First Savage Norden with “shock absorbers” landing gear, flying in Romania…
Backcountry Flying
To be able to land “anywhere”, in ridiculously small spaces, with maximum safety, at very low speeds, with an airplane that enables you to overcome the most demanding rough terrains, cannot be only reduced to a number of technical aspects. Because there is simply nothing more emotional and engaging than leaving your daily routine, finally flying to the mountains, reaching that remote valley, to then land beside a twisty river. You jump out of the plane, starting to breathe deeply, after that incredible landing. What a wonderful place, all around you... Instead of the smog and the noise of the city, you now scent pine trees flagrance while the fresh and clean air, simply floods your lungs. You arrived into an unique place, nobody is around you and the only sound is now coming by the smooth flow of that river. You might as well spend a couple of nights there, sleeping inside your own airplane… Why not?
To live this kind of freedom and to offer this kind of performances, represent our vision and what we mean for "Backcountry flying”…
Are you ready to enjoy your next adventure?
To live this kind of freedom and to offer this kind of performances, represent our vision and what we mean for "Backcountry flying”…
Are you ready to enjoy your next adventure?
LATEST NEWS
Two New Norden heading USA
Two nice new Norden, heading USA on Monday. Other 8 planes, will take the same direction starting from next month. And of course this doesn’t mean that we don’t care…
First Savage Cub certified in the 560 kg. class in Sweden
First Savage Cub certified in the 560 kg. class in Sweden. This nice Cub, is now flying there and will be followed soon by some other Savage planes. At the…
Safety Alert n.13
Have a look in the Owner’s Area section, under “Technical Documents”…Please: read, share and contact us in case of any doubt or need.
The Norden at Valdez Fly Inn
Mr. Gary Green with his “stock” Norden 915iS (141 hp) just participated in the 2023 Valdez Fly Inn, the world’s most famous STOL competition that takes place in Alaska every…
SOCIAL
It took time to fine tune our Norden equipped with the EP 917Ti...but it was worth it : "350 kg" of static thrust or if you prefer "771 lbs". Actually it is even more if we consider the extra drag offered by the large 29" bushwheels on the ground. We tested many props, but this new Carbon 5 blade one, made by E-Props, offered the best results (waiting now for their next constant speed prop coming in Spring). Finally the plane can be delivered to his proud owner.
Two nice new Norden, heading USA on Monday. ![]()
Other 8 planes, will take the same direction starting from next month. And of course this doesn't mean that we don't care about the other markets, next Norden in fact will go to South Africa and it's actually pretty much ready.
"TYPINTYG NLF No-07"![]()
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First Savage Cub certified in the 560 kg. class in Sweden. ![]()
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This nice Cub, is now flying there and will be followed soon by some other Savage planes.![]()
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At the same time, we just delivered the first Norden with its "special landing gear" in Norway. ![]()
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Both planes, sure will feel at home in these beautiful Scandinavian Nordic Countries.
Mr. Gary Green with his “stock” Norden 915iS (141 hp) just participated in the 2023 Valdez Fly Inn, the world’s most famous STOL competition that takes place in Alaska every year.![]()
With his best performance of 162ft/49,4 mt. take off and landing distance (together), Gary was very competitive, considering all the powerful Piper Super Cub present in the BUSH category and the other 3 planes present in the ALTERNATE BUSH.![]()
We like to remember that in the 2019 event in Valdez, Gary made the shortest landing of the whole competition with his Shock Cub.
All is ready for AERO 2023, starting on Wednesday next week at Friedrichshafen (D)… Visit us at our booth (B2-408) to get a good coffee and to see our last news. Not only our planes but even new powerful engines and accessories will be shown for the first time.
First Norden with the new landing gear, under final assembling. This plane needs only to be paired with a powerful engine, to become the ultimate STOL machine. About power, some exciting news are close to come of course!
Our company will officially participate in Aero Friedrichshafen (19-22 April), showing the Savage Norden in Germany for the first time. Anyone interested will find us at stand B2-408. ![]()
We missed AERO and we can’t wait to be there once again, showing our production and latest news.
Finally the new website is online : www.zlinaero.com ![]()
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It was a long and complex work and we have to thank some people of course for their help. From a technical point of view and for the final realization, we want to thank the web agency we contacted (www.intersoft.mo.it) for the constant and patient help.![]()
While we can't fail to mention in particular for the photos of his Savage Cruiser "Vieux Bandit", our friend Maxime Compagnon ( www.thestolcollective.com );![]()
for some photos of a Cub, a Cruiser and a Shock Ultra, our Spanish dealer and bushpilot Arturo Polo Ena ( www.amilpies.com ); ![]()
for some great photos and a fantastic video of his Shock Cub and his Norden in Alaska, the "flying cowboy" Mr. Gary Green (akflyingcowboy@gmail.com); last but not least our Czech dealer, the talented aerobatic pilot Marek Hyka ( www.savageaircraft.cz) for some spectacular pics of his Norden. Tks to all of you.
As anticipated, we had by long time the intention to offer a new landing gear for the Savage Norden, with the aim to increase its landing performances, during the off airport operations. ![]()
The long experience, accumulated with our Shock Cub and Ultra, drove us in designing this new landing gear, with the ambition to create a plane, that could be still quite fast in terms of real cruise speed, as the Norden has already shown, but at the same time with new outstanding landing characteristics during backcountry operations.![]()
The drop tests, are basically finished now and have shown a tremendous capacity to absorb heavy loads. The Norden is mainly an LSA and an ULM (in Europe) and the drop tests required for these categories are really less extreme than the ones we made.![]()
We decided for these tests, to follow the more stringent FAA Part 23 (airworthiness standards: normal, utility, acrobatic and commuter category airplanes) about the so called "free drop test”, starting from the maximum height they require: 18,7” (47,5 cm) while the minimum height required is 9,2” (23,3 cm). This kind of test was done using the MTOW of 1.322 lbs (600 kg), while just for information, some other rules, allow to detract about 1/3 of this weight, since they consider that even during a stall, the wings will still have some residual lift. Never mind, we tested the max weight from 19,6” (50 cm), that is slightly above what is required by these FAA rules. The test result proved to be comparable to a normal routinary landing for this new system, without any rebound or problem shown. So we raised the bar, testing the plane this time from 39,3” (100 cm) that represents 2,1 times the max height requested by the strongest regulations in terms of drop tests. Again no issues for the structure and the whole landing system, we just noticed this time some rebound that we will easily adjust later in the next weeks. So we asked then to ourself why not to test the plane with an higher MTOW, reaching now the value of 1.763 lbs (800 kg) that represents an increase of +33% compared to the starting 1.322lbs/600 kg MTOW. Again we tested from an height of 19,6” (50 cm and no issues) and then from 39,3” (100 cm and still no issues). ![]()
Again we noticed just some rebound, that will be adjusted soon, doing a fine tune of the shock absorbers and the operative pressures involved.![]()
So at this point we decided to create some more serious problems to the new landing gear, its components and eventually even to the fuselage. This time we decided to test the 1.322 lbs (600 kg) from an height of 59” (150 cm) that means 3,15 times the MAX height imposed by the FAA rules. The tests haven’t shown any problem or residual deformation on any part of the fuselage and the landing gear. As you will see in the video, we added to the engine mount, in the right position, an aluminium profile, to simulate the position of the propeller, to understand if during some of these drop tests, a prop, in real life, could strike or not the ground. And until this test, the fake propeller has never shown this problem.![]()
Since this last test was again really positive, we decided then to make last, potentially destructive, drop test: 1.763 lbs (800 kg) from 59” (150 cm) of height. But again nothing serious happened. The only issue has been the contact of the fake propeller with the ground and the incapacity of the landing gear, after this catastrophic free drop test, to fully retract the legs into the original position, due to the drag caused by the tires under this huge load...When we raised the fuselage from the ground, by about 1” (2,5 cm), the landing gear, the axles, the shock absorbers etc, have shown that again all was fine, without any part broken or bent.![]()
We had many markers on the fuselage and we checked them after every drop test, not noticing any permanent deformation. So after 25 drop tests, done on a fuselage that was already stressed by all the other static tests required by the rules, including the ones for the glider towing, we would like to thank also our partner "TK1 Racing” who provided us with these sturdy and beautiful shock absorbers. They will be available in 4 different colours and we will start to deliver the first Norden with this landing gear by the end of the current year. The system will not be retrofittable, since the bottom of the cabin, the V cabane and other parts, are differently made and reinforced, compared to the standard fuselage. The extra weight will be about +12 lbs (5.5 kg).
