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The Osprey Osprey 2, also known as the Pereira Osprey 2 after its designer, is an amphibious sport aircraft designed for homebuilding.[2] Plans have been sold since the mid-1970s. George Pereira designed the Osprey 2 to address the two most frequent criticisms of his Osprey I aircraft: its lack of a passenger seat and its inability to operate from dry land.[3] An exercise that began as a series of modifications to the original design in January 1972 eventually turned into a complete redesign of the aircraft,[3][4] with the resulting Osprey 2 flying in April 1973.

Osprey 2
Osprey 2
Role	Sport amphibian Type of aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Homebuilt
Designer	George Pereira
First flight	April 1973
Status	Plans available (2015)
Number built	500+ (2009)[1]

Design and development

Like the original Osprey, the Osprey 2 is a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with a flying boat hull and a single engine mounted pusher-fashion in a nacelle mounted above the fuselage on struts.[4] A passenger seat is provided side-by-side with the pilot and the cabin is fully enclosed.[4] Retractable tricycle undercarriage is provided for land operations, the main units of which fold into the undersides of the wings.[3][4] Construction throughout is of wood and skinned in plywood.[3] Some of the hull contours are formed with polyurethane foam covered in fiberglass.[4][5][6]

The aircraft is designed so that it may be constructed by amateur builders with restricted space available – Pereira's prototype was built in a workspace 16 ft × 26 ft (4.8 m × 7.9 m) and took 1,300 hours to complete.[3] To simplify construction, no molds are required, and even the canopy is formed by a simple bend in an acrylic sheet without any compound curves.[7]

Osprey markets the aircraft as sets of plans rather than kits, and had sold over 1,000 copies by 1985.[1][4] Over 500 examples have been completed and flown.[8]

Aircraft on display

• EAA AirVenture Museum[9]
• Pima Air & Space Museum[10]
• Aerospace Museum of California[11]

Specifications

Data from jane's All the World's Aircraft 1985–86, p.606

General characteristics

• Crew: One pilot
• Capacity: 1 passenger
• Length: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
• Wingspan: 26 ft 0 in (7.92 m)
• Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
• Wing area: 130 sq ft (12.0 m²)
• Empty weight: 970 lb (440 kg)
• Gross weight: 1,560 lb (707 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-320 , 150 hp (112 kW)

Performance

• Cruise speed: 130 mph (209 km/h, 110 kn)
• Range: 500 mi (800 km, 430 nmi)
• Rate of climb: 1,000 ft/min (5.1 m/s)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• ICON A5
• Larkin Skylark
• Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey
• Volmer VJ-22 Sportsman

Related lists

• List of flying boats and floatplanes

Notes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pereira Osprey II.

• Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1985–86. London: Jane's Publishing. 1985. ISBN 9780710608215.
• Markowski, Michael (1979). The Encyclopedia of Homebuilt Aircraft. Blue Ridge Summit: TAB Books.
• "Osprey II". Osprey Aircraft website. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
• "Pereira/Hummel Model 2 Osprey 2". Pima Air & Space Museum website. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
• "Pereira/Schifferer Osprey II – N346JS". AirVenture Museum website. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.

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