The TL Ultralight TL-3000 Sirius is a conventional single engine high wing ultralight and Light-sport aircraft seating two side-by-side. It was designed and is produced in the Czech Republic. The Sirius programme was announced early in 2007 and an unflown prototype or mock-up appeared at Aero '07 that year. Development continued into 2010 before it was ready for production. The TL-3000 is a mostly composite aircraft with a carbon fibre wing and glass- and carbon-fibre fuselage. It shares many components with its TL-2000 Sting low wing stablemate. The high wing has a constant chord centre section and tapered outer panels with downturned tips and is braced to the lower fuselage with a pair of forward-leaning lift struts. The fin is swept, with a wide dorsal fillet, and carries a horn-balanced rudder. The tapered, mass-balanced elevators are set at mid-fuselage. The underwing cabin of the Sirius has a single piece windscreen, glazed side doors, rear side windows and an upper rear transparency. A choice of flat four engines offers either the 59.6 kW (80 hp) Rotax 912UL or the 73.5 kW (98.6 hp) Rotax 912 ULS. The Sirius is fitted with a fixed tricycle undercarriage with mainwheels fuselage mounted on composite cantilever spring legs. The nosewheel is steerable and the mainwheels have brakes; all wheels are almost completely enclosed in spats. The company has also developed a float installation for the TL-3000 to allow water operations. The Sirus first flew on 21 May 2008 but the prototype was lost in a fatal accident in July. The design has been accepted by the US Federal Aviation Administration as an approved special light-sport aircraft. The Sirius was designed to fit into both the European ultralight and U.S. LSA categories. Twenty-two aircraft had been sold by September 2010 to customers in Angola, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and the United States.[4] Only four appeared on the European (Russia excluded) civil aircraft registers in mid-2010, three in the Czech Republic and one in Norway.
