Smoother and More Refined
Sabre Aircraft’s Wildcat is an evolving story of ultralight aircraft development. It also speaks to the increasing maturity of the light aviation industry.
For years, Sabre Aircraft’s sales of their various trike models may have been the largest of any U.S. manufacturer. As 2003 ended the company was reporting delivery of some 700 ultralights.
The company has long offered a good flying, simple trike with a modest price tag. Proprietor and designer Richard Helm made steady improvements to his Sabre Elite and Sabre 340 designs. But he took no major strides forward.
The vigorous pace of Sabre trike sales and the company’s need to stay on top of manufacturing issues can explain a drawn-out development period. Little time was left over for projects such as getting an entirely new trike ready for market.
That didn’t stop Helm. He kept working on elements of what would eventually become the Wildcat.
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Blue Heron Marathon
Built lighter to fly better
It may be hard to believe that a company established in 1995 can be considered an old-timer in an industry, yet that’s precisely the case with Heldeberg Designs LLC and its line of Blue Heron powered parachutes (PPCs).
Nick and Marie Viscio founded Heldeberg Designs a decade ago and believe they are the second oldest, continuously operating powered parachute company in America. Only Six Chuter has a longer history under the same management and ownership.
Nick and Marie run the enterprise with help from son Nicholas D., who has a degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, and three part-time employees assisting with fabrication and welding. “Nick is very hands-on in operating the company,” said Mark Bayer, Heldeberg’s New York dealer with whom I flew at Sun’n Fun 2004. He added, “They’re not trying to be the biggest manufacturer, just the best.”
Why did the company choose the Blue Heron name for its machines?
Breese With HKS Engine Is A Winner
Twenty-something years of ultralight flying have seen many changes take place in our ultralights. At the beginning of the ultralight industry we had craft such as Eagles, Weedhoppers, and Quicksilvers powered by engines like the 15-hp Yamaha, Mac 101, and Chrysler. Of these, only Quicksilver remains vibrant.
Here in 2004, we have aircraft like the Breese DS with its 60-hp HKS 700E 4-stroke engine. It may look like a Quicksilver but it’s a different flying animal. M-Squared’s Jay Stevens gave me a checkout in the single-seat Breese with its Japanese 4-stroke powerplant and it proved to be a very satisfying experience.
Strong and Powerful
The resemblance to Quicksilver, especially the California company’s strut-braced model, is obvious to most ultralight veterans but Breese manufacturer M-Squared has steadily changed their design. Looks, therefore, can be deceiving.
The use of struts first set apart the designs of Paul Mather, proprietor of M-Squared. A tailplane that uses no cable bracing added to the different appearance.
Thorp T-211
Thorp T-211 Sport E
From the world of general aviation aircraft comes an entry to the proposed Light-Sport Aircraft (LSA) category. Presently known as the Thorp T-211, the all-metal airplane will be called the Thorp T-211 Sport E when it makes its debut as a light-sport aircraft.
Famed designer John Thorp is perhaps best known for his work leading to the Piper Cherokee series and the T-18 homebuilt. His work on a design that became the T-211 started back in the 1940s before general aviation planes had transportation as their primary goal. When the T-211 was first created – as the T-11 Skooter and later the T-111 – it was intended to become competition for the Cessna 150. The T-211 is a light plane, tipping the scales at hundreds of pounds less than Cessna’s smallest model and so it was expected to perform better.
Under new management since 2003, Thorp’s design is ready to make the leap to the Sport E.
Part 103 Ultralight Trikes
Part 103 ultralight trikes aim at soaring pilots.
Many visitors to Oshkosh AirVenture 2003 expected the FAA to announce its new sport pilot/light-sport aircraft rule. New Administrator Marion Blakey reported signing off on the rule on July 30, but with two other agencies in line to review it, we aren’t likely to see the final version until 2004.
Visitors may not have expected to see more than a few Part 103 ultralight aircraft at AirVenture (some thought they would disappear as LSA approaches). But there were many. Next month I’ll write about two Part 103 rotary-wing aircraft, but this time, the subject is nanotrikes.
Nanotrike is a term to describe extremely light wheeled structures combining powered paraglider engines and contemporary hang glider wings. The idea is to create a low-cost, self-launching ultralight motorglider.
Trike Pod
Minnesota-based Seagull Aerosports debuted its Escape Pod at Oshkosh. Pushed by a single-cylinder Cors-Air engine generating 25 hp, the Escape Pod weighs only 75 pounds.
Product Lines – April 2004
St. Paul, Minn. — You’ll probably be amazed to hear that Wallaby Ranch and Quest
have merged. Yes, unbelievably, the two rivals flight parks signed an agreement
to become as one. This stunning development comes just
after Wills Wing purchased Moyes “for a song” crooned WW president, Rob Kells.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” he added. How much more shocking news can
you withstand? Well, in keeping with a few fun items elsewhere in this magazine,
the above is pure April Fools fiction. I’ll leave more inventive humor to others
and return to what this column does best.
Amid all the excitement, I completely forgot to blow my own horn| Yup, with the February
2004 issue, “Product Lines” finished 25 years of continuous publishing. In
all that time, the column never missed an issue. As I am working to post all
these columns on my long-in-development Web site, someday you’ll be able to scan
through a lot of hang gliding history presented in a familiar format.
Tuning Up Skystar
SkyStar reorganizes to offer ultralights, homebuilts and special LSAs under “one” roof.
For the new SkyStar Aircraft Corp., the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is not a locomotive; it’s the coming of a bright new day in light aviation. As the publication of the final sport pilot and light-sport aircraft (SP/LSA) rule looms on the horizon, business is looking better for SkyStar and most other manufacturers and suppliers of light aviation equipment.
The two-place SkyStar Series 7 will have multiple personalities. SkyStar Sport Planes will manufacture a variation of this model as a ready-to-fly special LSA. Depending on the parameters of the final rule, SkyStar Sport Planes may sell an experimental LSA kit (more than 51-percent complete). When flown as an LSA, the Series 7 will be limited to the Rotax 912S engine as its powerplant. SkyStar Aircraft will continue to offer the Series 7 as a 51- percent amateur-built kit, with a variety of engine options, including the 914 Turbo version shown here.
Shooting Across the Sky
Italy’s Sky Arrow makes its mark in the United States
Just as it is home to many fine sports cars, Italy is also home to some beautiful light aircraft-the Sky Arrow being one. The tandem two-seat airplane is designed and manufactured there by Iniziative Industriali Italiane S.p.A (III). Formerly known as Meteor, the company was started in 1947 and also manufactures gliders, airplanes, and remotely piloted vehicles.
Pacific Aerosystem Inc., of San Diego, California, is the United States importer of the Sky Arrow line. With more than 200 Sky Arrows flying worldwide and 25 in the United States, III is an experienced manufacturer and able to meet customer needs, reports Pacific Aerosystem, an important factor to consider when choosing an aircraft.
Currently, Pacific Aerosystem sells four ready-to-fly versions of the Sky Arrow. A kit version can be built under the experimental amateurbuilt rule. Powerplants and instrumentation delineate the models. An 80-hp Rotax 912 powers the 650 TCN and 560 T models.
On An Escapade
Just Aircraft’s Excapade … certificated in England and ready for sport pilots!
Southwestern Idaho has long been a hub of aircraft activity. With ranches and towns settled in great distances, it’s not surprising that aviation, once an established mode of transportation, quickly became popular in that part of the west. It’s also not surprising, then, that the area has been a hub of aircraft building activity. Here’s the story of one aircraft that’s evolved from that heritage.
In 1983, a two-seat, steel tube and fabric aircraft called the Avid Flyer made its first appearance at EAA’s annual convention. Describing the new design in the October 1983 issue of EAA Sport Aviation, then editor Jack Cox wrote, “Dan Denney of Boise, Idaho, was the person with the idea from which sprang the Avid Flyer. He wanted ‘something between ultralights and homebuilts’|(and) Dan had a friend uniquely qualified to transform that (idea) into|an airplane, Dean Wilson.”
What Denney and Wilson demonstrated to the fly-in crowd that year might be called the forerunner of the pending light-sport aircraft category|even at a time when ultralights were still gaining their foothold.
Product Lines – March 1995
ST. PAUL, MINN. — Does hang gliding need to reach out for new enthusiasts? The question raises bothersome issues about declining and aging memberships, but is nonetheless a valid concern. ••• Industry leader, Wills Wing, is doing something about it by starting a new "division." They call it ProLine and its their vehicle to sell certain accessory items. Nothing new about this, you say? True, but Wills expects to do more than sell varios to their WW-brand customers. "It is our intention to use ProLine to develop products that can be marketed OUTSIDE the hang gliding industry", says a recent statement in their dealer newsletter. Naturally, they expect to raise their revenues but they further hope to increase hang gliding exposure to the public. They plan to advertise "in high circulation action sports pubications" once they have a "well developed product line." Each ProLine shipment will eventually have the USHGA color flier as well as the name of the closest WW dealer school.
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