Tow launch
Pure glider
Start with the airframe. Aero-tow or ground-tow to altitude, then soar. Convert to electric when you are ready.
Design
Weight is the whole argument.
Keep empty weight at or under 254 pounds and it is a Part 103 ultralight — no certificate, no medical, no N-number. Let it grow and it is an experimental glider or amateur-built airplane. The same drawings cover both.
The wing folds. Pods on the wing take electric tractor motors — one, two, or with a fuselage pusher, three. A semi-open cockpit and a rear fairing dump cooling air across batteries, motor, and controller. A ballistic parachute is part of the layout.
Two flying prototypes. N103MX and N751ZB. Announced at AirVenture 2013. First flight 20 December 2013.
Published data
Specifications
Rainbow Aviation figures. Experimental empty weight sits above the Part 103 line; the ultralight configuration is a weight-control exercise.
- Crew
- 1
- Length
- 19 ft 6 in
- Wingspan
- 37 ft
- Height
- 6 ft 8 in
- Wing area
- 173 sq ft
- Empty weight
- 254–350 lb
- Gross weight
- 750 lb
- Powerplant
- 2 × 16 hp
Tandem two-seat option
5.94 m
11.0 m, folding
2.03 m
16.1 m²
Part 103 or experimental
Experimental configuration
Plettenberg electric, 12 kW ea.
Configurations
How you finish it is how you fly it.
Single-place
Part 103 ultralight
Keep empty weight at or under 254 lb, fuel at 5 gallons if reciprocating, and operate without a certificate, medical, or N-number.
Self-launch
Twin electric
Two wing-mounted tractor motors. Quiet climb, folding props for soaring. The configuration the project was built around.
Tractor + pusher
Tri-motor
Two tractors plus a fuselage pusher. Redundancy and climb for heavier experimental loadings.
Powerplants
Electric first. Reciprocating if you need it.
Plettenberg Predator
15 kW (20 hp), 99 lb thrust with a RASA folding propeller. 5.36 lb on the shop scale.
MGM Compro
Early electric aircraft motor/controller work. Delayed the project, but proved the architecture.
Polini Thor 250
Dual-spark 250 cc two-stroke prototype, tested as an alternate powerplant path.
Three-view
The drawing that started it.
From the CAD
Hangar renderings.
SolidWorks pictures from the shop — the same model that became the drawings.
Identity
They called it Sparky.
The official designation is EMG-6 — Electric Motor Glider, model six. The shop name is Sparky. Red and white, a high wing you can read from a hundred yards, and a tail that does not pretend to be a jet. Still the same airplane.
