The Special Light-Sport Aircraft version of Quicksilver Aeronautics‘ popular Sport 2 model is completing efforts to gain FAA acceptance. An FAA audit is scheduled in December and the company announced it has completed the entire flight test regimen required to comply with ASTM industry consensus standards. A recent update to the standard now demands that a company must accumulate 100 hours of flight testing. Homebuilders expend some time to log the 40 hours required for an Experimental Amateur Built kit; this is two and half times as much. “We completed an entire ASTM Design & Performance standard test matrix,” said Daniel Perez, Chief Operations Officer for the California company. He also noted that those 100 flight hours involved 236 takeoffs and landings. These results follow a long period of other detailed testing and significant document preparation plus establishing the factory for repeatable, quality-controlled production of ready-to-fly aircraft.
Quiclsilver’s Sport 2S is a strutted, wide open cockpit, side-by-side two seater and will be the first Quicksilver aircraft to complete the entire compliance package.
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Building a Quicksilver Wing — In “Fast Time”
I once saw Boeing employees racing around furiously to build an entire 747 in just seven minutes. Pretty amazing, huh? I’ll bet you didn’t know they were so efficient. OK, fine … spoil my fun by telling me that is baloney and simply a “Hollywood effect.” Yes, the truth is, all I refer to is a video watched by every visitor to the Washington State 747 assembly building (by the way, not far from the Arlington airshow every July and a most worthwhile visit). I thought the professionally produced video was terribly cool, as was a tour of Boeing’s astoundingly-enormous building … so immense that several 747s could be assembled at once in a clear-span structure.
So, how about the same idea down here in the world of airplane the rest of us can buy and fly … at least after we build the airplane? I was recently sent such a video from the new owners of Quicksilver Aeronautics.
Quicksilver Adds Five Aircraft to FAA Kit List
Last Spring I had the pleasure of photographing the several aircraft that make up the stable of the re-emergent Quicksilver Aeronautics company. Quicksilver is the once-and-future, Cessna-style flagship of the ultralight industry back in the 70s and 80s, when it sold almost 15,000 single seater and two-seat aircraft kits under the FAA Part 103 regulation.
What always blew me away about Quicks, beyond their easy-to-fly, docile performance and truly bugs-in-teeth fun personality was the impeccability of the kits themselves. I haven’t seen one in years, but according to people I’ve talked to, they’re even better than they were back then…and that’s saying something! Quicksilver kits were the epitome of how a kit should be produced for sale. If you ever put together a Revell plastic model then you’ve got some idea of how a Quick kit arrives. All the anodized aluminum structural tubes for example are predrilled, immaculately finished and vacuum shrink-wrapped onto large printed cardboard sheets that individually identify every piece right where it’s “mounted” onto the sheet.
Luxurious Quicksilver Dealership: Flying & Living
One of the most storied companies in the entire light airplane space is Quicksilver. Their iconic models have populated the skies more than any other recreational aircraft brand… yes, more than Van’s (7,000+), Rans (4,500+), and Challenger (2,500+) combined! In fact, in 2002 and 2003, Quicksilver by itself outsold Cessna, Piper, and Beechcraft combined! Now, that’s a performance any aircraft company would love to match.
Recently this company, which has what our nation’s president might call “a good narrative,” acquired new ownership, the fourth such transition in the five decades it’s been in existence. Quicksilver Manufacturing became Quicksilver Aeronautics. Thanks to increased energy and fresh directions from Will Escutia and Dan Perez, the California company is attracting new retail businesses to become part of Team Quicksilver. One of the newest is Flying & Living LLC, located in Queretaro, Mexico. Here’s another reason for envy from other producers.
Kodak Moment for Quicksilver Aeronautics
Among all aircraft producers in the world, a very limited number have exceeded the daunting barrier of delivering more than 10,000 airplanes. Those in this exclusive club include manufacturers of major aircraft such as Boeing, Cessna, Piper and precious few others. While Van’s Aircraft is approaching this number with their RV kit-built aircraft series (itself a rather incredible achievement), no recreational aircraft company has passed the 10,000 unit mark… except one: Quicksilver. *** For many pilots Quicksilver makes “ultralights.” Indeed they do, in that some models can be built to stay within FAA’s Part 103 rule. Quicksilver also makes two seaters in two model lines — the MX series and the GT series — and those are now considered Experimental Amateur-Built aircraft. Except for dealer-built Part 103 Quicksilver aircraft, er… “ultralight vehicles” to use the preferred FAA term, all the California company’s aircraft have been constructed from kits.
Quicksilver’s GT500 Qualifier
Quicksilver’s GT 500 is ready for sport pilots
In the automotive world, GT stands for Grand Touring and that may be an appropriate comparison for the GT 500 from Quicksilver Aircraft Manufacturing. With the unlimited view from the front seat of this tandem two-seater, touring in the GT 500 is definitely a treat.
When the sport pilot/light-sport aircraft (SP/LSA) final rule arrives on the aviation scene, this top-of-the-line model from the longtime Southern California ultralight manufacturer may well be one of the first available ready-to-fly light-sport aircraft (LSA). Quicksilver co-owner Carl von Hirsch has indicated the company will build the GT 500 as a ready-to-fly Special LSA. It will also offer the strutbraced MX Sport IIS as a LSA entry.
You might say the GT 500 is preapproved; in 1993 the tandem, two-seat aircraft received both a type and production certificate in the Primary Category (see sidebar). It’s pretty safe to say that the design will quickly pass muster under the FAA-mandated LSA consensus standards under development by ASTM International.
FAA Administrator flies Quicksilver
Last summer the FAA Adminstrator flew the open-cockpit Quicksilver Sport II. At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2004, FAA Administrator, Marion Blakey flew with instructor Ken Snyder to feel the Wisconsin breeze on her knees. Kudos to her for “daring” to fly in this machine; she was offered enclosed cockpit aircraft, but selected the Quicksilver herself. After she flew in it, I was able to convince two other FAA big shots to fly in the same machine. Look for my review of the charming little Sprint I in Ultralight Flying! magazine’s 2/05 issue.
Quicksilver Manufacturing — Sport IIS
The Quicksilver Sport IIS has been transformed from a cable braced ultralight to a strut braced model. Although this simple flying machine is one of the most successful aircraft ever built, the California company managed to make the new model even more appealing as it heads into a third decade of production.
The most noticeable change to the new ultralight are the wing struts that completely replace the wing’s upper surface cable rigging. Now the upper surface is free of obstructions to a smooth airflow and has a cleaner appearance. Other changes are more subtle but even with extensive tubular reinforcement the IIS weighs 430 pounds empty, well under the exemption weight limit. With its large 170 square foot wing the newest Quicksilver feels like the ultralight the public expects. This image and its comfortable flying charactertistics jointly account for it being the most popular training ultralight in the world.
Experienced pilots from all segments of aviation in many countries have come to love the Quicksilver.
Quicksilver Manufacturing — GT400
One of the best regarded light aircraft on the market is the GT400 from newly reorganized and revitalized Quicksilver. The longtime manufacturer of ultralights has new ownership and good things are happening. Fortunately, the Southern California leader stuck with their successful models.
According to many who have flown it, the GT400 is one of the best flying single seat aircraft you can buy. To beginners, it is predictable and stable with qualities that allow a new pilot to progress with confidence. To old timers, the GT400 has such refined characteristics that it can please those with many hours logged.
Using a control yoke rather than a joystick, GT400 emulates certified aircraft yet for all its sophistication, the design does not lose any of the fun side that makes ultralights so enjoyable. Handling is smooth but responsive. Performance is substantial but not scary. And its stability profile sets a standard for light aircraft.
Quicksilver’s GT 400
The GT 400 isn’t the fastest handling ultralight, nor is it the speediest, cheapest, most modern, nor fastest to build. But it does everything so well it doesn’t need to be tops at any one function. In this sense, I believe the GT 400 may be the best ultralight in the world.
While “best” means something different for virtually every pilot, I’ll go out on a limb and predict that any pilot who flies the GT 400 will find it a highly satisfying ultralight.
Fortunately for other ultralight manufacturers, every single pilot is different, a unique individual.
Still, for an estimated 1,000 current GT 400 owners – and the new buyers that will follow – the GT 400 single-seater that Quicksilver first offered in 1984 remains an excellent choice.
If you accept my opinion that the 400 is a desirable ultralight, then you may be moved to action by its pricing.
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