Cri-Cri, the world's smallest twin-engine manned aircraft

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

This is one small plane, regardless of number of engines. The Cri-Cri is just 13 feet nose-to-tail, with a 16-foot wingspan. A pair of two-stroke engines give it a whopping 30 horsepower.

 

Maybe it's an illusion because of its small size, but it sure looks like he's really gotta hustle to get that thing off of the ground!

 

Wikipedia page, with more technical details and history. The design ha been around since the 70's.

 

A few still shots here, including a cockpit view. You drape your legs over the fuel tank, which means a crash seems guaranteed to douse you with fuel. Which may not matter, because even a gentle crash seems likely to result in a tumble that will land you on your skull. Enjoy your flight...

[enfoman]

Pretty neat! Surprising that the original models were fitting with 2 8hp. engines. Must be fairly noisy inside that cockpit too! I did not notice any price range on it, being a kit, it must be relatively inexpensive to build.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Must be fairly noisy inside that cockpit too!

 

No doubt: if you look at those still shots, the expansion pipes from the engines terminate right next to the pilot's shoulders - no mufflers, either. Hope you brought good headphones...

[Guest Kakugo]

Remarkable, although I bet those two engines must be running continuously at full power to keep it in the air.

 

Also building it so small and light (dictating short wingspan and very low wings) resulted in a higher stall speed than I expected: the pre-WWII Piper Cub had a stall speed of 64km/h (about 34 knots) and the Fiesler Storch (or its widespread French versions) 50km/h (about 27knots), both lower than the Cri-Cri.

 

Still very remarkable!

 

[4wheeldog]

Remarkable, although I bet those two engines must be running continuously at full power to keep it in the air.

 

Also building it so small and light (dictating short wingspan and very low wings) resulted in a higher stall speed than I expected: the pre-WWII Piper Cub had a stall speed of 64km/h (about 34 knots) and the Fiesler Storch (or its widespread French versions) 50km/h (about 27knots), both lower than the Cri-Cri.

 

Still very remarkable!

 

You would need a lot more wing area to match the stall speed of your examples. More wing area would mean less available speed. Everything is a compromise.

[Bud]

I want one for christmas

[upflying]

Probably not a good IFR platform.

Pilot will only qualify for a less than standard life insurance policy.

Twin engine? I think it is more like a single engine using two engines.

Just put a 100 hp Rotax on it.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Probably not a good IFR platform.

 

Why? Just because there's no room in the cockpit for any avionics?

 

If you carry your iPhone with you, I bet you'd exceed the max allowable takeoff weight.

[upflying]

Doesn't look like it has any natural stability, like flying a R22.

[Mister Tee]

I'm guessing the reason for putting two small engines on it vs. one larger engine is the form factor. Where do you put the engine.

 

I have zero desire to fly one.

[SuperG]

would it keep flying if one of the two-stroke engine signs out?

may be,

it states this little thing is fully aerobatic.

[Hank in WV]

I was kind of looking at one of them awhile back but ended up building a Moni instead.

[4wheeldog]

would it keep flying if one of the two-stroke engine signs out?

may be,

it states this little thing is fully aerobatic.

 

It would help if you could feather the dead stick. That would be a lot of complication, though........Your best bet would probably be to pretend it was a single, and pull the throttle off on the good engine when the other one quit.

 

Nothing complicates an emergency landing like asymmetrical power/drag.

[Marty Hill]

I've landed a twin comanche with 1 engine running several times for practice.

Have no idea why you would shut the second one down and become a glider.

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I've landed a twin comanche with 1 engine running several times for practice.

Have no idea why you would shut the second one down and become a glider.

 

I'm guessing the glide ratio for the Cri-Cri is probably not too different from that of the space shuttle.

[russell_bynum]

would it keep flying if one of the two-stroke engine signs out?

may be,

 

That's the question. If not...then you're just cutting your MTBF in half for nothing.

 

Then again...this sort of thing isn't about being practical or useful. Just a fun/curious toy.

[4wheeldog]

I've landed a twin comanche with 1 engine running several times for practice.

Have no idea why you would shut the second one down and become a glider.

 

If you are not in practice, and cannot feather the prop, it can be pretty easy to wind up rolling the plane over. In something as underpowered as the plane in question, it would not be out of the question..........As unstable as it appears with both burning and turning, it might be quite a handful with one dead, with the prop drag on one side.

[Marty Hill]

Yeah my ex- wife told me it was dangerous to fly. I've got about 900 hours in the twin comanche of which about 200 were actual IFR. Never noticed the problems your talking about tho I did hear stories of instructors with students getting into spins. Guess I'm just a very lucky guy!

[Mister Tee]

I'm pretty sure that the thrust is close enough to the centerline on a Cri Cri that a Vmc rollover wouldn't be an issue if you lost an engine on takeoff.

[Scott Deakin]

would it keep flying if one of the two-stroke engine signs out?

may be,

it states this little thing is fully aerobatic.

 

The video link below shows one of the owners discussing a failure during takeoff about 4 mins in, then after that there is a video of it landing with one engine out

 

 

 

[Marty Hill]

Thanks for posting, that's quite a nice plane. Impressed by the single engine takeoff and landing. Acted exactly as it should.