet and 500 feet, respectively.
Base price? $99,900.00USD, plus options. For more information,
log on to www.newplane.com
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Comments from John Degonia, AMD sales manager.
"Truly a great design, and a lot of fun to fly. Based on the
original Zenair CH 701 STOL and later the MXP, the Patriot was
designed specifically for the Light Sport Aircraft category
(note that there are more than 1,000 701 and MXP flying!). Basic airframes are built in South America and shipped to AMD in
Eastman GA. AMD installs the Continental 0-200 and electrical
systems, all avionics, gear, controls, upholstery, paint, etc. AMD is
presently doing a similar assembly program with Zenair Ltd of
Canada, for the Zodiac 601XL, which also uses the 0-200.
Both the Patriot and Zodiac use the same type of aluminum,
rivets and standard GA hardware, gear systems, electrical
systems, etc. Quality control system used by AMD for its SLSA
aircraft is similar to the CH2000 system that is FAA certified.
AMD has completed flight testing of the Patriot and final LSA
documents are being finalized. Deliveries are expected to start
before year end 2007".
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