science

Transavia PL-12 Airtruk

Transavia PL-12 Airtruk is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Transavia PL-12 Airtruk rather than just read about it. In short: The Transavia PL-12 Airtruk is a single-engine agricultural aircraft designed and built by the Transavia Corporation in Australia. The Airtruk is a shoulder-wing strut braced sesquiplane of all-metal construction, with the cockpit mounted above a tractor-location opposed-cylinder air-cooled engine and short pod fuselage with rear door.

Key takeaways

Transavia PL-12 Airtruk belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Transavia PL-12 Airtruk to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Transavia PL-12 Airtruk from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Transavia PL-12 Airtruk is a single-engine agricultural aircraft designed and built by the Transavia Corporation in Australia. The Airtruk is a shoulder-wing strut braced sesquiplane of all-metal construction, with the cockpit mounted above a tractor-location opposed-cylinder air-cooled engine and short pod fuselage with rear door. The engine cowling, rear fuselage and top decking are of fibreglass. It has a tricycle undercarriage, the main units of which are carried on the lower sesquiplane wings. It has twin tail booms with two unconnected tails. Its first flight was on 22 April 1965, and was certified on 10 February 1966. A Transavia PL-12 featured in the 1985 movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Design and development

It was developed from the Bennett Airtruck designed in New Zealand by Luigi Pellarini. It has a 1 tonne capacity hopper and is able to ferry two passengers as a topdresser. Other versions can be used as cargo, ambulance or aerial survey aircraft, and carry one passenger in the top deck and four in the lower deck. The Airtruk is also sometimes known as the Airtruck. Because the name "Airtruck" was registered by the New Zealand companies Bennett Aviation and Waitomo Aircraft, for their PL-11, Transavia found another name for its PL-12 ("Airtruk"). July 1978 saw the first flight of an improved model, the T-300 Skyfarmer, which was powered by a Textron Lycoming IO-540-engine. This was followed in 1981 by the T-300A with improved aerodynamics. Transavia ceased production of the T-300 in 1985. In 1982, certification was undertaken to enable sales in the North American market. Assistance was provided by the Aeronautical Research Laboratories of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and extensive tests carried out on the ground and in subsequent flight flutter clearance trials. In 1985, an extended version was produced and released as the T-400. The engine was changed from a 6-cylinder to an 8-cylinder and the tail booms extended by 750 millimetres (30 in). Other minor changes were made to the aerodynamics. Flutter clearance tests were again carried out by ARL and manufacture proceeded. An isolated flutter incident was reported in 1986 involving violent oscillations of the rudder and tail boom on the T-400 during a delivery flight. Investigations were carried out by ARL, and a split mass balance arm was fitted to each rudder. Prior to this, the aircraft had relied on frictional damping provided by the lengthy control cables. The modified aircraft was tested both on the ground and in flight trials in March 1988 over Port Philip, near Melbourne, Australia. All attempts to induce the oscillations showed that there was no indication of a mode of vibration becoming unstable. The maximum speed achieved was 160 knots (180 mph; 300 km/h) in a steep dive. Oscillations were induced with an air operated tool fitted with an out-of-balance rotating mass. This device had a rotational speed from 18 Hz down to zero for each charge of the compressed air cylinder. At least 120 had been built by 1988.

Operations and survivors

Australia The second prototype is preserved at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. Two PL-12s, including one assembled from parts of two aircraft, are on display at the Queensland Air Museum, Caloundra Airport. Denmark A PL-12 is on display and under restoration at the Danmarks Flymuseum at Stauning Vestjylland Airport in western Jutland. New Zealand A PL-12 is on display at the Museum of Transport & Technology, Auckland, New Zealand Spain A PL-12 is located at the Museum of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Madrid–Cuatro Vientos Airport. Indonesia

A PL-12 is placed at the entrance to a golf course (Padang golf Halim) in Halim Perdana Kusuma.

Variants

PL-12 Airtruk Single-engined agricultural aircraft. Powered by 300 hp (224 kW) Rolls-Royce Continental IO-520-D PL-12U Multi-purpose utility transport, air ambulance, aerial survey aircraft. T-320 Airtruk Powered by a 320-hp Continental/Rolls-Royce Tiara 6-320-2B piston engine. Skyfarmer T-300 Powered by Lycoming O-540 engine. Skyfarmer T-300A Improved version of the T-300. Skyfarmer T-400 Enlarged, more powerful (400 hp (298 kW) Lycoming O-720 engine. PL-12 MIL Proposed multi-role utility transport, air ambulance, forward air control, light attack, counter-insurgency aircraft. Also known as the M-300. PL-12 550T Proposed variant powered by a 550 hp (410 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprop engine.

Specifications (PL-12) Data from Jane's All the Worlds Aircraft 1988-89 General characteristics Crew: 1 Capacity: 2 passengers / 2,000 lb (910 kg) dry chemicals or 818 L (216 US gal; 180 imp gal) liquids Length: 21 ft 0 in (6.4 m) Wingspan: 39 ft 4 in (11.98 m) Height: 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) Wing area: 256 sq ft (23.8 m2) Airfoil: NACA 23012 Empty weight: 1,709 lb (775 kg) Max takeoff weight: 4,090 lb (1,855 kg) (agricultural mission) Fuel capacity: 181.5 L (47.9 US gal; 39.9 imp gal) in two upper wing fuel tanks with optional second tank in each wing for a total of 373 L (99 US gal; 82 imp gal) Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce/Continental IO-520-D 6-cylinder air-cooled horizontally opposed piston engine, 300 hp (220 kW) Propellers: 2-bladed McCauley constant speed metal propeller, 7 ft 4 in (2.23 m) diameter Performance

Maximum speed: 103 kn (119 mph, 191 km/h) Cruise speed: 95 kn (109 mph, 176 km/h) at 75% power at sea level ISA Stall speed: 52 kn (60 mph, 96 km/h) flaps down Never exceed speed: 180 kn (210 mph, 330 km/h) Rate of climb: 590 ft/min (3 m/s) Wing loading: 16 lb/sq ft (79 kg/m2) Power/mass: 0.12 kW/kg (0.073 hp/lb)

See also Aircraft of similar role, configuration, or era

Grumman Ag Cat

References

Notes

Bibliography Donald, David (editor). The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Leicester, UK: Blitz, 1997. ISBN 1-85605-375-X. Taylor, John W R. (editor). Jane's All the Worlds Aircraft 1976-77. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1976. ISBN 0-354-00538-3. Taylor, John W R. (editor). Jane's All the Worlds Aircraft 1988-89. Coulsdon, Surrey, UK: Jane's Information Group, 1988. ISBN 0-7106-0867-5.

External links

Transavia PL-12 Airtruk, kiwiaircraftimages.com Airtruk Capability, Transfeild Promotional Video The First Airtruks, Transfeild Promotional Video

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Transavia PL-12 Airtruk

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Transavia PL-12 Airtruk claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Transavia PL-12 Airtruk before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Transavia PL-12 Airtruk ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Transavia PL-12 Airtruk

In research: Transavia PL-12 Airtruk appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Transavia PL-12 Airtruk in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Transavia PL-12 Airtruk is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960s Australian agricultural aircraft, Aircraft first flown in 1965, Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Transavia PL-12 Airtruk outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Transavia PL-12 Airtruk in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Transavia PL-12 Airtruk means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Transavia PL-12 Airtruk out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Transavia PL-12 Airtruk in simple terms?

Why does Transavia PL-12 Airtruk matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Transavia PL-12 Airtruk?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Transavia PL-12 Airtruk.