The American Albatros is built originating with a stock Aero Vodochody L-39C airframe. With Its great looks and simple, robust construction it is a perfect starting point for the creation of a modern, safe and well performing airplane all while retaining +6/-4g aerobatic performance. The result of our conversion is not an enhanced L-39! With the huge weight reduction, efficient and reliable TFE731 powerplant, full avionics upgrade with ADSB in/out, synthetic vision, terrain, fully coupled autopilot and a great interior upgrade it is a completely different bird.

What do we keep?

The basic airframe is retained. So is the complete hydraulics and the wiring in the nose, empennage and wing. The nitrogen system that inflates the canopy seals and pressurizes the hydraulic reservoir is retained. The well performing air conditioning and cabin pressurization remains.

What’s ripped out?

The original AI-25 engine goes and with that the APU and associated instrumentation. The two steam gauge instrument panels are removed as is dozens of electrical boxes and several hundred pounds of wiring. With the reduction in electrical load the RAM AIR Turbine (RAT) is shed as it is no longer needed. The wing tip tanks are removed which gives the plane a fresh clean look while reducing both drag and weight.

In its new civilian use the heavy ejection seats are no longer useful and are replaced with elegant, purpose-built carbon seats.

What’s added?

A Honeywell TFE 731-3 engine with custom engine mounts, intake and exhaust ducting replaces the original plant while retaining the original engine mounting points. The engine is used but complies with all AD’s, has better than 1000hrs remaining on hot section and more than 1000 cycles remaining on lifecycle limited parts. Completely new instrument panels are installed with Garmin G3X touch screens (front and rear). Front panel also has a GNS 650 (optional GNS750) navigator and a G5 back-up instrument. Most components are remote mounted thus making them accessible from both cockpits. All side cockpit panels are replaced with new clean panels including storage compartments and USB charging ports.

Other enhancements

With the original airframe stripped everything is exposed and in a perfect state to be inspected, cleaned and brought up to proper working order. Wheel rims and bolts are crack tested. The engine bay paint is stripped and re-coated with an epoxy primer. The engine mounted hydraulic pump is replaced with an electrically powered unit. This reduces load during engine start and allows hydraulic operation without starting engine or external hydraulic mule. A custom designed HP/LP bleed air mixing system now allows the air conditioning to provide great climate control both at idle and in flight.

Optional add-ons

A state of the art, built-in, pulse-demand oxygen system from Mountain High is available as an option. This provides 40+ hours of O2 between fills with its large lightweight bottle and efficient metering. Also available is a dagger style fuselage mounted pitot/static probe set (Challenger 600 series). It further cleans up the great look of the plane while providing much improved altitude accuracy.