Lascurain Aura

The Lascurain Aura was a prototype of a regional aircraft designed and built for Mexican engineer Angel Lascurain. It was the largest aircraft designed and built in Mexico.[3]

Lascurain Aura
Role Regional airliner / Utility aircraft
National origin  Mexico
Manufacturer Ángel Lascurain y Osio
Designer Ángel Lascurain y Osio & Juan Cortina Portilla[1]
First flight 1957
Status Retired
Number built 1[2]

Development

Lascurain wanted to manufacture an aircraft designed for the regional airlines of some parts of Mexico that required connecting populations in very rugged geographical areas that had no access to any other type of transport than the aerial and the rugged terrain caused the airstrips to be very short for the American and European aircraft of those times.[4]

Lascurain determined that regional airlines required a twin-engine plane with fixed landing gear that was accessible (since foreign aircraft cost more than one million pesos and airlines could not pay for them), capable of landing at low speed on short runways. The aircraft hat to have a high rate of climb to overcome the mountainous areas.[4]

In 1955 Ángel Lascurain went with the architect Juan Cortina Portilla, beginning the design of the aircraft based on the turkey buzzard, a bird for which Lascurain felt fascination.[1]

Design

The aircraft was a twin-engine monoplane with a mid-wing monocoque fuselage built in duralumin that was capable of holding 12 people in 2 rows of 6 seats plus a bathroom lobby, with the option of 14 seats without the bathroom, all this without counting the two pilots. The fuselage was part of the wings through beams that extended to the ends of the same, this in order to protect passengers and pilots in case of accident. Each wing had between the engine and the fuselage 2 compartments for luggage of 0.65 cubic meters each, the aircraft had 2 tanks of fuel of 200 liters each that fed to the Jacobs R-755 engines by means of gravity and pumps besides 2 tanks auxiliaries located at the ends of the wings of 50 liters each.[1][4]

Accident

On December 24, 1957, during a routine flight of the plane Lascurain Aura with license plate XB-ZEU at the Mexico City Airport for no apparent reason, both engines of the aircraft were stopped and the pilot attempted to land at the airport. planning until the runway 13, nevertheless they did not reach to arrive at the track, crashing in a board of earth a few meters before the head of the same one, killing the pilot Carlos Castillo Segura and Angel Lascurain.[1][4][5][6]

Specifications

General characteristics

  • Crew: two
  • Capacity: 12 or 14 passengers
  • Length: 40 ft 1 in (12.22 m)
  • Wingspan: 68 ft 3 in (20.8 m)
  • Height: 14 ft 10 in (4.51 m)
  • Gross weight: 4,409 lb (2,000 kg)
  • Fuel capacity: 132 gal. (500 l) (with reserves)
  • Powerplant: 2 × Jacobs R-755-A1 7-cyl. air-cooled radial piston engine, 245 hp (183 kW) each

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 120 kn (140 mph, 220 km/h)
  • Cruise speed: 107 kn (123 mph, 198 km/h) at 75% thrust
  • Minimum control speed: 30 kn (35 mph, 56 km/h)
  • Range: 430 nmi (500 mi, 800 km)
  • Service ceiling: 26,900 ft (8,200 m)
  • Rate of climb: 1,033 ft/min (5.25 m/s)
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References
  1. Ramírez Alvarado, Oscar Fernando. "Ángel Lascurain y Osio. Los Tratados de Bucareli y las construcciones aeronáuticas mexicanas". Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  2. Kightly, James (November 26, 2010). "Forgotten Aircraft - The 1957 Lascurain Aura". Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  3. "Aura". Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  4. "Angel de Lascurain y Osio (1882-1957)". Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  5. "ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 178395". Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  6. "LOS BIMOTORES DEL ING. ÁNGEL LASCURÁIN (Segunda Parte)". América Vuela Aviation Magazine. May 8, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.
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