Blue Yonder EZ King Cobra

The Blue Yonder EZ King Cobra is a Canadian designed and built, single-engined, single-seat aircraft provided as a completed aircraft or in kit form by Blue Yonder Aviation. The aircraft is approximately a 60% scale replica of the Second World War Bell P-63 Kingcobra fighter.^[1]

EZ King Cobra
Role	Kit plane
National origin	Canada
Manufacturer	Blue Yonder Aviation
Designer	Wayne Winters
First flight	1998
Introduction	1998
Primary user	Private owners
Number built	1
Developed from	Merlin
Variants	EZ Harvard

The aircraft can be constructed in Canada as a basic ultra-light, or amateur-built aircraft, but is not currently available as an advanced ultra-light.^[2][3]

Development

The EZ King Cobra was designed by Wayne Winters of Indus, Alberta and based on the earlier EZ Merlin. The project was started as a customer request for an ultralight category scale replica of a fighter and was later offered as a commercially available kit aircraft.

Winters created the EZ King Cobra by designing a new cantilever wing based on the Merlin wing, itself based on the Lazair wing design. The fuselage is constructed of welded 4130 steel tube and has a canopy and fin that resembles the original fighter design. The aircraft retained the Junker's ailerons of the original Merlin wing along with the Clark "Y" airfoil and construction featuring a leading edge "D" cell and foam ribs. The prototype is powered by a Rotax 582 two stroke engine of 64 hp (48 kW).^[1][4]

The prototype of the new design flew in 1998. In the basic ultralight version gross weight is limited to the category maximum of 1,200 lb (544 kg).^[1]

The EZ King Cobra can accommodate a variety of powerplants:^[5]

• Rotax 503 50 hp (37 kW)
• Rotax 582 64 hp (48 kW)
• Rotax 912 80 hp (60 kW)

Operational history

Despite being widely demonstrated no further orders have been received for the type and the prototype remains the sole flying example.^[2]

Specifications (Rotax 582)

Data from Blue Yonder website^[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Capacity: 657 lb (298 kg) useful load
• Length: 21 ft 0 in (6.4 m)
• Wingspan: 27 ft 0 in (8.2 m)
• Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.8 m)
• Wing area: 158 sq ft (14.7 m²)
• Airfoil: Clark Y^[4]
• Empty weight: 543 lb (246 kg)
• Gross weight: 1,200 lb (544 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Rotax 582 fixed pitch, 64 hp (48 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 120 mph (194 km/h, 100 kn)
• Cruise speed: 90 mph (146 km/h, 78 kn)
• Stall speed: 30 mph (49 km/h, 26 kn)
• Range: 460 mi (740 km, 400 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 14,000 ft (4,270 m)
• Power/mass: 18.75 lb/hp (0.09 kW/kg)

See also

• Blue Yonder EZ Harvard