Customer:  Sig Manufacturing, Inc.;  (Stewart Aircraft, Inc.)

Program:  Design of a two-place tandem configuration that is nearly identical to a RC kit Sig Manufacturing currently sells.  The overall layout is similar to that of a Cub, but somewhat larger.  The wing is strut braced with an elliptical planform. 

The fuselage is slated to be constructed of a tube/fabric combination, while the wing is all aluminum.  The empennage is the standard tube/fabric structure.

Orion also designed the layout of the wing and fuselage, followed by a detailed structural analysis conducted using finite element methods.  The aluminum wing is configured using a Warren truss rib arrangement.  As such, it can be built either as an all aluminum structure or, for the Sport Aircraft category, as an aluminum "D" section, with the rest covered in fabric.  The wing uses Frise type ailerons and single slotted flaps.

Status:  The prototype airplane is currently being built by Stewart Aircraft, Inc. in Michigan..