The Butterfly Monarch

The Butterfly Monarch is an American autogyro, designed and produced by The Butterfly LLC of Aurora, Texas. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction.[1]

For buttterflies known as "monarch", see Danaus (butterfly).
Monarch
Role Autogyro
National origin United States
Manufacturer The Butterfly LLC
Status In production (2012)

Design and development

The Monarch was designed to comply with the US Experimental - Amateur-built rules. It features a single main rotor, a single-seat open cockpit without a windshield, tricycle landing gear with wheel pants and a twin cylinder, liquid-cooled, two-stroke, dual-ignition 64 hp (48 kW) Rotax 582 engine in pusher configuration.[1]

The Monarch's fuselage is made from metal tubing and mounts a two-bladed main rotor with a diameter of 8 m (26.2 ft), with an electric pre-rotator to shorten take-off distances. The aircraft has an empty weight of 360 lb (160 kg) and a gross weight of 630 lb (290 kg), giving a useful load of 270 lb (120 kg). The tail surfaces are made from Kevlar. The landing gear is of 4130 steel construction, incorporates springs and has a long stroke of 18 in (46 cm) to allow almost vertical landings, including descent rates of 500 ft/min (2.5 m/s) at touchdown. The tricycle landing gear is supplemented by a triple tail caster.[1][2]

Optional equipment available includes a cockpit fairing with a windshield, rotor brake, auxiliary 6 U.S. gallons (23 L; 5.0 imp gal) fuel tank and an airshow smoke system.[2]

Operational history

By December 2012 eight examples had been registered in the United States with the Federal Aviation Administration.[3]

Specifications (Monarch)

Data from Bayerl and The Butterfly[1][2]

General characteristics

  • Crew: one
  • Capacity: one passenger
  • Length: 11 ft 2 in (3.40 m)
  • Width: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
  • Height: 7 ft 5 in (2.26 m)
  • Empty weight: 359 lb (163 kg)
  • Gross weight: 628 lb (285 kg)
  • Fuel capacity: 7.5 U.S. gallons (28 L; 6.2 imp gal)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Rotax 582 twin cylinder, liquid-cooled, two stroke aircraft engine, 64 hp (48 kW)
  • Main rotor diameter: 26 ft 3 in (8 m)
  • Propellers: 2-bladed Tennessee Propellers wooden

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 70 mph (112 km/h, 60 kn)
  • Cruise speed: 62 mph (100 km/h, 54 kn)


References
  1. Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al.: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12, page 177. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X
  2. The Butterfly LLC (November 2012). "The Monarch Butterfly Specifications". Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
  3. Federal Aviation Administration (December 30, 2012). "Make / Model Inquiry Results". Retrieved December 30, 2012.
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