Zlin Z-526 Trener Master
The only piece of export Trener Z-526 with a Walter Minor 6-III engine with Czech registration
Basic parameters
1963
Year of manufacture
10.59
m
Wingspan
975
kg
Maximal
Mass
200
km / h
Traveling
speed
1+1
Number of persons
About the Plane
The Z-526 aircraft is part of the Z-26 series, which ranks among the most successful aircraft produced on our territory. In total, 1,457 aircraft were produced in the Z-26 to Z-726 series, and many of them are still flying in the Czech and world skies.
Most airworthy Z-526 types use the more powerful Avia M-137 engine with a power of 180 hp, and therefore the aircraft with the Walter Minor 6-III engine is among the rarest. In the Czech Republic, we can find only this aircraft with the Czech registration mark and one with a German one, which flies in Pilsen.
In some cases, this type is referred to as Z-526 TM.
Many aircraft have been rebuilt between versions if the design allowed and this aircraft is not exception.
10.59 m
8.00 m
2.06 m
975 kg
230 km/h
200 km/h
5,000 m
up to 800 km
Walter Minor 6-III
160 HP/118 kW
35 l/h
100 l (+ 70l additional)
1 pilot + 1 passenger
Span
Length
Height
Take - off weight
Maximal speed
Travel speed
Access
Range
Power unit
Performance
Consumption
Tank capacity
Number of passengers
About the Z-526 aircraft
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Progress in equipping the Trainer with retractable landing gear in the form of the Z-326 Trener Master aircraft brought great success both at home and abroad. It was produced between 1959 and 1968, and this version was the most numerous of the entire Trainer family - 420 pieces.
In 1964, in Moravan, they decided to use more modern adjustable V-503 propellers. They featured a multi-bladed free-spinning vane on the nose of the propeller housing, driving a hydraulic fluid pump with air pressure. The leaves were all metal and, thanks to the hat, so-called autonomous construction.
The new V-503 propellers meant a new injection for the 26 series aerobatic machines, enabling the start of the next development series. This decision was already used for the Z-326 aircraft. The installation of a propeller with a heavier weight than the previous types of propellers used on Trainers, however, required some design changes. Thus, the main pilot seat was again transferred from the front seat to the rear, the instrumentation and the shapes of the engine hood changed. The result was a new type of Z-526 Trener Master sometimes referred to as the Z-526 TM.
The first prototype was adapted from the Z-326 OK-SND aircraft and was flown by chief pilot Vlastimil Berg on September 3, 1965. Serial production lasted between 1966 and 1969, and a total of 61 aircraft were produced, spread over 16 countries around the world. Furthermore, the single-seat specials Z-526 A and Z-526 AS were also created from this.
Until 1969 machines, the Trener series more modern versions had to make do with the 160 hp (118 kW) Walter Minor 6-III engine, because in our range of piston engines suitable for aerobatics, a more powerful type was not represented.
In 1969, an aerobatic version of the Avia M-137A engine was developed, and its low-pressure fuel injection was adapted for heavy overloads and long-term backpacking. Attempting to install this engine, a longer V-503A propeller, and other modifications resulted in a more advanced version of the Z-526 F. You can see this aircraft at our Open Days and occasionally guest in our hangar with registration D-EPOC.
Our particular aircraft, production number 901, was built in 1963 as an export Z-326 F-BMQV to France for the National Aerobatic Team. The original intention of the purchase was for the daughter of the coach of the French national team for the acrobatic championship. In the end, however, the young lady could not participate, so the plane was used as a personal plane by the coach and subsequently by the national team. It was then sold into private hands in France (twice in total). At the second owner in France, it was rebuilt in the 1990s by the company Zlin Avion Service (Czech Republic) to type Z-526. It was subsequently sold to Associazione Tailwheel Ticino in Switzerland Locarno in 2014 and carried the registration mark HB-TUO. After the incident in 2021, the aircraft was sold into private hands, so it could appear at home on its native land for the first time.
Since the aircraft never bore a Czech registration mark (even during production and first takeoff), the owners decided to use the original registration mark of the first Z-526 OK-SND to commemorate the similar fate of the first aircraft in this series. For this reason, it also carries the registration marks in the original places and it is the intention in the future to have the same original representative coloring.
The original piece of OK-SND is currently decaying in the Arizona desert.
