Forty-Year-Old Ultralight Still Flying At AirVenture

At the 1993 EAA annual convention (long before they called it AirVenture) a young dreamer walked the ultralight grounds with hopes of someday building and flying an ultralight aircraft. On row 1 in front of the Ultralight Barn, Mike Ostrander spotted a well worn Quicksilver MX with a for sale sign. A short negotiation later, Mike, was the proud owner of an ultralight rebuild project. With the help of his father, he disassembled the Quick and brought it home to commence the resurrection. He also built a trailer for the Quick with the intention of avoiding hangar fees.

Mike’s yearlong restoration and construction efforts paid off when he brought his Quicksilver to Oshkosh in 1994. He brought home an honorable mention award in the ultralight category. On top of that, he won the EAA 1997 Reserve Grand Champion and another honorable mention in 2004. On the ultralight flight line at AirVenture this year, the Quicksilver still looks as new as the day he finished its restoration in 1994.

Mike has mastered the art of de-trailering his Quick and assembling it for flight. He says it takes him only 50 minutes solo, but an hour and a half is someone “helps.” Mike’s favorite flights take place after harvest in rural Illinois, flying low over mown fields and surprising the unsuspecting coyote. Mike will relate the story of his decades of flight in a forum at the Ultralight Tent on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m.