WHO WE ARE
AIRCRAFT
YAK 52
The Yak-52 is a single-engine piston aircraft designed by the Yakovlev Design Bureau in Moscow, in the former Soviet Union, in the late 1970s. Of the more than 2,000 units produced, all were built by Aerostar in Bacău, Romania. In the communist system, aircraft were designed by "design bureaus" such as Yakovlev, Sukhoi, and MiG but manufactured in factories located elsewhere.
Like many Soviet military aircraft, the Yak-52 was designed to operate in harsh conditions, often on dirt runways or in low-maintenance environments, sometimes with tall grass and potholes – no problem for this rugged aircraft. As well as being great for aerobatics, the Yak-52 is stable and fun to fly, with an airframe designed to withstand 2,000 hours of continuous 7G flight.
The aircraft is powered by a Vedeneyev M-14P or M-14PF nine-cylinder, air-cooled radial engine with a rated power of 360-400 hp. The fuel and oil system is completely reversed, while the propeller, two or three blades, has variable pitch. One of the most distinctive features of the Yak-52, rare in Western aircraft, is its extensive pneumatic system: engine start, landing gear, flaps and wheel brakes are all pneumatically operated.
The landing gear is semi-retractable, with the nose gear retracting rearward and the main gear forward, but still partially exposed under the underside of the aircraft to ensure greater safety in the event of a wheels-up landing. The fuel system consists of two tanks in the wings, each with a capacity of 60 litres, which feed a smaller collection tank located in the fuselage.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
PERFORMANCE
Length: 7.7 m (25 ft 5 in)
Wingspan: 9.3 m (30 ft 6¼ in)
Height: 2.7 m (8 ft 10¼ in)
Wing area: 15 m² (161.5 ft²)
Empty weight: 1,015 kg (2,238 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 1,305 kg (2,877 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Vedeneyev M-14P/M-14PF
9-cylinder radial engine, 360/400 hp
Maximum allowable speed: 420 km/h (226 kts, 261 mph)
Maximum maneuvering speed: 320 km/h (172 kts, 200 mph)
Cruise speed: 190 km/h (103 kts, 118 mph) econ cruise at
1,000 m (3,280 ft)
Stall speed: 85-90 km/h (46-49 kts, 53-56 mph)
Range: 550 km (296 nmi, 341 mi)
Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,125 ft)
Rate of climb: 7.0 m/s (1,378 ft/min)
Power/mass: 300 W/kg (0.18 hp/lb)