Ramphos Trident

The Ramphos Trident is an Italian amphibious ultralight trike, designed and produced by Ramphos of Fontanafredda. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction or as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.

Design and development
The Trident was designed to comply with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale microlight category, including the category's maximum gross weight of 450 kg. The Trident features a strut-braced hang glider-style high-wing, weight-shift controls, a two-seats-in-tandem open cockpit with a rigid boat hull, retractable tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration.

The aircraft is made from bolted-together aluminum tubing, with its double surface wing covered in Dacron sailcloth and its boat hull made from either fibreglass or carbon fibre and Kevlar. Its 10.5 m span Hazard wing has struts and uses an "A" frame weight-shift control bar. The powerplant is a twin cylinder, liquid-cooled, two-stroke, dual-ignition 64 hp Rotax 582 engine or a four-cylinder, air and liquid-cooled, four-stroke, dual-ignition 80 hp Rotax 912UL engine or a 78 hp converted Smart Car four stroke turbocharged engine. All engines are fitted with a clutch that stops the propeller from turning when the engine is at idle to permit water handling. The boat hull features a water rudder.

Starting in 2005 the frame and wing portion of the aircraft was taken from the Skyrider Sonic ultralight trike, built by Skyrider Flugschule.

Variants

 * Hydro
 * Initial flying boat model that lacks wheeled landing gear. Introduced in 1998 and in production in 2013.


 * Trident
 * Amphibious model with fibreglass boat hull, in production in 2013.


 * C
 * Amphibious model with carbon fibre/Kevlar boat hull and lexan windows in the bottom of the hull to allow visibility downwards. In production in 2013.