Akaflieg Karlsruhe AK-8

Akaflieg Karlsruhe AK-8
	the AK-8
Role	Standard-class glider
National origin	Germany
Manufacturer	Akaflieg Karlsruhe
First flight	August 2003
Number built	1

The AK-8 is a single-seat FAI-Standard Class sailplane, designed and built in Germany by members of Akaflieg Karlsruhe which can be distinguished by its elliptical leading edge.

Design and development

The AK-8 rolling for take-off at Aalen-Elchingen

Made of synthetic materials, such as aramid fibre, carbon fibre and glass-fibre with cast aluminium alloy ribs, the AK-8 wing features an elliptical leading edge. The fuselage is derived from that of the DG-600M.

The first flight of the AK-8 took place in 2003, but a field landing accident caused severe damage to the left wing. After the left wing was rebuilt, the AK-8 flew again in 2009. In 2014 new outer wings with winglets were built to improve the flying characteristic.^[2]

Specifications

General characteristics

Length: 6.82 m (22 ft 5 in)
Wingspan: 15 m (49 ft 3 in)
Wing area: 9.75 m² (104.9 sq ft)
Empty weight: 232.8 kg (513 lb)
Gross weight: 450 kg (992 lb)

Performance

Never exceed speed: 270 km/h (170 mph, 150 kn)

References

^ AK-8 Erstflug Archived 2010-02-25 at the Wayback Machine bei akaflieg-karlsruhe.de
^ "AK-8" (in German). 11 June 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2016.

Bibliography

Jansen, Andre (2014). "kaflieg Karlsruhe AK-8: Im Zeichen der Ellipse". Aerokurier (in German). ISSN 0341-1281.

External links

Akaflieg Karlsruhe (in German)

[Erstflug-1] AK-8 Erstflug Archived 2010-02-25 at the Wayback Machine bei akaflieg-karlsruhe.de

[akflkarak-8-2] "AK-8" (in German). 11 June 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2016.

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