Top speed 198 km/h Wingspan 9 m | Length 6.6 m | |
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The ICP Savannah is a high wing, single engine, ultralight with side-by-side seating for two produced in Italy by ICP srl. It has sold in large numbers, particularly in Europe. The Savannah is in production, sold in both kit and ready to fly form.
Contents
- Building icp savannah s
- Design and development
- Operational history
- Variants
- Specifications XL Jabiru engine
- References
Building icp savannah s
Design and development
The Savannah is a conventionally laid out two seat aircraft which can be bought in ready to fly or kit form. It is commonly registered as a light-sport aircraft in the United States and as an ultralight elsewhere. It has much in common with the Zenith CH 701, though the Savannah has a different empennage; later versions have further diverged from the Zenith, particularly in the wing design. Manufacture (both ready to fly and kits) is done in the ICP premises located in Castelnuovo Don Bosco (Piedmont, Italy), where the firm moved on September 10, 2009 from the original plant in Piovà Massaia.
Structurally, the Savannah is a metal semi-monocoque. Most variants have a constant chord wing like that of the Zenith, with flaps and ailerons combined into Junkers-style flaperons. The Savannah Advanced has a shorter, tapered wing. Early variants retained full span leading edge slats, later replaced with vortex generators. The high wing is braced to the lower fuselage with a V-pair of struts on each side. At their base, the spatted mainwheels of the tricycle undercarriage are mounted on cantilever legs. The Savannah can be mounted on Kevlar/carbon fiber floats; swapping from land to water gear takes about 150 min. An alternative floatplane version, using amphibious floats, was called the Savannah Hydro.
Savannahs have been powered with a variety of small engines in the 35-70 kW range. The cabin seats two side by side under the wing, the newer XL version having increased width and enhanced glazing. Aft, the fuselage is flat sided, with the underside rising towards the tail. The rectangular tailplane and elevators, which use a conventional airfoil unlike that of the Zenith, are set at the top of the fuselage with the rudder running between the elevators to the keel. Fin and rudder are straight tapered and slightly swept.
Zenith STOL CH 701 designer Chris Heintz considers the Savannah an unauthorized copy of his design. Despite this, ICP and Zenair began a partnership in 2012 whereby ICP assembles the ready-to-fly version of the low wing Zenair 650Ei, an evolution of the AMD Zodiac, for the European market.
Operational history
Sales, beginning around 2000, had by 2010 reached 650 aircraft or kits. As of mid-2010 there have been about 513 Savannahs and Bingos on the registers of European countries west of Russia. Smaller numbers fly in North America, where the agents was Skykits Co., replaced in 2011 by I.C.P. Aviation North America, LLC (ICPANA), and elsewhere.
It is expected that the total number of ICP aircraft (all models, mainly Savannah and Bingo) produced will exceed 2,000 units by the end of 2011.
In 2008 an order from the Indian Air Force was expected.
Variants
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 2010/11
Specifications (XL - Jabiru engine)
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 2010/11
General characteristics
Performance