BlackWing Sweden, a developer and manufacturer of lightweight aircraft, has won the Red Dot Award for Product Design 2016 for its fuselage and wings that are entirely manufactured using TeXtreme Spread Tow carbon fibre fabric and which the company claims are 15% more rigid than conventional twill fabric.

BlackWing’s lightweight aircraft, available now as microlight, is designed by founder and CEO Niklas Anderberg. After gaining extensive aerospace engineering experience working for Boeing and Saab Aerospace, Niklas set out to change the rules on how small aircrafts are developed.

Outstanding performance

The Red Dot Design Award is an international product and communication design prize awarded by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, in Essen, Germany. The jury awards the highest single distinction Red Dot: Best of the Best only for groundbreaking design achievements. The company has earned the distinction by just 1.5% of all entries.

Lighter and stronger, using the most advanced TeXtreme carbon fibre prepreg fabrics available, BlackWing aims to set an entirely new standard. “For us to be able to design the aircraft as we have done and to reach the desired weight targets with the outstanding performance we needed, using TeXtreme was the obvious choice of materials, if not the only choice,” said Anderberg.

TeXtreme technology

TeXtreme Spread Tow reinforcements are designed for making ultra-light composites. TeXtreme Technology is flexible and tow-size independent, which enables the development of optimized reinforcement solutions tailor-made for specific application needs.

Utilization of TeXtreme Spread Tow carbon fabrics and carbon UD tapes by manufacturers of advanced aerospace, industrial and sports products is said to confirm that 20-30% lighter composite parts can be produced with improved mechanical properties and superior surface smoothness, the company reports.

In addition to the use of TeXtreme in light aircraft, this innovative technology is also used in other aerospace applications, Formula 1, NASCAR and America’s Cup racing, as well as in the manufacture of a wide variety of sporting goods products.

BlackWing

BlackWing is a sport aircraft developed by a small skilled team working with Founder and CEO Niklas Anderberg. The company produces all the parts, except the engine and avionics, in-house in Sweden.

According to the company, the aircraft is aerodynamically clean and fast but at the same time capable of slow flights with best-in-class stall characteristics. Following the BlackWing BW600 series, the company is now planning aircrafts approved for all weather operations, electric twins and up to five seats capacity.

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