The Victa Aircruiser was a 1960s Australian four-seat touring monoplane designed by Henry Millicer and built by Victa . It was not put into production by Victa, and the rights were sold to AESL in 1969.
19-504: Following the success of the earlier Airtourer , Millicer designed a four-seat version which he called the Aircruiser. The prototype registered VH-MVR first flew on 18 July 1966. Like the Airtourer it was a low-wing monoplane with a fixed nosewheel landing gear and powered by a 210 hp (157 kW) Continental IO-360-H piston engine. Rather than the sliding clear Perspex canopy of
38-688: A PAC P-750 XSTOL was observed flying at the Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival in September 2016. In February 2021, the company notified the CAA that it is insolvent, whilst it was unable to meet its obligations under the Civil Aviation Act. The New Zealand civil aviation authority suspended Pacific Aerospace's AOC. In April 2021, the company was bought out of administration by NZSkydive Ltd, continuing to trade under
57-486: A consortium of aviation professionals purchased the assets of the company and Pacific Aerospace Corporation became Pacific Aerospace Limited. In 2012, the Pacific Aerospace P-750 XSTOL aircraft was certified against ICAO Annex 6 for Single Engine IFR Passenger Transport Operations. In 2017, the company pleaded guilty to breaching United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 against North Korea after
76-589: A replacement for the Fletcher, which became the PAC Cresco and has in turn developed this into utility and skydiving variants. A new utility aircraft, the P-750 XSTOL , first flew in 2001. The company has also continued low-level CT4 production for over 30 years. In September 2005, an American firm's order for 12 PAC 750s was dishonoured, leading to controversy about government assistance to Pacific Aerospace. In 2006,
95-465: A subsidy of up to 60% of the factory cost. Following the sale of the design rights of the Airtourer to Aero Engine Services Limited (AESL) of New Zealand, the rights to the Aircruiser were also sold to AESL in 1969. AESL's Chief Designer Pat Monk re-designed the aircraft as the AESL CT/4 Airtrainer , a fully aerobatic (+6G, -3G) military trainer. In 2013 Brumby Aircraft Australia announced
114-475: Is an aircraft manufacturing company based in Hamilton, New Zealand . Along with its predecessors, it has sold more than 700 utility, training and agricultural aircraft. The company replaced Pacific Aerospace Ltd , which became insolvent and was liquidated in 2021. Pacific Aerospace was formed from two companies, Air Parts (NZ) Ltd and Aero Engine Services Ltd. Air Parts imported Fletcher FU-24s in kit form during
133-841: Is now on display at the MOTAT museum in Auckland The Australian Certificates of Type Approval for the Victa Air Tourer 100 and 115 are now held by the Airtourer Cooperative Ltd of New South Wales, Australia. Some 90 aircraft remain in Australia with around 20 or so elsewhere, mainly in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. VH-MVA was later re-engined and was the first Airtourer 115 around 1963. As for FMM, it
152-808: Is owned by the Museum of Victoria having last been displayed at the Australian Naval Aviation Museum in Nowra, NSW. The Air Tourer was produced with a 'square hand grip' on the centrally-located control stick. AESL produced 7 Airtourers from parts provided by Victa, before launching production of its own aircraft, ultimately produced in 7 different variants: The T7 was offered as a T6 with fixed-pitch propeller, but no orders were received for this configuration. Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1966–67 General characteristics Performance AESL NZSkydive Ltd , trading as NZAero ,
171-510: The Airtourer, the four-seat Aircruiser had a fixed cabin roof with a single "car type" door on the left hand side. Although Victa completed certification testing, no production of the Aircruiser followed, as Victa closed down its Aviation Division after failing to get financial assistance from the Australian government. Both Victa and Transavia Corporation had requested subsidies for Australian-designed and -built light aircraft, with Victa seeking
190-582: The Australian Government had rejected Victa's appeals for tariff protection assistance, or for direct subsidies to keep the production lines open, the company chose to suspend production of the Airtourer in February 1966, by which time it had built 172 Airtourers. While the Aviation division initially remained open to spares support for existing aircraft and to continue development of the four-seat Aircruiser ,
209-507: The Melbourne suburb of Williamstown during the late 1950s. This prototype, registered VH-FMM (nicknamed Foxtrot Mickey Mouse ) was first flown on 31 March 1959 by Flt. Lt.Randell Green at Moorabbin airport. The Airtourer design is of cantilever low-wing monoplane configuration, with a fixed tricycle landing gear. It has interconnected ailerons and flaps, with both systems functioning as both ailerons and as flaps when operated. The nosewheel
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#1732869133483228-629: The company had purchased the type certificate for the Victa Aircruiser to be developed into the Brumby Aircruiser . The specifications of the Aircruiser 2010 (with performance estimated) are as follows: Data from Janes All the World's Aircraft 1966–67 General characteristics Performance Related development AESL Airtourer The Victa Airtourer is an all-metal light low-wing monoplane touring aircraft that
247-436: The division was completely shut down on 20 January 1967. The manufacturing rights to the Airtourer were purchased the following year by the maintenance firm Aero Engine Services Ltd ( AESL ) in New Zealand where further production of 115 hp and 150 hp models took place until 1973. Henry Millicer had designed the Victa Aircruiser, a four-seater derivative design, powered by a 210 hp Continental O-360 engine, which
266-580: The late serial numbers issued by Victa were completed in NZ and issued with a NZ serial number (starting at 501). In addition, some of the Victa-built aircraft were rebuilt in the factory by AESL and issued with NZ serial numbers which accounts for some duplication. AESL delivery pilot Cliff Tait used an Airtourer, ZK-CXU Miss Jacy, for a record breaking flight, circumnavigating the globe between May and August 1969 and covering 53,097 km in 288 flying hours. Miss Jacy
285-736: The mid-1950s and began manufacturing a significantly-modified variant, known as the PAC Fletcher , in 1965. Aero Engine Services Ltd diversified from maintenance work into taking over production of the Victa Airtourer , a light aircraft it developed into a military trainer, the PAC CT/4 in the early 1970s. The two firms joined in 1973 as New Zealand Aerospace Industries, which became Pacific Aerospace Corporation in 1982. Shortly afterward, Pacific Aerospace won contracts to provide components to Boeing and Airbus . Pacific Aerospace took over NZAI's work on
304-562: Was certificated in 1967. AESL acquired the rights to the design in 1970 and it was used to form the basis of the CT/4 Airtrainer . A total of 168 were completed or significantly completed by Victa in Sydney and a further 80 built by AESL in Hamilton NZ. Actually it would be correct to say that 170 serial numbers were issued by Victa and 80 by AESL. Examination of the records show that some of
323-586: Was developed in Australia, and was manufactured in both Australia and New Zealand. The Airtourer was the winning design, submitted by Henry Millicer , the chief aerodynamicist of Australia's Government Aircraft Factories , in a competition organised by Britain's Royal Aero Club in 1953. A wooden prototype was constructed by a small group of enthusiasts (the Air Tourer Group of the Australian Ultra Light Aircraft Association) in
342-413: Was shown in the design by Mervyn Richardson , Chairman of Victa Ltd, which at that time was best known for making lawn mowers and light two-stroke engines. Richardson was interested in entering an aviation-related industry. During the period 1961 to 1966, Victa Ltd. undertook production of the all-metal Airtourer, building both 100 hp and 115 hp models. Victa production continued until 1966. As
361-524: Was steerable. Space was available for luggage (45 kg weight limit). The prototype was demonstrated to aero clubs and flying schools as a possible replacement for existing training aircraft, mostly Tiger Moths and Chipmunks . After trial flights over Melbourne and then to the Latrobe Valley Airport development continued to the all-metal version. The all-metal prototype to production standard ( VH-MVA ) followed on 12 December 1961. Interest
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