Aveo Phantom Light Sport Aircraft, Australia

The Aveo Phantom is a light sport aircraft (LAS) category aeroplane designed and developed by Aveo Australia and manufactured by Aveo Engineering, with pilot comfort and safety as priority.

The aircraft is wider than most small to medium cars. The seats are fore and aft, up and down adjustable. It also has adjustable pedals and head restraints. All the control instruments fall easily to hand without stretching or contortion.

The company claims that the absence of door handles, key locks and antennae outside makes the Phantom unique. The aircraft is opened using built-in electronic systems.

The pilot and passenger can not only see frontwards and rearwards but they also straight up, through the roof and straight down, through the floor.

The fuselage skin is made of carbon fibre, which is attached to the airframe using a system that keeps the outer surface free from blemishes.

A ballistic parachute system is included in all Aveo aircraft to withstand the forces imposed on an airframe by the deployment of a ballistic parachute.

Phantom features

The Phantom's distinguishing features include the AveoAutoFly autopilot and AveoEyeFly head-up display. The AveoBlackBox flight data recorder will work with the AveoTimeTunnel to provide all flight data to a thumb drive so that all aspects of flight can be later examined for training and monitoring purposes.

The wings are made of aluminium alloy with the skins attached by flush riveting. The Phantom's wings will have twice as many ribs as other light aircraft types. Antennae and sensors are installed inside the wingtip to avoid any visual or airflow disturbance to the aircraft.

Digital flight deck

The Aveo digital flight deck (DFD) uses daylight-viewable LCD screens for depicting all performance and operational information. DFD is very simple and light with depth of about 36mm sharing data amongst themselves as required by the systems or set by the pilot.

The DFD instruments also comprise functions of electro-mechanical instruments. DFD instruments will also be available for installation on other aircraft types.

SmartYoke

SmartYoke helps to control the aircraft systems from the yoke itself. The SmartYoke has an LCD touch screen with six buttons on it.

Button one sets all radio and navigation systems (including GPS) to the home aerodrome with a single touch. Button two pops up a list of the top ten GPS waypoints for direct to navigation. The nearest airport waypoint is also displayed giving the pilot the closest runway should an emergency landing be required.

Button three shows a list of lights like landing, strobe, courtesy, taxi and map. Button four displays a list of phone numbers allowing the pilot to make calls from the plane. Button five pops up a brightness control for all DFD screens and button six brings up customisable checklists.

Pilots who prefer a 'joystick' model control can go for the AveoSmartStick which provides the buttons present on the SmartYoke on a ring.

Capacity

The Aveo Phantom has a maximum all-up weight (MAUW) of 600kg and an empty weight of 290kg in standard form.

Engine

The engine selected for Phantom light aircraft is UL260i FADEC (full authority digital engine control), which provides fully electronic variable timing ignition and multipoint fuel injection. The direct-drive, low-rpm engine increases safety and reduces pilot workload through true single lever control. The UL260i eliminates the worries of icing problems, manual choke, leaning, intake air heating and the resulting power loss.