Sabre 340
{{Short description|American ultralight trike}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2022}}
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
| name=340 | image=File:Sabre 340 Trike.JPG | caption= }}{{Infobox aircraft type | type=Ultralight trike | national origin=United States | manufacturer=Sabre Aircraft | designer= | first flight= | introduced=1991 | retired= | status=Production completed | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built= | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Sabre 340 is an American ultralight trike that was designed and produced by Sabre Aircraft of Buckeye, Arizona. The aircraft was supplied fully assembled.Cliche, Andre: Ultralight Aircraft Shopper's Guide 8th Edition, page C-20. Cybair Limited Publishing, 2001. {{ISBN|0-9680628-1-4}}Downey, Julia: 2000 Trike and 'Chute Directory, Kitplanes, Volume 17, Number 2, February 2000, page 48. Kitplanes Acquisition Company. ISSN 0891-1851
The 340 was introduced in 1991. Sabre Aircraft ceased operations in 2008.{{Cite web|url = http://www.sabretrikes.com|title = Welcome to Sabre Aircraft|accessdate = 23 January 2012|last = Sabre Aircraft|date = 2008 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20080330222633/http://www.sabretrikes.com/ |archivedate = 30 March 2008}}
Design and development
The aircraft was designed with a focus on low cost, to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of {{convert|254|lb|kg|0|abbr=on}}. The aircraft has a standard empty weight of {{convert|215|lb|kg|0|abbr=on}} with the Sabre 14 wing. It features a cable-braced hang glider-style high wing, weight-shift controls, a single-seat open cockpit, tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration.
The aircraft is made from tubing, with its single-surface Sabre 14 wing covered in Dacron sailcloth. Its {{convert|34|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} span wing is supported by a single tube-type kingpost and uses an "A" frame control bar. As a budget design the basic aircraft has no cockpit fairing or windshield, but does feature nosewheel suspension and heavy-duty main landing gear struts as standard equipment. The standard engine supplied was the twin cylinder, two-stroke, air-cooled Kawasaki 340 snowmobile engine, which produces {{convert|30|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}}. Available factory options included a fiberglass cockpit fairing, nosewheel brakes, wheel pants, ballistic parachute and an aero-tow kit. Optional engines included the {{convert|40|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} Rotax 447 and the {{convert|50|hp|kW|0|abbr=on}} Rotax 503. The standard wing supplied was Sabre Aircraft's own Sabre 14 single-surface wing, with the double-surface Ukrainian-built Aeros Stranger 15 wing optional.
The design achieved a very low price point and in its basic configuration sold for US$6,000, complete and ready to fly, in the late 1990s. It was the least expensive complete aircraft available at that time.
Specifications (340)
{{Aircraft specs
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|gross weight lb=600
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|fuel capacity={{convert|5|u.s.gal}}
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|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Kawasaki 340
|eng1 type=twin cylinder, two-stroke, air-cooled snowmobile engine
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|eng1 hp=30
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|cruise speed mph=50
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|stall speed mph=26
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|range km=
|range miles=120
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|ceiling m=
|ceiling ft=10000
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|climb rate ftmin=700
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References
{{commons category|Sabre 340}}
{{reflist}}
{{Sabre Aircraft}}
Category:1990s United States ultralight aircraft