This first year I ever saw Randy Schlitter fly one his models at an airshow seems a hundred years ago. Indeed, since that distant memory at Sun ‘n Fun, this Kansas company has created a profusion of designs and delivered nearly 5,000 aircraft. To say it has been a great run qualifies as a significant understatement.
Today’s S-21 Outbound (pilot report video) or S-20 Raven (pilot report video) seem a long ways off from those very early models yet it does not take an expert eye to see they are clear descendants from the original Rans aircraft.
What began this fascinating evolution of a light airplane company started almost 40 years ago — here’s a report on the very first model, still flying! That humble little Coyote (Kansas is a U.S. prairie state so coyotes are a logical name) began something great but it remains a wonderful light airplane that you can buy today for a song.
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Ultralight April 2020 — Eighth in the Vintage Series: Quicksilver MX
Ah, the Quicksilver! Where to start with this veritable icon of the ultralight sector?
With more than 15,000 flying, it even outranks Van’s Aircraft for kit aircraft that made it into the air — although Van’s has sold more kits in total and no one disputes the Western brand’s leadership position.
The earliest Quicksilvers were hang gliders (last photo). Engines came later but at first the weight-shift seat stayed (nearby image). The pilot had lateral control — still by weight shift — but via lines that moved surfaces. Pitch, however, was fully controlled by the pilot moving his or her body.
Those were fun days and provided wonderful memories (yes, I flew them as weight-shift aircraft). Yet the brand went on to vastly greater development. In this article, our focus is on the original three-axis control model, the oh-so-famous MX (multiple axis).
Quicksilver MX
Quicksilver’s MX entered the market in the early 1980s, like all the models featured in our Vintage Ultralight series.
Ultralight April 2020 — Seventh in the Vintage Series: Ultralight Flight Phantom
When the Phantom was introduced to the ultralight market at Sun ‘n Fun in 1982, it won the Best New Design award, not only for good looks and strong performance but for its structural integrity! Indeed, it was touted as having been tested to +9 and –6.6 Gs. Though dismissed by some pilots, wire-braced designs are actually very tough.
Phantom is a kit built from anodized aluminum tubing, bolted and riveted together. The wings, tail surfaces and ailerons are covered in Dacron sail cloth envelopes and Phantom used a double surfaced wing for better cross wind control and handling.
A wire-braced, high-wing, tricycle-gear ultralight aircraft in a tractor configuration, Phantom has a pilot pod with windscreen and a steerable nosewheel. (These were not common in those early days of ultralight vehicles.) Controls are standard stick and rudder — a left hand throttle and right hand joystick — with full span ailerons.
Ultralight April 2020 — Fifth in the Vintage Series: Kolb Firestar
Amazingly enough, here in 2020, we have noticeably returned to our roots in very light aircraft. Almost 40 years after Mike Sacrey and his team at FAA created the still-incredible Part 103, one leading brand from those days is not only still in business and thriving, but they are largely building similar aircraft to four decades back.
The man you saw on the lead photo is the famed Dick Rahill, a one-man flying machine flying his machine at Sun ‘n Fun more capably than any robot. Over and over, Dick would blast off in the bright yellow Firestar that seemed attached to him. He’d make one quick pattern from the turf runway in Paradise City at Sun ‘n Fun only to land, jump right back in the takeoff line, and repeat. Launch, circle, land, repeat… over and over. It seemed like every other airplane taking off was Dick and his FireStar.
Ultralight April 2020 — Fourth in the Vintage Series: Hiperlight SNS 8 Biplane
As we continue with this fourth in a series of ten about very affordable light aircraft from earlier times, we stress again that all the aircraft presented in this series still have some essential qualities that warranted their inclusion.
First, these are all aircraft with which Videoman Dave and I are personally familiar. I have flown all but one on the list and I believe Dave has flown all of them. So, we come to the series with real experiences in these flying machines. It has been a while for many of them, but assuming maintenance is good (see the important message at the end), this can be reasonable for many pilots to consider. However, as with any used aircraft, the buyer must be aware. Neither Dave nor I can comment on any one particular aircraft.
Second, and with the maintenance message firmly planted in your mind, all the models in this Vintage Ultralight series still have parts available from current-day producers.
Ultralight April 2020 — Third in the Vintage Series: Fisher FP-202 Koala
When Fisher was still located where it began, in North Dakota, I paid a visit to the factory. It may have been the tidiest wood shop I have ever seen.
I had just written an article about kit-builder assembly manuals so I was keen to see examples of Fisher Flying Products full-size plans. That always sounded like a marketing term yet I knew it meant exactly what they called it.
Darlene Hansen showed me a neatly-organized series of boxes full of long tubes of paper. She took one out, for the fuselage of the Koala as it turned out (see nearby image). She went to one end of a long, flat table and briskly unfurled the tube of paper while hanging on to the loose edge. It rolled and rolled …and rolled, until a sheet about four feet wide and 20 feet long covered the work table.
You literally take the tiny wood pieces Fisher ships to you as part of the kit and lay them directly on the paper as shown.
Ultralight April 2020 — Second in the Vintage Series: CGS Hawk
Way back when, long before the birth of the Light-Sport Aircraft segment (in 2004), lots of us flew ultralights. They were barely more than powered hang gliders — except one.
Before 1982 these lightest-of-all aircraft were required to be foot-launchable. It’s true. I once staggered into the air partly carrying, partly dragging a Quicksilver. I got airborne thanks to a generous 15 mph headwind that provided about three quarters of the speed I needed for… um, you can’t call it “rotation,” but to get enough lift that I could sit down.
Yes, “sit down.” You didn’t think I ran for take off while sitting comfortably belted into a secure seat did you? Nope, that Quicksilver had a literal swing seat and a special rear axle that allowed a full stride of your legs.
OK, that requirement proved futile and FAA later dropped it, but one guy in particular drove that older requirement into the annals of history.
Ultralight April 2020 — First in the Vintage Series: Buccaneer XA
A frequent comment I hear is that the price of recreational aircraft are too high. Some pilots have been stating this for 18 years, since a couple years before Light-Sport Aircraft emerged.
Back in 2002, many believed that the new LSA-to-come would cost $50-60,000. Right or wrong (about those price guesstimates), that range today would be $72-87,000, after correcting for the decline in the dollar’s purchasing power. The truth is that you do have some new choices at that price point but for many, such a cost remains out of their budget for any recreational vehicle, airborne or otherwise.
To those pilots, I often suggest a good, used aircraft and we have more such LSA every year, many of which are excellent buys. Yet, how about we drop down the price further?
How About a Used
Part 103 Ultralight?
Long before LSA were introduced, I flew a single-place Buccaneer with a Rotax 377.
Virtual Aero Friedrichshafen — Zlin Aviation’s New Norden Sportplane
Had not both shows been cancelled or postponed, I would be gearing up for Sun ‘n Fun and Aero Friedrichshafen. The important spring events were due to start in less than a week.
Now, Aero is put off until 2021 and Sun ‘n Fun is about three weeks away from a Lakeland city-imposed final decision date (on April 17) regarding the new planned date of May 5-10, 2020. (I’m keeping my hopes up that our friends at that event will be able to launch their spring celebration of flight.)
To help all of us through the next few weeks, I will be posting virtual airshow material — that is, I’ll write about aircraft you would have seen had you been able to attend the show. Companies work very hard to get new products ready for these big spring events. To not lose momentum as governments around the world impose all manner of rules, I’ll take the shows online… hence, “Virtual.”
Why “Norden?”
“The plane is just the sum of my experience in this sector,” wrote Zlin Aviation developer Pasquale Russo.
Tucano 915 Kit Aircraft: Serious Engine, Serious Airframe, …Seriously Fun!
Copperstate is proving to be as valuable for the collection of Video Pilot Reports as Midwest and DeLand. We are reporting from the new and improved show for the second year in a row, and it’s looking good for Copperstate to earn a new, regular slot on our show calendar. Some very positive developments were discussed though it’s far too soon to write about them.
This year, attendees could hit 30,000 for the city-sponsored event (see this article for more about Copperstate linking up with Buckeye Air Fair). Still, focused shows like those above allow more time and friendlier ground operations to permit us to capture a couple VPRs a day. Pilots who attend also realize they can more thoroughly investigate a new (or new-to-them) LSA or Sport Pilot kit because the vendor is not always swamped.
At the smaller shows it’s far easier to take a demo flight.
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