One of my joys at AirVenture 2011 was visiting a seemingly revitalized Ultralight Area. Though a shadow of its former self in the 1980 heydays, new life seemed to be springing up, whether through electric powered aircraft or affordable Part 103 fixed wing designs.
Proving the naysayers wrong (again!) were at least two intriguing Part 103 airplanes you can buy and fly today for less than $20,000. That’s well the under the average price of a new automobile for a ready-to-fly aircraft with desirable features, not a stripped-down machine that no one really wants. I wrote about Terry Raber’s lovely little Aerolite 103. A day after looking over his work, UltralightNews and I shot a video review of the Valley Engineering Backyard Flyer. Once again, I had my eyes opened.
If you’ve ever visited AirVenture’s Ultralight Area, odds are you saw a pilot known as the “Flying Farmer” doing circuits of the Ultralight Area pattern.
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Aero-lite 103
[UPDATE spring 2014] — The Aerolite 103 is now manufacturered in Deland, Florida by U-Fly-It, the contact info for which is located at the end of this article. In addition, a new company is representing the product in Europe under the name Vierwerk. The design appears to be enjoying great interest and support at this time.
[UPDATE summer 2011] — Aero-Works, the company referred to in this article written in 1997, left the business several years ago. During its absence a different producer, Wings of Freedom, offered their Phoenix-103, a derivation of the Aero-Lite 103 but with numerous small changes.
This article refers to the aircraft built by AeroWorks and will not be identical to the Aero-Lite 103. The companies are different and Terry Raber has no association with Wings of Freedom.
Now, in the summer of 2011, I am happy to report the original designer is again the producer of the Aerolite 103, and it retains an excellent price, less than $15,000.
Best Bargain in a Ready-to-Fly Airplane?
Many pilots speak of airplanes they cannot afford. Indeed, $150,000 Light-Sport Aircraft are priced beyond common budgets. One way to solve this is through a partnership or fractional ownership… and I will be writing about partnerships later this year. *** Another way involves a ready-to-fly aircraft for under $15,000. You read it right: $14,995 for a ready to fly aircraft with many features you want including electric starting, flaps, brakes, tricycle gear, and instruments. I must also mention it successfully meets U.S. Part 103 ultralight regulations. Plus, it is great fun to fly! *** Welcome back to Terry Raber’s brilliant Aerolite 103… literally brilliant in day-glow orange (photo). An amazing value, let me list a few of the standard equipment items: Factory-built; Hirth F-33 engine with electric start & battery; nose fairing & windshield; instruments including airspeed, altimeter, tachometer, EGT, CHT, and clock; electric flaps; steerable nose wheel with suspension; and four-point restraint system (this list does not include everything you get).
Oshkosh Airventure 2011
After my own Labors of Hercules, I arrived at the EAA Oshkosh Airventure seasonal highpoint event Tuesday mid day. Since it was a beautiful day by anybody’s standards, I decided not to brave the hordes at the show and headed out, once I got settled in my digs for the week, to a lovely little airport named Brennand about 10 minutes northwest of EAA’s Wittman Field show grounds. *** I was in luck with more than just weather: the San Antonio Light Sport Aircraft (SALSA) gang from Texas was there demo-flying its all-composite Pipistrel Virus SW 80/100, tricycle-gear (there’s also a taildragger version), composite touring motorglider. *** The Pipistrel line includes several designs I have admired from afar but not had the opportunity to share air with. *** All that changed when Salsa’s prime mover and shaker Rand Vollmer introduced me to a big, friendly Texican fella named Dave White.
Another Roadable Aircraft Project!
Okay, so no way this is ever going to be a Light Sport aircraft, but this is just too much fun and I had to pass it along. *** Famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan has been at it again, this time with his eclectic take on a flying car that began life as an electric-powered flying testbed. *** Aviation Week’s online blog (also picked up by Wired magazine) shared information released exclusively to it by Rutan’s Scaled Composites company known in recent years for many fantastic projects including Spaceship One and White Knight. *** Called BiPod, the flying car became a crash program, completed in just four months and already in test flight mode. Rutan himself retired in April of this year. *** Model 367 BiPod is characteristically, wonderfully unconventional as have been all of Rutan’s many designs. *** The two-seat, hybrid-electric “roadable” aircraft (mini-rant: I sure hope that term doesn’t replace flying car, which flows off the tongue much more agreeably, don’t you think?), originally conceived as a fast, inexpensive electric aircraft, morphed into a flying car.
Allegro Keeps on Training… 3,500 Hours Logged!
LSA America now produces the Allegro in Littleton, North Carolina and anticipates their first U.S.-produced LSA approval before Oshkosh 2011. Despite Czech-based Fantasy Air’s ceasing manufacturing several years ago, Allegro did well enough in the first couple years to still retain the #14 rank. *** Exciting as this now-Made-in-the-USA story may be, this article has a different focus. I want to tell you about an older Allegro, one that has logged more than 3,500 hours, nearly all of them doing training. *** With a few other long-serving LSA that I’ve been told about, this addresses the matter about Light-Sports being durably built to perform instructional flying over an extended period. Some pilots believe lightly built LSA cannot handle the duress of students learning to fly. *** Allegro (N50631) appears to disprove the argument that LSA aren’t tough enough. New factory operator Doug Hempstead stated, “The composite fuselage has proven itself in a flight school setting and aluminum wings make [Allegro] affordable to repair.” He continued, “[Our trainer] is an Allegro 2000, the design built from 2000 to 2006.” It was put in service at B Bar D Aviation Flight School with 200 hours.
Fixed wing or Flexwing; Take Your Pick
I am only aware of one company* in the USA that offers you a choice of a conventional three-axis fixed wing or a weight-shift control (WSC) flexwing. Why do this? Simple. Not all pilots want the same kind of aircraft and some of us like both kinds of flying.
It happens that the boys from Zephyr Hills airport have two interesting machines and you ought to know about them. “Boys” in this case refers to Abid Farooqui, Larry Mednick, and Phil Mednick; the latter are a son and father combo. Abid and Larry are trike guys while Phil is the fixed wing fellow and they display not only expertise, but as the impressive Revo development shows, they bring genuine creativity to the aircraft. This trio of talent operates several businesses, including a flight school.
One company, Apollo Aircraft, offers the Columbian-designed Ibis Magic as well as the Apollo LSA (formerly Apollo Fox).
Zenith’s CH 701 Kit is Sport Pilot-Ready
Every Light Sport & Ultralight Flying magazine reader has probably heard of off-road vehicles. How about an “off-airport” flying machine? You may not have used the term but you probably know one of the candidates: Zenith Aircraft’s highly functional CH 701.
No one calls the CH 701 the most handsome aircraft in the fleet. That title may be better reserved for sleek carbon fiber jobs. But as a practical aircraft appealing to ultralight enthusiasts, the Chris Heintz design with a 20-year history is head of its class. While the design has not changed much in those two decades, the kit has changed quite a bit to make the builder’s effort easier.
The designs of engineer Chris Heintz have been around a long time, beginning with his early Zipper ultralight-like aircraft. A prolific and versatile creator, his aircraft models have put nearly 3,000 builders in the air. The low-wing CH 601 series is the most popular at better than 60% of all Zenith models followed by more than 700 CH 701’s now flying around the world.
Of Amphibs and Aircars
Two of the best-promoted and most interesting LSA projects – and two of the most delayed getting to market – are back in the news. Icon Aircraft, a startup company created to produce the sexy composite A5 amphibian, just snagged $25 million in funding to help complete remaining design issues, tool up for production and begin cranking out airplanes. *** The company reports around 500 A5 orders on the books, at $139,000 per. A few months of flight testing remain to be completed, along with a new wing (reportedly for better spin resistance and directional stability), which means the production target date has been pushed back again, this time to the last quarter of 2012. *** Reported among the new crop of investors are Eric Schmidt of Google, Satyen Patel, formerly of Nike and Phil Condit, former CEO of Boeing, and some “undisclosed” Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. The initial infusion of greenbacks will be $15 million, with an option for $10 million more.
Pipistrel’s Twin Taurus… Could They Win Again?
Question: What looks like two motorgliders flying in really tight formation sharing an engine… er, a motor, literally between them? Can this Burt Rutan-looking aircraft (photo) win the big dough? And I mean seriously big money with a purse of $1,650,000! *** Called the Pipistrel Taurus G4, the prize-seeking aircraft rolled out of the Pipistrel factory in Slovenia for the first time recently. After posing briefly for the camera, G4 taxied away quietly under electric power for the start of the flight testing program. *** Pipistrel previously won a big NASA check with their Virus SW but the company has now taken a wholly different approach, based on rules which give seat-mile advantage to four seater models. *** “This aircraft is the first four-place electric aircraft to be flown in the world,” stated Pipistrel. Their Taurus Electro claimed to be the first two-place electric aircraft to be flown in the world four years earlier.
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