| Monerai | |
|---|---|
 Monerai S | |
| General information | |
| Type | Sailplane |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Monnett Experimental Aircraft |
| Designer | |
| Number built | 100 by January 1984 from 375 kits sold |
| History | |
| Introduction date | 1978 |
| First flight | 1978 |
The Monnett Monerai is a sailplane that was developed in the United States in the late 1970s for homebuilding. It is a conventional pod-and-boom design with a V-tail and a mid-mounted cantilever wing of constant chord.
The kit assembles in approximately 600 hours. It has bonded wing skins and incorporates 90° flaps for glide path control. The pod-and-boom fuselage consists of a welded steel tube truss encased in a fiberglass shell, with an aluminum tube for the tailboom. A spar fitting modification was released in 1983.[1]
A powered version was designed as the Monerai P with an engine mounted on a pylon above the wings. A Sachs Rotary Engine was chosen for the prototype.[2] A version with extended wing tips is also available (Monerai Max) which increases the span to 12 m (39 ft) and raises the glide ratio from 28:1 to more than 30:1.[3]
The powered Monerai P and the unpowered Monerai S versions are identical structurally.
- ^ Moll, Nigel; Comstock, Bryan (May 1983). "Monerai Service Bulletin". Reporting Points. Flying. Vol. 110, no. 5. Ziff Davis. p. 12. ISSN 0015-4806. Retrieved 15 August 2016 – via Google Books.
- ^ John Monnett (Oct 1977). "Try a new flavor... the Monerai". Sport Aviation.
- ^ Said, Bob: 1983 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine, page 123. Soaring Society of America, November 1983. USPS 499-920