Silent Club
A Silent Club towed by an Ultralight
Role	DU class sailplane Type of aircraft
National origin	Italy
Manufacturer	Alisport

The Silent Club is a single seater sailplane of Italian manufacture. It is of the FAI type DU Class glider. It is sold by Alisport ready-to-fly or kit-built as pure glider or self-launching glider. The self-launching version is fitted with a single-blade propeller belt-driven by a two-stroke engine or optionally by an electric motor.

The electric version was the first production electric-powered commercially available aircraft and appeared in 1997. It is driven by a 13 kW (17 hp) DC electric motor running on 40 kg (88 lb) of batteries that provide 1.4 kWh of energy.^[1]

The highly modified version, the Alisport Silent Club-J is a self-launching aerobatic jet motor glider shown on the U.S. airshow circuit and all over the world by Bob Carlton.^[2] It is powered by twin AMT-USA AT-450 jet engines (200 N (45 Lbf) of thrust each) originally developed for radio-controlled aircraft.^[3]

Design and development

• The fuselage is carbon and glass fiber composite with epoxy resin.
• The wingspan is 12 meters without winglets.
• The flaperons stretch for 10.0 meters of the full wingspan.
• Schempp-Hirth-type spoilers extend on the upper wing surface only.
• Fixed or retractable main wheel behind the pilot, with shock absorber and drum brake activated via spoiler control lever aft travel.
• The Silent Club has light ailerons, light elevator, along with a generous rudder. The roll rate is quick due to the lively feel of the ailerons.
• Stall is predictable and recovery is simple. In level flight as airspeed is reduced when approaching the stall speed the sailplane vibrates a little, at this point decreasing the angle of attack results in airspeed increase and normal flight resumes, from a climbing attitude the sailplane stalls decisively, the nose pitches down gently and recovery is easy with stick forward.
• Spin entry is obvious and recovered with rudder and stick.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: One pilot
• Length: 6.35 m (20 ft 10 in)
• Wingspan: 12.00 m (39 ft 4 in)
• Height: 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in)
• Wing area: 10.3 m² (111 sq ft)
• Aspect ratio: 14.0
• Empty weight: 125 kg (276 lb)
• Gross weight: 290 kg (639 lb)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 200 km/h (124 mph, 108 kn)
• Maximum glide ratio: 31 at 85 km/h (53 mph)
• Rate of sink: 0.70 m/s (138 ft/min)