Diamond HK36 Super Dimona
Encyclopedia
The Diamond HK36 Super Dimona is an extensive family of Austrian
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
low-wing, T-tail
T-tail
thumb|right|Grob motor gliderA T-tail is an aircraft tail stabilizer configuration in which the horizontal surfaces are mounted to the top of the vertical stabilizer. Traditionally, the horizontal control surfaces are mounted to the fuselage at the base of the vertical stabilizer...
ed, two-seat motor glider
Motor glider
A motor glider is a fixed-wing aircraft that can be flown with or without engine power. The FAI Gliding Commission Sporting Code definition is: A fixed wing aerodyne equipped with a means of propulsion ,...
s that were designed by Wolf Hoffmann and currently produced by Diamond Aircraft Industries
Diamond Aircraft Industries
Diamond Aircraft Industries is an Austrian-based manufacturer of general aviation aircraft and motor gliders, which also has a large manufacturing facility in London, Ontario, Canada...
.
Design and development
The series started with the Hoffmann H36 Dimona, a touring motorglider introduced in the early 1980s. The aircraft were initially produced by Hoffmann Flugzeugbau, which became HOAC Flugzeugwerk and later Diamond Aircraft Industries.Built entirely from fibreglass, the H36 family all use a Wortmann FX 63-137 airfoil
Airfoil
An airfoil or aerofoil is the shape of a wing or blade or sail as seen in cross-section....
. The wings feature top-surface Schempp-Hirth
Schempp-Hirth
Schempp-Hirth Flugzeugbau GmbH is a glider manufacturer based in Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany.-History:Martin Schempp founded his own company in Göppingen in 1935, with the assistance of Wolf Hirth. The company was initially called "Sportflugzeugbau Göppingen Martin Schempp"...
-style airbrakes. The wings can be folded by two people in a few minutes to allow storage. The original H36 has 16 m (52.5 ft) wings, while the later members of the family added slightly greater span. The H36 offers a 27:1 glide ratio, while later variants improved that by one point, to 28:1. Cockpit accommodation seats two in side-by-side configuration, under a hinged bubble canopy
Bubble canopy
A bubble canopy is a canopy made like a soap bubble, which attempts to provide 360° vision to the pilot.-History:Bubble canopies have been in use since World War II. The British had already developed the "Malcolm hood", which was a bulged canopy, but the British Miles M.20 was one of the first...
.
The series are type certified
Type certificate
A Type Certificate, is awarded by aviation regulating bodies to aerospace manufacturers after it has been established that the particular design of a civil aircraft, engine, or propeller has fulfilled the regulating bodies' current prevailing airworthiness requirements for the safe conduct of...
in Europe and North America. The H36 received its US Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
certification on 9 July 1986. Due to its fibreglass construction, the US certification includes the restriction "All external portions of the glider exposed to sunlight must be painted white except of (sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
) wing tips, nose of fuselage and rudder."
In March 1987 an improved variant was developed by Dieter Kohler and the subsequent HK36R first flew with a Limbach L2400
Limbach L2400
-See also:-Bibliography:*Purdy, Don: AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, page 72. BAI Communications. ISBN 0-9636409-4-1...
engine in October 1989.
When equipped with the larger available engines, particularly the 86 kW Rotax 914
Rotax 914
-References:*...
turbocharged powerplant, the aircraft can be used for glider towing. A commercial success, more than 900 H36s and HK36s have been completed.
The HK36 provided the basis from which the Diamond DV20 Katana from which the improved DA20 and four-seat DA40
Diamond DA40
The Diamond DA40 Diamond Star is an Austrian four-seat, single engine, light aircraft constructed from composite materials. Built in both Austria and Canada, it was developed as a four-seat version of the earlier DA20 by Diamond Aircraft Industries....
series were later developed.
Operational history
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
that used a Diamond HK36 Super Dimona motor glider as a testbed
Testbed
A testbed is a platform for experimentation of large development projects. Testbeds allow for rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies.The term is used across many disciplines to describe a development environment that is...
for a fuel cell-powered light airplane research project. The project achieved level flight using fuel cells only in February and March 2008.
In July 2011 there were nine H36s and 34 HK36s registered with the US FAA, two HK36s registered with Transport Canada
Transport Canada
Transport Canada is the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities portfolio...
, along with seven H36s and nine HK36s registered with the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
Variants
H36 Dimona- Original version produced by Hoffmann and later by HOACHoac* An abbreviation of the chemical compound of Acetic acid.* Historians of American Communism, a scholarly historical organization established in 1982....
, with a 16 m (52.5 ft) wingspan, conventional landing gearConventional landing gearthumb|The [[Piper PA-18|Piper Super Cub]] is a popular taildragger aircraft.thumb|right|A [[Cessna 150]] converted to taildragger configuration by installation of an after-market modification kit....
, 27:1 glide ratio and powered by a Limbach L2000 EB1C engine of 60 kW, a Rotax 912A of 60 kW or Limbach L2400 EB of 65 kW. Applied for US FAA certificate on 4 April 1982 and received on 9 July 1986 in the utility category at a gross weight of 770 kg (1,698 lb).
HK36 R Super Dimona
- Developed from the H36, with a carbon-fibre sparSpar (aviation)In a fixed-wing aircraft, the spar is often the main structural member of the wing, running spanwise at right angles to the fuselage. The spar carries flight loads and the weight of the wings whilst on the ground...
, modified fuselageFuselageThe fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
, 16.2 m (53.1 ft) wingspan and 60 kW Rotax 912A engine. Optional wing tipWing tipA wing tip is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft.Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of shapes, including:* Squared-off...
s can extend the span to 17.6 m (57.7 ft). Received US FAA type approval on 23 July 1993 in the utility category at a gross weight of 770 kg (1,698 lb).
HK36TS Super Dimona
- Developed from the HK36 R Super Dimona, the HK36TS has a 60 kW Rotax 912 A3 engine, 16.6 m (54.5 ft) wingspan, 28:1 glide ratio and conventional landing gear. Received US FAA type approval on 25 September 1997 in the utility category at a gross weight of 770 kg (1,698 lb). Marketed as the Katana Xtreme in Canada and the USA.
HK36TC Super Dimona
- The HK36TC has a 60 kW Rotax 912 A3 engine. Received US FAA type approval on 25 September 1997 in the utility category at a gross weight of 770 kg (1,698 lb). Marketed as the Katana Xtreme in Canada and the USA.
HK36TC-100 Super Dimona
- The HK36TC-100 has a 74 kW Rotax 912 S3 engine. Applied for US FAA type approval on 16 January 2003 and received on 12 January 2004 in the utility category at a gross weight of 770 kg (1,698 lb). Marketed as the Katana Xtreme in Canada and the USA.
HK36TTS Super Dimona
- The HK36TTS has a 86 kW Rotax 914 F3 or F4 turbocharged engine, a Muhlbauer MTV-21-A-C-F/CF 175-05 propellerPropeller (aircraft)Aircraft propellers or airscrews convert rotary motion from piston engines or turboprops to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal...
, 16.6 m (54.5 ft) wingspan, 28:1 glide ratio and conventional landing gear. Received US FAA type approval on 25 September 1997 in the utility category at a gross weight of 770 kg (1,698 lb). Marketed as the Katana Xtreme in Canada and the USA.
HK36TTC Super Dimona
- The HK36TTC has a 86 kW Rotax 914 F3 or F4 turbocharged engine, 16.6 m (54.5 ft) wingspan, 28:1 glide ratio and tricycle landing gear. Received US FAA type approval on 25 September 1997 in the utility category at a gross weight of 770 kg (1,698 lb). Marketed as the Katana Xtreme in Canada and the USA.
HK36TTC Eco Dimona
- Special mission version of the HK36 for the surveillance role, it is equipped with a gimbal-mounted Wescam camera and cockpit display, a 86 kW Rotax 914 F3 or F4 turbocharged engine and a Muhlbauer MTV-21-A-C-F/CF 175-05 propeller. Received US FAA type approval on 29 March 1999 in the utility category at a gross weight of 770 kg (1,698 lb) and 21 December 2000 in the restricted category, limited to aerial photography only, at a gross weight of 930 kg (2,050 lb). Marketed as the Multi Purpose Xtreme in Canada.
Diamond DA36 E-Star
- Developed by Siemens, EADS and Diamond Aircraft to reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 25 percent, using a serial hybrid drive that turns the aircraft's prop with a Siemens 70 kW electric motor, from power generated by a 40 hp Austro Engines Wankel rotary engine and generator, stored in batteries. The prototype first flew 8 June 2011.