[3e] Yakovlev Yak-52

[Phaelen Bleux]

Yakovlev Yak-52
Designed by the Soviet Union as a primary trainer, the all-metal Yak-52 was developed from the aerobatic Yak-50 aircraft. All-metal in construction, many of the plane's controls are pneumatic. It features tricycle landing gear and a two-blade fiberglass propeller. The plane is very easy to fly, and has become a popular aerobatic aircraft in its own right, as well as a trainer or pleasure aircraft. The Yak-52 was introduced in 1979, and is still being produced in Romania under contact. Will the fall of the Soviet Union, many planes have be exported to the West, where they are refurbished, upgraded, and flown for pleasure.
The Yak-52 has a crew of 2: pilot and instructor. The plane burns 12 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. The historical range is 341 miles.

Subassemblies: Body with Fair Streamlining +2, two Wings +1, three small retractable Wheels -1.
Powertrain: 268-kW aerial propeller with 268-kW supercharged HP gasoline engine, 4,000-kWs lead acid battery.
Fuel: 31 gallons aviation gas in Standard fuel tank (Fire 13).
Occupancy: 2 NCS
Cargo: 2 cf.

Armor
All: 2/3

Equipment:
Body: Medium-range radio (30-mile), flight recorder, navigation instruments, autopilot, dual controls.

Statistics:
Size: 25'x30'x9' Payload: 0.32 tons Lwt.: 1.44 tons
Volume: 190 cf. Maint.: 64 hours Price: $96,667

HT: 11. HPs: 90 Body, 61 each wing, 16 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 177 aAccel: 7 aDecel: 36 aMR: 9 aSR: 3
Stall Speed: 56.
gSpeed: 218 gAccel: 11 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.5 gSR: 2
Take Off Run: 186 yards. Landing Run: 219 yards.

Design Notes:
Body is 90 cf; wings are 50 cf each and wheels are 4.5 cf. Structure is Light, Standard with Fair streamlining. Armor is expensive metal. Mechanical controls. Empty weight is 2,238 lbs.
Design loaded weight was 2,859 lbs.; this was increased 1% to the historical. The wing volume was reverse engineered from actual wing area (162 sf). Design aSpeed was 223 mph (the actual plane's Never Exceed Speed); design stall speed was 57 mph; real-world values are shown above. Landing and take-off run values are also real-world values.

Variants:
In the west, planes recently upgraded often include a 298-kW engine, a 3-bladed prop, improved avionics, and a GPS. Auxiliary fuel tanks may also be placed in the wings, giving an additional fuel capacity of 32 gallons. Some aircraft are converted to "tail-dragger" landing gear. A refurbished Yak-52 can be currently had for about $150,000.
The Yak-52TW is a factory produced tail-dragger upgrade as described above. The Yak-52M (2004) is a modernized version produced in Russia.