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Yak-52
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Designed as an primary military trainer, Yak-52 also used as primary aerobatic trainer. It is a 2-seat development of the Yak-50 championship aerobatic aircraft. Utilizing a tricycle undercarriage rather than a tailwheel arrangement, the aircraft looks similar to the earlier Yak-18, but is an all-metal product of the 1970’s. The aircraft is quite light with an empty weight of only 1000kg.
The services (retractable undercarriage, flaps and brakes) are provided by pneumatic pressure, for reliability and light weight. Even the engine starts by shooting a blast of air into the cylinders to get it turning over. Each cylinder has an air line which makes the engine look like it is fuel injected even though it is not.
It is mostly used for initial training such as basics of flight and introduction into complex maneuvers. The instructor’s position provides simulated instrumentation failure to the front cockpit for trainee purposes. The Yak is fully aerobatic, with an inverted fuel system allowing one to fly inverted for two minutes before running out of gas. Fuel is supplied from a small 5l reserve tank in the fuselage. The roll rate is fast and quite impressive if the stick is moved quickly to either side. Rolls to the right are even faster since the propeller rotates counter clockwise.
Nosewheel is not steerable, and it is necessary to use differential braking for steering. The aircraft can be operated from hard runways or unimproved grass surfaces. Maintenance is easy and can be performed in the "field".
The aircraft are manufactured in Romania (Aerostar at Bacau) since 1979. Over 1700 have been produced to date, 150 were rolling out every year at production peak.
The Yak-52 offers performance and ease of operation, second-to-none. |
| Technical
Data |
Photos |
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Role |
Trainer |
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Ceiling, m |
4,000 |
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Range, km |
500 |
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Cruise speed, kmph |
220 |
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Max speed, kmph |
420 |
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Empty mass, kg |
1,015 |
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Maximum take-off mass, kg |
1,290 |
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Wing area, m2 |
15.0 |
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Wingspan, m |
9.5 |
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Lenght, m |
7.68 |
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Engines |
1 M-14P, 360hp |
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Crew, prs |
2 |
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