Monday 28 December 2015

Aerobatic Monoplanes of New Zealand (9) - Extra EA 300

The Extra EA 300 was designed in the 1980s by German Walter Extra, and was based on the earlier all wood Extra EA 230 which was in turn developed from the Stephens Akro.  It is manufactured in Germany by Extra Flugzeugbau, the firm founded by Walter Extra in 1980.  It has a welded steel fuselage and a symmetrical carbon fibre wing and it is powered by a AEIO 540 Lycoming engine of 300 HP.  The prototype first flew in 1988 with German certification following in May 1990.  It has been produced in two seat and single seat versions and it is stressed to +/- 10G for single seat aerobatics.  It was originally produced as a shoulder wing aircraft, but the most common version is the low wing Extra EA 300L.  The upgraded single seat Extra EA 330SC was flown to victory in the World Championships in 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Specifications for the Extra EA 300L are:  length 6.95 metres (22 feet 9 inches), wingspan 7.39 metres (24 feet 3 inches) and the wing area is 112 square feet.  Empty weight is 682 Kg (1,500 pounds) and MAUW is 952 Kg (2,095 pounds), although this is reduced for aerobatics.

We have had one Extra EA 300L in New Zealand, being X Flight's ZK-XRA (c/n 085) which was first registered in America in 1999 as N848TS.  It was exported to New Zealand in 2008 and was cancelled from the US register on 1/12 08 .

ZK-XRA was first registered in New Zealand on 2/12/08 to X Flight Ltd of Auckland and it still registered to them.

It has been a flying billboard during its New Zealand career.  Above at Ardmore on 7/11/09.

At North Shore on 15/1/11.

On takeoff from Ardmore, on 23/7/11.

In temporary Woodstock Bourbon colours at Ardmore on 22/9/12.

And in what I think is its latest advertising scheme for The Rock FM, from the X Flight website.


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