Rio Claro Araponga
# Rio Claro Araponga

The Rio Claro Araponga (Brazilian Portuguese name for the Neotropical bellbird), was a single-seat sailplane of high-wing.

## Design and development

In 1983, a group of aviators from the Rio Claro aero club decided to hire Sílvio de Oliveira, an aeronautical engineer, to develop a high performance monoplace glider. Initially it was planned to build two copies, the resources were pooled among the members. With classic lines and entirely built in native wood, with a plywood outer cover, it had conventional landing gear flaps formed by a fixed skid and a fixed roller, semi-embedded on the fuselage and fixed skid under the tail.

## Specifications

Data from Taylor 1986, p. 740, Pereira 1997, p. 360

General characteristics

* Crew: 1
* Length: 6.80 m (22 ft 4 in)
* Wingspan: 12.30 m (40 ft 4 in)
* Empty weight: 150 kg (331 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: 240 kg (529 lb)

Performance

* Stall speed: 69 km/h (43 mph, 37 kn)
* Aviation portal
