The Dream Tundra is a robust, single engine, high-wing monoplane

Monoplane

A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...

 designed in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Seating four, its short takeoff and landing characteristics can be adapted to land, snow or water use. It is produced as a kit for homebuilding

Homebuilt aircraft

Also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, homebuilt aircraft are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch," from plans, or from assembly kits.-Overview:...

.

Design and development

The Tundra, Dream Aircraft's first and only product to date, is a kit build aircraft designed for robustness and STOL

STOL

STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of...

 performance, seating four in two side-by-side rows. It is almost entirely of riveted aluminium construction, though flying surface tips are composite

Composite material

Composite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...

, and is laid out in conventional high wing

Wing configuration

Fixed-wing aircraft, popularly called aeroplanes, airplanes or just planes may be built with many wing configurations.This page provides a breakdown of types, allowing a full description of any aircraft's wing configuration...

, single engine, form.

The wing has constant chord

Chord (aircraft)

In aeronautics, chord refers to the imaginary straight line joining the trailing edge and the center of curvature of the leading edge of the cross-section of an airfoil...

, turned-down tips and 2° of washout

Washout (aviation)

Washout refers to a feature of wing design to deliberately reduce the lift distribution across the span of the wing of an aircraft. The wing is designed so that angle of incidence is higher at the wing roots and decreases across the span, becoming lowest at the wing tip...

. It is braced by pairs of V-struts attached to the lower fuselage longerons forward of the cabin. Four-position Fowler flaps are fitted. The tailplane and elevators are rectangular in plan, with a cutout in the latter to allow rudder movement. Fin and rudder are likewise rectangular apart from the leading edge, which has a curved fillet. Both rudder and elevators are horn balanced

Balanced rudder

The balanced rudder was an innovation in warship construction used as early as 1862 in the USS Monitor, one of the Union's first ironclads during the American Civil War...

.

Behind the engine the cabin, under the wing, is accessed via top hinged doors on both sides. There is a separate, port side door for baggage. The flat sides of the fuselage taper to the tail. Several undercarriage configurations are available; for land based operations the Tundra builder can choose between tricycle and tailwheel gear

Conventional landing gear

thumb|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....

. Both use spring cantilever main legs, with large, low pressure tyres for work off soft ground; these legs are positioned at the attachment point of the wing struts for the conventional arrangement and further aft for the tricycle gear. Floats can also be fitted, with their main attachment at the base of the struts and with secondary float struts further aft. Amphibious floats (Montana 2800) may be used. The Tundra may also be equipped with skis. Takeoff (roll) distances with wheels, skis and floats are respectively 125 m, 200 m and 400 m (400 ft, 650 ft and 1300 ft).

The first Tundra flew on 12 May 2001, powered by a 134 kW (180 hp) Textron Lycoming O-360-A flat four engine. Later Tundras have used either the 150 kW (200 hp) Textron Lycoming IO-360 flat four or the 175 kW (235 hp) Textron Lycoming O-540-B4B5

Lycoming O-540

|-Specifications :-See also:-External links:...

 flat six. Other alterations were made to the later aircraft, principally to the undercarriage (the prototype had wheels mounted on faired V-struts with bungee

Bungee

Bungee may refer to:* Bungee cord, also called shock cord, an engineered stretchable cord* Bungee jumping, an adventure sport* Bungee language or Bungi creole, and its related population, existing mainly along the north-south trade routes of Manitoba, Canada* Bungee chair, a type of office or...

 sprung half-axles), to the cabin doors for ease of access, to the tailplane and fin for ease of building and by the addition of a double cabin floor for better sound insulation.

Operational history

By August 2009 35 kits had been sold, with 11 Tundras flying. About 23 have the tailwheel undercarriage and most, apart from the second prototype C-GAGH, retain the curved fin fillet of the first prototype C-GIPN.

Variants

Tundra 180

Initial version with bungee

Bungee cord

A bungee cord , also known as a shock cord, is an elastic cord composed of one or more elastic strands forming a core, usually covered in a woven cotton or polypropylene sheath...

 main landing gear suspension and powered by a 134 kW (180 hp) Textron Lycoming O-360-A engine.

Tundra 200

Later version with sprung steel main landing gear and powered by a 150 kW (200 hp) Textron Lycoming IO-360 engine.

Specifications (landplane, 200 hp)