Lockwood Aircraft Maxair Drifter II Taildragger Aircraft

Taildragger Aircraft Magazine - Lockwood Aircraft's Drifter II

By James Lawrence

Lockwood Aircraft's Super Drifter open-cockpit kitbuilt plane, the resurrection of the Drifter design that was the basic concept for Phil Lockwood's AirCam twin-engine airplane, (a unique camera platform first created for National Geographic), is getting a new set of tailfeathers. 
I first flew a Hummer ultralight, designed by Klaus Hill, back in the fall of 1980 at Crested Butte, CO. It belonged to hang gliding pal Gil Kinzie. 
We were in CB for a soaring contest and he let several of us fly it, though most of us had no general aviation training. Ah, those wild and wooly days of free flight. 

As such, the Drifter was one of the very first viable ultralights and presented a unique flying feel to its pilots: you sat out on the end of a long fuselage keel tube with everything - wings, motor, wheels - behind you! *** Once you got over the initial floating-in-space challenges to your comfort zone, you fell in love with the incredibly open, free feeling. 

But I digress. Lockwood Aircraft has brought back the beloved design as the Super Drifter, with an 81hp Rotax 912UL - which gives the 495 lb. (empty wgt.) bird a real kick in the pants! 

The tail mod, has two feet more horizontal span to augment pitch stability and elevator authority for float-equipped models. Lots of folks fly Super Drifters on floats.  Increasing the horsepower pops the Super Drifter off the water quickly and at low speeds, for shorter water takeoff runs. Low-power cruise makes for quiet flight, the power reserve is impressive and fuel efficiency is reputed to be super. The bird cruises between 55 and 75 mph. 
The new horizontal stabilizers will be available as a retrofit kit for existing float-equipped Super Drifters and standard on new kits going on floats, according to Lockwood's go-to guy George Weber. 

If you like to bolt things together and have a spare $45K or so laying around, the Super Drifter is one great way to go for purely fun flight. 

Length: 22 ft 0 in (6.71 m)
Wingspan: 30 ft 0 in (9.15 m)
Height: 10 ft 0 in (3.05 m)
Wing area: 160 sq ft (14.88 sq m)
Empty weight: 495 lbs (224 kg)
Useful load: 505 lbs (229 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 1000 lbs (454 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rotax 912 UL four stroke piston engine, 80 hp (60 kW)

Drifter II Performance Specifications

Never exceed speed: 85 mph (138 km/h)
Cruise speed: 75 mph (122 km/h)
Stall speed: 34 mph (55 km/h)
Range: 230 sm (373 km)
Rate of climb: 1000 fpm (5.08 m/s)
Wing loading: 6.25 lb/sq ft (30.51 kg/sq m)
Power/mass: 12.5 lb/hp (0.13 kW/kg)

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Ultralight Aircraft Magazine - Welcome to the Ultralight Aircraft News our goal is to cover as many aircraft expositions that host aircraft described as ultralight aircraft, light sport aircraft, experimental light sport aircraft, amateur built aircraft, ELSA or homebuilt aircraft that fit into the definition of ultralight aircraft in Canada or light sport aircraft, or experimental amateurbuilt light sport aircraft in the United States. 

These include three axis control aircraft, weight shift control aircraft, more commonly known as trikes, powered parachutes, helicopters, gyrocopters and powered para-gliders that meet the light sport or ultralight aircraft definition.

Airshows and aircraft expositions that we cover include, the Deland Sport Aviation Showcase, U.S. Sport Aviation Expo, Deland Sport Aviation Showcase, E.A.A.'s Sun N Fun, E.A.A.'s Airventure, the Midwest LSA Show, Copperstate, UPAC Convention and Aero Friedrichshafen in Germany. We try to regularly attend regional shows like the Arlington Fly-In, and Rocky Mountain Fly-In. 

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