Brigante Aviation Company

BRIGANTE AVIATION COMPANY

INTRODUCTION

Brigante Aviation Company is based in Trinidad and Tobago. It is considered as Caribbean’s first aircraft manufacturing company. It is named after celtic tribe of people that had their residence in North West of England at the time of Romans. This kind of people were very lawless, disobedient and independent and caused enormous problems during occupations of Romans. The developer of Brigante Aviation is Michael Dutton. He is from United Kingdom. He selected the Brigante Aviation as the name of his company because he thought that his company had all the qualities embodied in the local people. In the past while working for himself as a consultant engineer, he had to design a fixed wing aircraft and helicopter for two different customers in California. Initially the helicopter was to be for a Movie Producer (Remington Chase, Envision Entertainment Ltd.) and the aircraft for a Canadian Gold mine, owned by a company (Discovery Minerals Ltd.) in Nevada. The requirement was cancelled by both parties, however Michael saw the potential in both designs and especially saw that his “Trigan” fixed wing aircraft design was particularly beautiful and fulfilled a very specific niche market. Trinidad & Tobago has a surprisingly long aviation past, with its close ties to South America, the UK and the USA. The main motive of this airplane is to connect with different islands. It has been necessary to maintain and service aircraft here and the Islands boast two ICAO certified international airports and the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority currently has FAA grade 1 status. Trigan aircraft is under development right now and will fly lately in 2020. Brigante- Aviation has applied to obtain D.O.A. (Design Organisation Approval) with EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) and is submitting all its designs for full FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) and EASA type approval.

ABOUT THE AIRCRAFT

EXTERNAL DESIGN:

The 'Trigan' aircraft of BAv. was aimed to design in such a way that it could be used in science fiction movies. Therefore its design is very unique with very advanced aerodynamics. The designer wanted it to be very efficient and also it should escape the norm. The most efficient place to put the engines is in the pusher configuration which is behind the main cabin at the rear fuselage. This also helps with noise and propeller de-icing.

There is a very interesting feature in this aircraft. The engine pylon continues down to the main wing for extra strength. As well as being strong, Michael decided to make the pylon extensions a lifting surface as well, to create a pylon/wing. When pylon is connected to the main wing it forms a box wing. It does not benefit the company commercially and reduces the wingspan of the aircraft. The wingspan of the aircraft is 37 feet only but its surface area is an enormous 186 square feet. The main wing is polyhedral. This means the inner wing is straight at the wing root but is then cantilevered upwards at the tips, in a similar way to the Phantom Jet, which also reduces vertices, since they act similar to wing lets, but without the straight forward drag factor penalty, since the cantilevered sections also produce lift.

The plane is dynamically stable. The T-Tail is also interestingly designed. The double wing produces a lot of lift. It also directs the airflow downwards. As a result, when in a deep stall, the horizontal tail section is still in undisturbed air, so avoiding problems some T-Tail aircraft have when in the deep stall.

The unique wing configuration is not only aesthetically pleasing, but it enables extreme stability without the need for “canards” at the front, which are expensive and an added complexity.

INTERNAL DESIGN:

The aircraft is designed for 4 people and 4 suitcases with unusual leg room of 9 meters long fuselage.

INTERNAL DESIGN FEATURES;

Normally for a composite aircraft all its strength is in its body. It has almost negligible "skeletal" structure. Therefore if the body is damaged strength is comprised.

In most modern aluminum skinned aircraft, the strength is partially in the skin and partially in the frame, where the ribs, stingers, former and so on, are very thin and thus need the skin of the aircraft to remain in shape.

In this aircraft, they have aggregated, for example, ten 1mm ribs into one 10mm rib. They can do this because of the stiffness of the carbon fiber, relative to aluminum. As a result, both skeleton and skin are equally able to maintain their strength, form and rigidity, independently. However, the overall weight is still less than an aluminum skinned aircraft.

Cab Design:

In order to maximize view of the runway, the  main windshields are scooped down in dramatic style to extend visibility whilst providing a striking visual appearance to the front of the aircraft, that has a unique individual and instantly recognizable style.

Wing leading edge:

Rather than have “Canards” as many “pusher” configurations have, the leading edge of the main wing has a forward sweep to provide nose lift.

AIRCRAFT DESIGN: POWER PLAN AND PERFORMANCE

It is planned that this will be a twin diesel aircraft and negotiations are underway with two diesel engine manufacturers. The company hopes to have more news of a deal struck in the near future when negotiations have finished.They will be installing two diesel, 200 HP engines of totally new FAA approved design giving the following performance characteristics.

Service ceiling 8000 feet (no oxygen) 19500 feet (with oxygen).

Maximum speed 190 kts

Range 1500 miles with extender tanks (and 300 miles reserve)

Duration 8.9 hours

Cruise speed 156 kts at 63% engine power

Stall speed 58 kts

Empty weight 1985 lbs

Maximum weight 4203 lbs (1906 kg approximately).

Fuel capacity 93 or 152 US Gallons

Wing Area: 186 square feet

Power: 400 HP. Comprising of two diesel plants of 200 HP per side.

Fuel load (JP8) 1018 lbs

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