Search Results for : Flight Design

WALLABY RANCH, FL — While northerners prepare for winter and snow, it’s hot and
sunny here in Florida. I’m in the state for a collection of aviation events, kicked
off by a big gathering at Malcolm Jones’ “Ranch.”
They called it the Moyes Boys Reunion. When most of us hear “reunion” we think
of Class Reunions, and many groan about having to attend. Since I similar gatherings
like Dockweiler and Grandfather Mountain, I was pleased to make this one. I saw old
friends I hadn’t seen in 20+ years. But what really moved me was meeting John
Dickenson, who may have been THE man who invented the hang glider as we
know it today. John taught both Bill Moyes and Bill Bennett
to fly “ski kites” as they were then called. Moyes went on to become a major brand
name. Bill Bennett once directed a leading company that gave Bob Wills his start
in the business.

ST. PAUL, MINN. — Wow! Feel the chill! Am I nuts, talking about chill in August?
Even in my home state of Minnesota (just south of the Arctic), it’s summer and steamy
with mosquitoes the size of B-52s. However, the year-round conditions on top of Mount
Everest never get steamy| except maybe when a powered ultralight trike puts on an
airshow for hardy mountain climbers who made it to the world’s highest peak. This
news was first reported at the end of May by AvWeb.com, an Internet-only aviation
news outlet (bold emphasis is mine).
Headline: “MICROLIGHT CONQUERS EVEREST — So, what would you do if the turbo-intercooled
Rotax 914 engine powering your Pegasus Quantum trike, flying under a Pegasus
XL wing, was so hard to start that it flattened two batteries before finally catching?
Perhaps they were mildly hypoxic, but Angelo D’Arrigo and Richard Meredith-Hardy
chose to fly that engine (typically capable of 115 hp) over the world’s highest mountain
— towing a hang glider (a rigid-wing ATOS 2 from Icaro 2000) for good
measure.

CENTRAL FLORIDA–
At the start of the big Sun ‘n Fun airshow, I had the pleasure to fly John
Dunham’s American Tug built for him by ultralight producer, M Squared
of Alabama. This design resembles the popular Quicksilver ultralights that evolved
from the original hang glider of the late 1970s. Beefed up for the hard duty that
is aero towing, the M Squared entry is a robust ultralight that should be capable
of steady operation as a tractor of the air. American Tug is a single-place aircraft
employing a 32-foot span, high-lift, slow-flying, single-surface, strut-braced wing.
While Dragonfly has been the lone fixed-wing tug in the USA, flight parks and clubs
now have another choice. And, importantly, the American Tug — as opposed to the
“Australian tug,” John says — costs substantially less. A basic Rotax 582-powered
tug should sell for about $20,000 says John. The American
Tug I flew, with a custom-configured 680 cc Rotax engine rated at 100 hp, demonstrated
an acceptable climb rate while towing plus excellent low speed controllability.

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.