CGS Pulls Out the Stops

It’s back to the future for ultralight pioneer
Chuck Slusarczyk, president of CGS
Aviation, which introduced a new Part
103-legal Hawk Ultra at the Sun ‘n Fun
2005 Fly-In.

Every CGS Hawk
I’ve ever flown has
offered a sweet
combination of light
stick and rudder
forces with crisp
response and
satisfying roll-in
and roll-out rates.

Holes everywhere!

Holes everywhere! Chuck put lightening
holes in every possible part that didn’t
compromise structural integrity to keep
the Hawk Ultra under the 254-pound
empty weight for legal ultralights.

Holes everywhere!

Holes everywhere!

Power for the Hawk Ultra is the 40-hp,
twin-cylinder Hirth 2702 engine, with
the 35-hp Kawasaki 440 an alternative.

The tires on Hawk Ultra are ground
smooth to reduce weight. As I tooled
around the sunny skies above central
Florida, I started wondering how Chuck
ground down the tires. If you’ve ever
tried to cut rubber, you know how tough
it is. Sanding rubber is another trial in
obnoxious smells, particle-filled air, and
grimy mess. Chuck reports a couple
hours invested per tire using a large-hole
rasp. Ugh!

Ultralight
Trainers for
the Future

… to keep the Hawk Ultra Light

Genuine ultralights still
have a place. These
aircraft|excuse me,
ultralight vehicles,
the least-FAA-regulated
flying machines,
will not be sent to aircraft boneyards
despite what some light-sport aircraft
skeptics may think. The Hawk Ultra
is proof positive CGS Aviation loves
ultralights and wants you to have fun
in the air.

No matter the pros and cons of
the sport pilot/light-sport aircraft (SP/
LSA) rule, operating a Part 103 ultralight
remains simpler than earning a
sport pilot certificate and buying an
LSA. No certificate, no medical, and
no registration is needed (though, it is
recommended that folks register with
one of the three associations supporting
ultralights-EAA, the United States
Ultralight Association (USUA), and Aero
Sports Connection (ASC). Additionally,
an ultralight can be fully factory built
without FAA inspections. The list of 103
privileges goes on, and the Hawk Ultra
qualifies for all of them.
One-Oh-Three Interest Soars
I don’t know about the “build it
and they will come” premise when
it comes to baseball fields, but I fervently
believe that if enough customers
want a product, someone will supply
it. Some folks evidently do want
103 ultralights, perhaps many. Chuck
Slusarczyk, that unique gentleman at
the helm of CGS Aviation, says a
high ratio of the calls he’s getting-he
reported a figure of 10 to 1-were asking
for a Part 103 machine.

Given that level of interest, Chuck
was motivated to make the considerable
effort to create an ultra-lightened
Hawk. He dubbed the new model the
Hawk Ultra, and it joins the CGS family
that includes the Hawk Classic and
Classic two-place, the Hawk Arrow and
Arrow two-place, the larger Hawk Plus,
and the competitive Hawk Sport. I’ve
flown all of these models and looked
forward to flying the Hawk Ultra at the
2005 Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In.

However, creating the Hawk Ultra
and keeping it ultralight legal wasn’t
easy. Recall that a true Part 103 ultralight
can weigh only 254 pounds
empty, can have a capacity for only
5 gallons of fuel, and can’t cruise
faster than 63 mph. The Hawk Ultra
can make the grade, and it can do so
with a fully enclosed cabin and flaps,
providing that fine Hawk handling
and safety, plus a satisfying level of
performance, but customers will have
to resist the temptation to load the
machine with accessories.

“No part went on the airplane without
an effort to reduce its weight,” said
Chuck, allowing for adequate safety
margins, of course. He doesn’t exaggerate.
Everything seems to have holes in it.
Chuck’s a qualified engineer; he didn’t
drill holes with abandon. All lightening
holes were calculated to reduce weight
without sacrificing adequate strength.

If you can make the Hawk Ultra
lighter by simply drilling lots of lightening
holes, then why let other Hawk
designs get heavier? Why not make
all the planes lighter? The answer is
simple; it takes a lot of work to fabricate
all those holes.

The lightening work wasn’t confined
to drilling or cutting holes in sheet
metal parts or tubing sections. Chuck
also ground down the tires to reduce
weight. He told me this before I flew the
Ultra, and you’ll note the worn tires on
this new plane.

Fortunately, as this model progresses
to a production Hawk Ultra, some
other weight-saving solutions will
present themselves. One weight-saving
opportunity comes from the new
proprietor of Phantom Aeronautics,
Eric Pederson, who uses small diameter
Tuff wheels to shave an impressive
6 pounds off the Phantom ultralight
compared to the aluminum wheels he
also supplies.

Another way to really lop off a few
pounds is by switching powerplants.
Chuck said the 35-hp Kawasaki 440
engine is a distinct possibility for the
Ultra. He says the Japanese engine
saves a whopping 20 pounds over the
91 pounds (installed weight) of the
Hirth 2702 on the prototype (including
its belt reduction drive plus exhaust).
Further, Chuck believes Kawasaki 440s are in ample supply. My experiences
with this engine during the early days
of Flightstar ultralights and JetWing
trikes were positive.

Why mess with a different brand
of engine when we have the well-supported
Rotax brand readily available?
The weight savings with the Kawasaki
440 will enable customers to add brakes
and electric start or other options. Most
potential buyers would probably agree
that a Part 103 ultralight with all the
Ultra features plus brakes and electric
start would make that engine a most
attractive option.

The prototype Hawk Ultra used a
composite prop. Working with a lightened
airframe and a less powerful
engine, CGS needed to be able to dial
in the correct pitch for the propeller,
and that’s most easily achieved with a
ground-adjustable prop.
Just the Essentials
The Hawk Ultra may look pretty bare
bones compared to a review of some of
the imported special light-sport aircraft
(S-LSA). Full panels and features galore
go hand-in-glove with some of the new
models, and their price tags reflect this
sophistication.

The Hawk Ultra might be on the
Spartan side, but why do you fly? If
you want a capable airplane to take
a passenger and fly for hundreds of
miles, the new LSA offer some dandy
choices. But if boring holes in the sky
not too far from home is your idea of
a great Saturday afternoon, the Hawk
Ultra is by no means too lean.

The standard equipment list is short.
The Hawk Ultra has no brakes, to save
weight, naturally. It has no trim system,
again in the interest of weight saving.
True, a trim system doesn’t add much
weight, but when Chuck was squeezing
ounces or grams out of the Hawk design
to make the ultralight weight limit, no
trim represented a savings, and he took
it. Not having brakes or a trim system
doesn’t present any handling problems;
ultralights slow quickly on the ground
and control lightly enough, in most
cases, that trim is not the valuable control
it is on heavy aircraft.

The Hawk Ultra also foregoes the
faired struts of most other Hawk models.
Again, Chuck’s task was to reduce
pounds wherever possible, not eke out a
few more miles an hour of speed.

Using a wood prop might help the
model stay within Part 103’s speed
limit. Once Chuck dials in the right
amount of prop pitch, he’ll select a
wood prop with that configuration and this will slice off a little weight from the
prototype, too. The Kawasaki engine
weight savings over the Hirth engine
doesn’t factor in the prop weight, so the
change to a lighter wood prop will not
affect that analysis.

The Hawk Ultra’s doors are zipperclosed
Dacron with a large flexible
plastic window. They are more than
sufficient to keep the wind out and,
in Florida’s sunshine, the warmth
inside. To increase ventilation you
can open the door zippers at the top
corner, by your eyebrows. A double
set of zippers facilitates creating this
opening in the optimal location. As
I fiddled with the incoming air, I was
able to be quite comfortable aloft.
The technique was also helpful on the
ground, though obviously not to the
same degree. Those who fly in warm
locales may fly with the doors off, if
they’re willing to lose about 7 mph of
cruise speed.

Chuck reports you can use 3.25-
inch diameter snap vents, which can
be inserted into a precisely cut hole in
the plastic and rotated to direct
airflow. In cooler climates, they
can also be closed for a lowdrag
fit.
Lively Liftoff
I had help starting the Hirthpowered
Hawk Ultra, which
uses a pull starter, because the
handle was at the wing trailing
edge where it meets the fuselage.
Chuck will add a pulley or
two and route the starter cord
forward so you can pull start
from in front of the strut and
more easily control the throttle.
Because this had not been
done, I took my seat inside and
asked for a hand with pull starting.
It was the safer alternative,
I judged, even though I had no
brakes to stop forward motion,
because I could manage the
throttle and kill switch.

With a nudge of the throttle,
the lightest Hawk began
rolling for takeoff. Ground
steering from the skateboard
tail wheel proved to be quite
good; the turn radius was small, and
turn efforts were quite effective at just
below landing speeds. This was true
on the sandy soil of South Lakeland
Airpark, so I assume the wheel would
be even more effective on pavement.

The “Hawk with the holes in it” leapt
off the ground with the 40-hp, twincylinder
Hirth 2702 engine. The taildragger’s
hindquarter came up almost
immediately, and its main wheels left
the ground shortly thereafter. Those
spoiled by the powerful Rotax 912S
forget that performance of an engine
is more closely tied to takeoff weight
than horsepower. Climb-out from the
grass runway was vigorous at about
800 fpm.
Zippy Ultra
CGS’s air show demonstration pilot,
Grant Smith, advised me that 4800
rpm was a good number for the Hirth
powerplant. I found even less revs
to be plenty of power; at 4720 rpm I
recorded a speed of 65 mph, a nearly
perfect Part 103 figure. At only 4000
rpm, the Ultra was close to holding
altitude, and the cabin was pleasantly
quiet and smooth.

Besides engine power, another benefit
of a genuinely ultra-light aircraft
is the ability to use thermals for
climbing, as I could feel them quite
well. Heavier aircraft, including many
LSA, will tend to plow through bubbles
of lift and you won’t feel
them. That’s good if you want
your cross-country flight to
be free of ups and downs, but
you miss an interesting part
of the atmosphere.

With the Hirth at full throttle,
the max revolutions showed
a shade more than 5500 rpm,
at which the installed airspeed
indicator (ASI) read about 70
mph, which is over the 63 mph
allowed. However, at the max
allowed continuous power setting,
speeds are likely to remain
within the Part 103 speed limit.
Never exceed speed on the
Hawk Ultra is 85 mph.

I rarely fly any airplane-
ultralight, LSA, or GA-at
high power settings. Running
any reciprocating engine hard
creates more noise and vibration,
and I unconsciously seek
smoother realms. I found I
could hold altitude in level
flight somewhat with barely
more than 4000 rpm. At that
setting I was losing only a few feet per minute. At a setting of 4200,
the Ultra held its altitude.

As I toured the countryside around
South Lakeland getting a feel for the
machine, I noted the Ultra exhibited
a nose-up tendency during all flight
operations. Naturally, if you build your
own Hawk you can make the necessary
tail plane adjustments to work out the
trim position.

The same can be said for a rudder
trim tab. This first Ultra also had some
left-turn tendency, which kept me on
the right rudder nearly all the time to
keep the plane from straying to the left.
And the left turn tendency required
that I apply right rudder liberally in
right turns or I tended to skid.

At first I assumed this turn tendency
was a P-factor influence, but in level
flight with power reduced, the left turn
remained. My recommendation is to
add a fixed tab and work with it until
satisfied. Unlike pitch trim, once a turn
is dialed out, it won’t matter much what
weight pilot flies your Ultra. Another
alternative, though more complicated,
is to make small adjustments in the
aileron rigging. If a trim tab needs to be
large, such rigging changes may be the
preferred method.

However, I’m finding things to gripe
about; I’m sure production models of
the Ultra will meet the fine handling
standards of every other Hawk model
I’ve flown. Also, Chuck’s likely to shave
more pounds off the production Ultras,
which will further improve already fine
handling.

To transform the Hawk Ultra into a
superior low-over-the-fields flier, throttle
back, ease aft on the stick as speed
decreases, and deploy a couple notches
of flaps. The real charm of an ultralight
comes when you fly low over unobstructed
fields. If you’ve been locked
up inside your 120-knot LSA too long,
you deserve a flight in a Hawk Ultra (or
other slow-flying ultralight). Wandering
below the treetops at 40 mph is a special
experience.

Is flying that speed while low a wise
choice? I say enthusiastically yes, as
long as you ensure no obstacles or other
traffic are present, you are comfortable
with slow flight maneuvers, and you
take care not to disturb neighbors or
animals. Once you have experience,
you can proceed carefully and enjoy
flight such as you rarely do in general
aviation aircraft. Of course, it helps to
know the flight qualities of the aircraft
near stall speed, and I’d already
explored this realm quite thoroughly in
the Hawk Ultra.

Low power stalls don’t really break
in the Ultra. You merely note a sinking
sensation that identifies the flight
condition. Because the Ultra tended
toward a nose-up attitude, this may
have retarded any breakthrough characteristic.
During my stall practice the
ASI read below 30 mph, a range where
such instruments are prone to error, but
the Ultra can certainly fly slowly, which
invited my low-flying enjoyment.

Simulated departure stalls at about
5000 rpm also did not break but came
closer to doing so. Because this first
Hawk Ultra was suffering from some
tendency to heat up quickly, I didn’t
take the opportunity to try full power
stalls.
Time to Land
Grant recommended I make my
landing approach at 45-50 mph. You
can come in slower, but you won’t
have much energy reserve for the flare
to landing. Low energy retention may
be a drawback of genuine ultralights
for some pilots, but it also means
the rollout will be brief. In the series
of landings I made on turf, I never
needed brakes.

Slips to landing worked well in either direction. The Hawk Ultra will
allow you to set up a highly angled
slip that pulls you out of the sky.
However, as the Ultra comes standard
with effective flaps, you won’t need
to slip often. In fact, the Ultra’s slip
potential was significant enough I
speculated CGS might consider eliminating
the flaps to save more weight.
Contrarily, the flaps might prove useful
on short or soft runways, neither
of which I experienced.

I have no doubt that the Hawk
design has endured for many years
because it offers delightful flight characteristics.
Every CGS Hawk I’ve ever
flown has offered a sweet combination
of light stick and rudder forces
with crisp response and satisfying
roll-in and roll-out rates. If it sounds
like I’m extremely pleased with Hawk
handling, you’re reading my words
correctly. It’s no wonder that virtually
every Hawk owner with whom
I’ve spoken enjoys flying around in
this 20-plus-year-old design. It further
explains why Chuck continues to add
models and variations but also continues
to produce an airplane built to the
successful Hawk formula.
Netting a Hawk Ultra
For its newest and lightest model,
CGS Aviation offers several factory prebuilt
components to hold build time
to 200 hours for the first-time builders.
The factory fully assembles the wings
of the Hawk Ultra, which despite its
light weight, uses heavy-duty aluminum
tubing (2.5-inch leading edge and
1.75-inch trailing edge spar). All tubing
comes anodized. Every control surface
including flaps, ailerons, rudder, vertical
stabilizer, horizontal stabilizer, and
elevator comes pre-assembled.

You can have your choice of a taildragger,
which I flew, or tricycle gear
machine, with steerable wheels for
either option. However, check with
CGS regarding which engine sizes
and weights work with the tri-gear
configuration.

Most amazing in this age of $85,000
LSA is the price of a Hawk Ultra. The
basic kit retails for a modest $8,895
and coordinates with the covering
and engine packages CGS sells. A
covering package adds $1,737, making
the unpowered kit $10,632. But,
of course, you’ll need a powerplant
and prop.

You can choose the Rotax 447 at
40 hp for $2,925 (all prices as of late
May 2005), including the engine, a
wood prop, throttle assembly, motor
and muffler mounts plus mounting
hardware and brackets. If you want
electric start add $760.
The Hirth 2702 at 40 hp sells
for $3,692 with the same additional
items as the Rotax 447. Electric start
is $500 extra. Or, choose the weightsaving
Kawasaki 440 at 35 hp for
$3,692. As with the Hirth, electric
start adds $500.

Both latter engines surprisingly cost
more than the Rotax, which also enjoys
superior nationwide service. In both
Hirth and Kawasaki examples, the additional
cost comes from parts CGS must
supply to mount and prop the engines.
The Kawasaki may see a decrease in
price once (and if) it becomes an established
offering for CGS.

Finally, add a propeller; CGS
Aviation features Powerfin propellers,
and it will price them when you call
the company.

So far, you’ve spent about $15,000.
A few options may entice a few more
dollars from your checkbook. In-flight
trim costs $89, mechanical brakes are
$150, but you can use them only with
the Kawasaki if you want to stay within
Part 103 operations. Map pockets in the
sewn doors add $40, while tinted Lexan
windows add $150. You can choose a
BRS parachute for $2,300 to $3,000,
depending on the size you’d like, and
it comes with no weight penalty under
103 rules.

The most desired options might be
those that get you in the air the fastest.
The quick-build option is $2,700 and
lops off 100 hours-half the total! Or,
CGS Aviation can and will fully build
your Hawk Ultra for $5,600 for a basic
airplane. Options add to this figure.
Even if you elect a ready-to-fly Hawk
Ultra, the price tag stays barely above
$20,000 (plus options). In today’s world
of light aircraft, that is a great bargain
on a nice-flying ultralight.
Enjoy Part 103 and save yourself
money and aggravation. The FAA has
proposed no changes to its simplestever
rule. This is reason alone to consider
the Hawk Ultra. But the best reason
is how much fun you’ll have in this ride
back into the future.