APEV Scoutchel

The APEV Scoutchel (Scout ladder) is a French amateur-built aircraft, designed by Daniel Dalby and produced by APEV of Peynier. The aircraft is supplied as plans or as a kit for amateur construction.

Design and development
The Scoutchel is derived from the earlier APEV Demoichelle, itself an updated version of the pre-First World War Santos-Dumont Demoiselle.

The Scoutchel features a strut-braced high-wing, a single-seat open cockpit without a cockpit fairing, fixed tricycle landing gear and a single engine mounted above the cockpit on the keel tube, in tractor configuration.

The aircraft is made from bolted-together aluminium tubing. The wings are the same as those used on the Pouchel Light and are built around a single aluminium spar, with ribs made from extruded polystyrene with plywood bracing, all bonded to fibreglass leading and trailing edges, covered in Dacron sailcloth. The 8.30 m span wing employs a NACA 23112 airfoil and has an area of 9.96 m2, with an aspect ratio of 8:1. A unique roll control system is used as the aircraft has no ailerons. Instead the wings are pivoted to +4° and -2° to produce and control roll. The wings can be folded for ground transportation or storage.

Recommended engines are the 35 hp Rotax 377 or the 40 hp Rotax 447 two-stroke powerplants, although it can also fit electric motors as well.

The manufacturer estimates building times at 150 hours from the kit and 300 hours from plans.