Aeronautica Chilena e Ibero Americana
FLYING LEGEND TUCANO-R IN CHILE
During the International Air and Space Fair, FIDAE 2024, visitors were able to observe a pair of airplanes, in shapes already known from previous editions but smaller in size. These were the Flying Legend Tucano-R and TP-75 Dulus aircraft.
The first of the airplanes corresponded to the civilian model presented by the Chilean company Vórtice, representative of the factory for all of Latin America, except Brazil and Central America.
The other aircraft featured the military version of the Air Force of the Dominican Republic (FARD), which represents the company Flying Legend for the Caribbean and Central America.
Both aircraft, at a 1:70 scale, are replicas of the successful Embraer EMB-312 Tucano model of the Brazilian Air Force.
Flying Legend S.R.L. is an aircraft manufacturer specialized in the design and production of 1:70 scale replicas of historical aircraft, based in the city of Caltagirone, in the province of Catania, Sicily.
The company is a project by Barum company owner (Bandiera Giacomo and Rummolino Francesco), organized as a limited liability company. Its first product in 2011 was the British Hawker Hurricane fighter of World War II.
This Hurricane was very well received by pilots and builders, especially in Great Britain, which motivated Flying Legend to choose another aircraft model that could generate high expectations. The choice could not have been more fortunate: the Embraer EMB-312 Tucano was selected.
A Brazilian training and attack aircraft, with high performance and extraordinary sales, with over eight hundred aircraft sold worldwide, including a variant for the Royal Air Force (RAF), the Short Tucano.
The Flying Legend Tucano is a light sport aircraft presented as kits for amateur assembly.
Flying Legend offers kits in three categories: basic assembly, advanced, and quick assembly. All include fuselage, wing, empennage, flight control kit, fixed or retractable landing gear, aluminum tanks, and canopy, as well as the necessary tool pieces for aircraft assembly.
It is estimated that an amateur builder requires approximately 1,100 hours to assemble the basic kit, 700 to 800 hours for the advanced kit, and 300 to 350 hours for the quick assembly kit.
The Flying Legend Tucano-R was designed to fulfill the role of a light sport aircraft, with an economical cost per flight hour.
It is manufactured entirely from aluminum and has very strong landing gear, necessary for its role as a basic trainer. It can land on asphalt and grass runways and is capable of performing basic aerobatic maneuvers due to its load factor of +6/-3G.
Its cockpit allows excellent visibility for both the instructor, seated behind and higher, and the student, seated in front, in a tandem cockpit.
It features a low wing, bubble canopy, and retractable landing gear. For the American light sport aircraft market, a fixed landing gear version was developed. The engine equipping this remarkable aircraft comes in various powers: the Rotax 912ULS of 100 HP (75 kW), the Rotax 914 of 115 HP (86 kW), the Rotax 915 of 141 HP (105 kW), and the Motor-D LF39 of 125 HP (93 kW).
In Europe and also in the United States, there are a good number of Flying Legend Tucano-Rs in flight, and there are groups that organize raids with this model as part of their activities.
The first military customer to use this aircraft is the Air Force of the Dominican Republic (FARD), which in 2022 placed an order for ten aircraft to be assembled at
San Isidro Air Base, receiving the designation TP-75 Dulus, corresponding to the acronym Trainer-Patrol, the 75 years of FARD, and the national bird of the Dominican Republic.
The chosen version is equipped with the Rotax 915iS turbocharged 141 HP engine. It uses conventional fuel in its tanks, giving it an autonomy of five and a half hours of flight. With auxiliary tanks in its wings, autonomy extends to seven hours.
Its cruising speed is 150 KTAS (287 km/h), reaching an operational ceiling of 21,000 feet.
Other accessories included for this version are two computers for engine regulation, state-of-the-art avionics with touch screens, and an autopilot system, allowing night and instrument flights.
These elements are complemented by a ballistic parachute and an auditory alarm to indicate stall or approach to the ground.
The first two aircraft performed their maiden test flight on December 9, 2023. After these tests, they were assigned to the Combat Squadron “Dragones” of the Air Force of the Dominican Republic.
For all aviation enthusiasts, there is a dream to be fulfilled at least once in life: visiting the largest air fair in the world, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
This event is organized by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) at the Wittman Regional Airport in Wisconsin, United States of America. To give an idea, each edition is visited by over six hundred thousand people. At one past edition, our friend Ricardo Barraza Lämmermann, now Commander of Latam Airlines, former Officer of the Chilean Air Force and civil pilot, attended. Like the thousands of others present, he not only witnessed the shows offered by the organization but also visited the hundreds of exhibits, among which he saw several examples of the Flying Legend in the R version corresponding to the Embraer EMB-312 Tucano.
Once the fair concluded, he traveled to Archer City Airport, Texas, where Flying Legend’s representation in the United States is located, to get a closer look at the aircraft. This included demonstration flights on board, which concluded with the acquisition of an aircraft from this company.
The next step was traveling to Italy, Sicily, Caltagirone, where the Flying Legend main factory is located, to familiarize himself and work on the construction of his aircraft.
Once the manufacturing process of the aircraft was completed, it was necessary to choose the color and scheme for the airplane, opting for the one used by the RAF in its Short Tucano model.
With the plane painted, it was ready to be shipped to Chile.
The aircraft arrived directly at its owner’s hangar at the “La Victoria de Chacabuco” Aerodrome, where assembly took place, which took two and a half years, before registering it in the National Aircraft Registry with the registration CC-DKS (s/n° TR-2109).
Its first flight was on March 19, 2024. From that date onward, it is possible to admire its prowess and elegance at various aeronautical events in the country.
It should be noted that today another similar aircraft is being assembled in the hangar of its new owner at the same “La Victoria de Chacabuco” aerodrome.
This new aircraft was acquired from the company Vórtice.
