Zlín Z 42

Design and development

The aircraft were built by Moravan Aviation, founded in 1934 by Tomáš Baťa in the Czech Republic.

As a follow-on and replacement for the successful Zlin Trener series of tandem aerobatic trainers, Moravan developed a new family of light aircraft, featuring a side-by-side layout and comprising a two-seat trainer, the Zlín Z 42 and a four-seat trainer/tourer aircraft, the Zlín Z 43. The Z 42 first flew on 17 October 1967, achieving airworthiness certification on 7 September 1970.

The aircraft fuselage center section is of welded steel tube, covered with sheet metal and fiberglass panels. The tailcone is of monocoque construction. The empennage is of sheet metal. The two-spar wings are of all-metal construction. The tricycle landing gear is fixed, with a steerable nose wheel. Designed for aerobatics instruction, it was certified to +6.0 and -4.0 limit maneuvering load factors, and was equipped with full inverted fuel and oil systems permitting extended inverted flight. The Z 42 is powered by a Walter inverted six-cylinder engine rated at 134 kW (180 hp).

The revised Zlín Z 42M flew in November 1972, with a revised tail taken from the Z 43, and a Constant speed propeller replacing the variable pitch propellor (where the propellor pitch is controlled by the pilot) of the original Z 42. When early Z 42s were refitted with the new propellor, they were redesignated Z 42 MU.

Development continued, with the Zlin Z 142 featuring a slightly enlarged two-seat airframe based on that of the Z 42 and the more powerful (157 kW (210 hp)) Walter (now LOM) M 337 fuel-injected inverted 6-cylinder, supercharged air-cooled engine of the Z 43 replacing the unsupercharged M 137 engine of the Z 42. The prototype Z-142 first flew on 29 December 1978.

In the late 1980s further development work was initiated. The inverted inline engine was replaced with a four-cylinder horizontally opposed Lycoming IO-360 engine. This variant is designated the Z 242, and is immediately distinguishable by its relatively wide cowling which houses the flat-four engine.

Operational history

Two Z-142s were used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in bombing sorties on the Sri Lankan airforce bases in Sri Lanka in 2007. In October 2008 the Zlins were also used in an attack on a military base of the Sri Lanka Army, and a power station in the outskirts of the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Variants

Civil

The aircraft is popular with flying training organizations. One of the largest fleet operators is Sault College of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, which operates eleven 242Ls.

Military

Specification (Z42)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1971-72

General characteristics

Performance