Spartan DFS Trike
The Spartan DFS Trike is an American ultralight aircraft designed and produced by Spartan Microlights. The aircraft was the first ultralight introduced that could be flown with a hang glider-style wing as an ultralight trike or with a powered parachute wing.

The designation of DFS stands for Dual Face System, referring to its ability to mount either hang glider or powered parachute wings.

Design and development
The aircraft was designed to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of . The aircraft has a standard empty weight of  with a Daedalus 190 hang glider wing. It features a cable-braced hang glider-style high-wing, weight-shift controls, a single-seat open cockpit, tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration. In powered parachute mode it uses a Shuttle GRX canopy and is controlled with aerodynamic brakes.

The aircraft fuselage is made from aluminum tubing, while the hang glider wing is made from bolted-together aluminum tubing and covered in Dacron sailcloth. The hang glider wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame control bar. A fiberglass cockpit fairing, windshield, brakes and floats are optional. The original engine supplied was the Rotax 277 single cylinder, two-stroke, air-cooled aircraft engine of , which is now out-of-production. Present engines available include the  Zanzottera MZ 34,  Hirth F-33 and the  Rotax 447.

In 2012 the aircraft was marketed under the name DFS Single.

Specifications (DFS with hang glider wing)

References

External links

1990s United States ultralight aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Powered parachutes
Ultralight trikes
Spartan Microlights aircraft