Gippsland GA200

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GA200 Fatman

Type	Light Agricultural
Manufacturer	Gippsland Aeronautics
Designed by	Gippsland Aeronautics
Maiden flight	1990
Primary user	United States Civil Air Patrol (17 Airframes).

Two Gippsland Aeronautics GA-200C Fatmans flying in formation over home base in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. (© Gippsland Aeronautics)

Gippsland Aeronautics GA-200C Fatman VH-FJW, Australia. (© Gippsland Aeronautics)

Gippsland Aeronautics GA-200 N209GA, Canada - British Columbia. This aircraft was converted to photo reconnaissance on major gas lines in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains during forest fires in 2001. (© Edmond Corson)

The Gippsland GA-200C or Fatman is the product of a continuous line of development of light agricultural aircraft by Gippsland Aeronautics that can be traced back to 1971.

1 GA200/GA200C Fatman
2 Certification
3 Specifications and Performance
4 Airframe Design
5 External links

[edit] GA200/GA200C Fatman

Based on the Piper Pawnee, the aircraft has evolved over a number of “proof of concept” prototypes, each proving successive major design innovations under all types of ‘in the field’ operating conditions. Considerably more than 10 years and 10,000 hours of agricultural experience has been gained on the prototype aircraft. All of the knowledge gained as a result of this experience has now been incorporated in the GA-200C.

[edit] Certification

Full Certification of the GA-200 was achieved on 1st March 1991. A Certificate of Type Approval N0. 83-6 was issued by the Australian CAA for the aircraft on that date, the first to be issued for a totally new aircraft design in Australia since the Nomad, some 20 years earlier. The certification basis was the Australian design requirement CAO 101.16 & 101.22. These requirements in turn incorporated the requirements of FAR 23.

The bottom line for the GA-200C operator is a 40 to 50% more payload per flight for similar direct operating costs compared to earlier generation light agricultural aircraft such as the Pawnee, Agwagon and similar. The increase in productivity combined with lower maintenance costs ensures that a significant increase in profitability results.

To date, 50 GA200 Fatman aircraft have been manufactured in the Latrobe Valley, 28 of which have been exported to countries throughout the world including New Zealand, China, the USA, Canada, South Africa and Brazil.

In the late 1990s, GA200 Fatman production was scaled down to make way for the Airvan.

2007/8 may see the new GA200C (or D) rolled out and added to the expanding production line at Gippsland Aeronautics.

[edit] Specifications and Performance

Seating Capacity: 2
Span: 11.98 m (39’4’’)
Length: 7.48 m (24'5)
Height: (3 point attitude to top of cockpit) 2.33 m (91.7”
Certified Take-Off Weight: 1524 kg (3360 lbs)
Typical Agricultural Take-Off Weight:(Australian Ops only) - 1996 kg (4400 lbs)
Oil Capacity: 11.4 lt (12 US Qts)
Useable Fuel Capacity (Wings): 200 lt (53USG)
Hopper Capacity: 1050 Lt (270 US gal)
Engine: Lycoming I0-540-K1A5
Propeller: Hartzell HC-C2YR-1BF/F8475R
Stall Speed (1524 kg - 0 degree Flap): 57 KIAS
Stall Speed (1524 kg - 38 degree Flap): 51 KIAS
Ferry Speed (1524 Kg, Clean, 1000 ft, ISA): 110 KTAS

[edit] Airframe Design

Wings Structure: The traditional “stutt braced” design concept was chosen to allow the minimum possible structural wing weight, saving  45 Kg [100 lbs.] over a cantilever spar design. This allows a correspondingly greater maximum payload for a given horsepower. The configuration also provides a very “crashworthy” structure to provide a good “fly on” capability following an obstacle strike. The design has been optimised for maximum strength to weight ratio by using “state of the art” finite element computer analysis methods. An initial conservative fatigue life of 15,000 hours has been granted by the Australian CASA and will extend, as a result of on-going tests becomes available.

The all-metal wing panels are a complete new design from the Piper Pawnee & have full depth laminated fail safe spars. The outboard section is joined to the inner section at the strut intersection by load distribution doublers. This allows the relatively easy replacement of the outer wing panels. All components are corrosion proofed in special side workshops prior to assembly in Gippsland Aeronautics main hangers one, two and three.

Leading Edges: These consist of easily replaceable segments to minimise down time due to bird strike and other minor leading edge impacts It should be noted that these segments are not handed, one spare can be fitted at any position on either wing. This is unique to the Fatman.

Flaps: The semi span flaps are of slotted design and are effective in all flight regimes. The 15 degrees ‘Take-Off’ position assists with early rising of the tail and main wheel lift off, thus reducing take-off ground roll significantly. At a hopper payload of 1050 Kg the ground roll has been measured at approximately 420 meters (1380 ft) with zero wind and 15 degrees Celcius at sea level.

Full flap (38 degrees) allows light weight landing approach speed of approximately 50-55 knots comfortable short field landings with a typical ground roll of 200 metres (650 feet). The flaps can also be used in normal operations and significantly reduce turn radius when the aircraft is fully loaded.

Another important design feature of the flap system is that there is no noticeable change in pitch trim with the extension of the flaps. This has been achieved by the incorporation of a simple interconnect system which applies bias to the elevator trim springs when the flap are extended.

Ailerons: The ailerons are gap sealed and provide light and responsive behaviour to minimise pilot fatigue. The ailerons allow a high roll rate of approximately 3 seconds from 45 degree bank through to 45 degree bank the other way at normal working airspeeds. This is unique to the Fatman.

Wing Tips: These are removable assemblies to allow easy replacement in the event of damage. Their shape has evolved over a number of years of “in the field” testing to provide the best possible swath width without compromising aircraft performance and maintaining small controlled tip vortex.

Fuselage Structure: The fuselage structure is a welded SAE 4130 chromium molybdenum steel tube assembly. The design has been optimised for maximum strength to weight ratio by using finite element computer analysis methods. The forward fuselage has been designed to progressively crumple in the event of a sudden forward deceleration.

Metal side panels attached by half turn ‘Dzus’ fasteners are fitted to both sides of the fuselage from the engine bay back past the rear cockpit. These allow ready accessibility for ease of inspection, maintenance and cleaning. Additionally the rear fuselage upper turtledeck is easily removed for rear fuselage inspection, maintenance and cleaning.

Configuration: The traditional and time proven safety of the pilot behind and above the load configuration has been used. A second seat for transporting the loader driver or to allow aerial viewing by the farmer has been a long request design feature. This seat is fitted to the right of the pilot seat. The side by side seating arrangement was chosen to minimise C of G shift with cockpit load as well as to fully utilise the wide fuselage structure that was necessitated by the fitting of the larger 1070 litre (270 US gall) capacity hopper.