Zlín Z 43

After successful production of the Z-26 aircraft family, the Czechoslovak aircraft manufacturer Moravan, began design of a new series of training aircraft, known as the Z-40 family. Unlike the previous tandem-seat aircraft, the Z-40 family featured a side-by-side cockpit. It was available in two basic variants, a two-seat trainer, the Zlín Z-42, and a four-seat aircraft, the Zlin Z-43 capable of being used both as a trainer and a tourer. The resulting design is a single-engined low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction and a fixed nosewheel undercarriage. The Z 43 shares 80% of its structure with the Z 42, but is fitted with a revised fuselage accommodating a four-seater cabin and a more powerful engine. The Z-43's wings are of greater span and do not have the slight forward sweep of the Z- 42. The Z-43 first flew on 10 December 1968, The Z-143 is a version introduced in 1992, powered by a six-cylinder Lycoming O-540 engine, in parallel to the Z-42 being re-engined with a Lycoming to become the Z-242. ==Variants==

'' Zlín Z-43 at Preschen Air Base ;Zlín Z-43 :Base model ;Zlín Z-43L :Experimental model with Lycoming AE10540 D4B5 engine. Has noticeable short engine cowling. Only one was converted from standard Z43 (C/N: 0084, reg: OK-LOW, later OM-LOW) in 1990. It was converted back to stock Z 43 after 307 flight hours in 1998. ;Zlín Z-43M :Experimental model. Only one was converted from an existing Z43 (C/N: 0084, reg:OK-DOQ, later OK-072 and OM-DOQ) ;Zlín Z-143 :Improved model ;Aeronautical Manufacturing Enterprise Safir-43 :An Algerian licence-built copy of the Zlín Z-43 ==Use by the LTTE==

Pictures released by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's Air Tigers indicate that they modified Z 143s to carry four bombs mounted on the undercarriage. The Air Tigers carried out a suicide air raid on Colombo on 20 February 2009 using two of these aircraft. Under heavy anti-aircraft fire, one of these aircraft crashed into the Sri Lanka Inland Revenue Department building in Colombo. The other craft was shot down near Sri Lanka Air Force Base at Katunayake. ==Operators==

Civil operators ; • Hungarian Police - 1 aircraft, crashed into Lake Balaton some weeks after delivery in 1976. Military operators ; • Algerian Air Force (produced locally under Safir-43 name) ; • Cuban Air Force ; • Luftstreitkräfte ; • Hungarian Air Force ; • North Macedonia Air Brigade ; Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam • Air Tigers ==Specifications (Z 43)==