You have to hand it to Buckeye. These guys and gals work exceptionally hard to refine their line of ultralight aircraft to a trend-setting state of the art. Complementing their award-winning series of powered parachutes, Buckeye has now added their new Endeavor trike.
A couple years back, it was Buckeye’s single place Brat that grabbed attention for the Indiana operation. The purple airframe Brat represented a first among powered parachute producers to apply their experience to a related but different form of ultralight flight. Brat resembled the Cosmos Samba trike and offered a simple switch to powered parachute so owners could go both ways.
Last year they refined the Brat to a two seat, more extensive aircraft. In the process, the quick switch to powered parachute became more elaborate. Now the Endeavor appears as a fully developed two seat aircraft that focuses on being a trike ultralight. Fortunately it shares the extreme attention to detail that characterizes the entire Buckeye line of ultralight flying machines.
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Para-Ski International — Para-Ski
You get four vehicles in one when you choose the powered parachute called Para-Ski. The name comes from the fact that you can swap wheels for skiis. With the correct selection this will permit zooming around – without a wing – on either water or snow, giving Para-Ski year ’round thrills.
What interests pilots, of course, is the ability to install a powered parachute and go aloft. But even in this airborne environment, Para-Ski offers more versatility. You can exchange the bag wing for a rag wing and, using some changed mount hardware, the Para-Ski become a trike ultralight as well.
Para-Ski is just full of differences, for example, its use of four wheels versus the more typical tri-gear favored by most other power parachute builders. Para-Ski feels this gives the machine more stability during takeoffs and landings and sure enough, when the canopy pulls to one side, I’ve seen company pilots keep the machine tracking straight on only two wheels (a tough maneuver with a three-wheeled model).
Buckeye Industries — Brat
Not many question Buckeye’s leadership role among producers of powered parachutes. They move a lot of flying hardware. Now to expand even further, Buckeye has offered the Brat, new in a couple interesting ways.
Buckeye’s little Brat is a single place aircraft. It can be fitted with one of the company’s canopy wings but that’s no longer all. Swap a couple tubes around and in a few minutes you can fix the trike carriage to a La Mouette Topless wing. This wing is one the top wings carrying hang glider pilots to record flights and contest championships. (Tested earlier with a Cosmos trike, I found the Topless wing offered superb trike handling.)
To keep the rig simple and provide for such switchability, the Brat employs hand toggles for canopy wing steering. Their standard powered parachutes use foot pedals to do this same controlling.
Flown for its first public introduction at Oshkosh 1997, the Brat appeared to be a particularly slow flyer with light touch handling – I never saw the pilot working hard to control the Brat.
Ultralight Rotorcraft? Here are Two
America is a great country, most pilots agree. We can fly our planes all over (except in TFRs) without special permission from the government. Pilots in many countries don’t have this privilege. We can fly all manner of aircraft, from factory-built, certified models to kitbuilt machines to ultralights.
We also have several regulatory programs under which we can fly our planes. You can use your pilot’s license under Part 61 and operate under Part 91. You will soon be able to get a sport pilot license that won’t require a medical and fly a light-sport aircraft with industry-devised certification (sanctioned and approved by the FAA).
Or you can operate under Part 103, the least-burdensome regulation in the flying world. All of Part 103 can easily be printed on two pages. Remarkable! After 21 years, the FAA’s simplest rule is still going strong. One proof is that designers keep introducing aircraft that fit FAR 103’s definitions.
Light Sport Aircraft – Sidebar 2
Light Sport Aircraft Manufacturer List*
American Fixed-Wing Manufacturers
Brand
Sample Models
Telephone
E-Mail
Website (www. assumed)
Ace Aircraft
Corben Baby Ace/Jr. Ace
706-886-6341
aceair@alltel.net
exp-aircraft.com/aircraft/ace/ace.html
Aerocomp
Merlin
321-453-6641
info@aerocompinc.com
aerocompinc.com
Arnet Pereyra
Aventura I and II
321-635-8005
info@sea-plane.com
sea-plane.com
Avid Aircraft
Mark IV Bandit
406-682-5615
sales@avidair.com
avidair.com
Capella Aircraft
Capella SS Fastback XLS
512-288-4161
webmaster@capellakitplanes.com
capellakitplanes.com
CGS Aviation
Hawk Classic/Arrow
440-632-1424
chucks2000@core.com
cgsaviation.com
Earthstar Aircraft
Gull 2000 Odyssey
805-438-5235
gull438@aol.com
thundergull.com
Fisher Flying Products
Complete line of aircraft
701-493-2286
ffpjac@daktel.com
fisherflying.com
Flightstar
Flightstar IISL IISC
860-875-8185
fstar@mail2.nai.net
fly-flightstar.com
Flying K
Sky Raider I and II
208-445-7529
flyingk@micron.net
skyraider.com
Golden Circle Air
T-Bird I and II
515-834-2225
sales@aircraftsuper-market.com
goldencircleair.com
Hurricane
Clip Wing Hauler
904-935-0356
mkhytek@aol.com
Leza AirCam
Drifter
863-655-4242
aircam@ct.net
lezaaircam.com
Loehle Aircraft
P-40 5151 Mustang (fixed gear) Spad
931-857-3419
info@loehle.com
loehle.com
Phantom Aircraft
Phantom X-1 X-1e
616-375-0505
phantom@complink.com
phantomaircraft.com
Preceptor Aircraft
N-3 Pup Ultra Pup
828-286-1926
preceptor@blueridge.net
preceptoraircraft.com
Progressive Aerodyne
SeaRey
407-292-3700
searey@bellsouth.com
searey.com
Quad City Ultralights Aircraft
Challenger I II Clipped Wing
309-764-9515
daveatqcu@aol.com
quadcitychallenger.com
Quicksilver Manufacturing
Sprint Sport GT400/500
909-506-0061
quick@pe.net
quicksilveraircraft.com
RANS
Coyote Sakota Airaile Stinger S-7
785-625-6346
rans@media-net.net
rans.com
Rocky Mountain Wings
Ridge Runner
208-446-6699
rmwwings@aol.com
realflying.com
SkyStar
Kitfox IV Lite Lite Squared
208-454-2444
sales@skystar.com
skystar.com
Slipstream Industries
Genesis Revelation
920-787-5886
mail@slipstreamind.com
slipstreamind.com
Spectrum Aircraft
(Aeroprakt) Vista-Cruiser Vulcan Valor
863-314-9788
jhunter@strato.net
spectrumaircraft.com
The New Kolb Aircraft
Complete line of aircraft
606-862-9692
tnkolbaircraft@sun-spot.com
tnkolbaircraft.com
Titan Aircraft
Tornado I II
440-466-0602
titan@suite224.net
titanaircraft.com
Zenith Aircraft
601XL 701
573-581-9000
info@zenithair.com
zenithair.com
Imported Fixed-Wing Manufacturers
Brand
Sample Models
Telephone
E-Mail
Website (www.
Airborne Australia
A light-sport contender?
As the FAA’s proposed SportPlanes™/light-sport aircraft (LSA) rule moves steadily closer to becoming a law of the land, intense focus has been concentrated on candidate aircraft from overseas.
Though many pilots excited by the new rule are paying attention to fixed-wing designs, these are hardly the only aircraft that will qualify under the proposed regulation. In fact, consensus standards being devised by the industry to certify LSA have separate committees writing recommendations for powered parachutes and trikes (weight-shift). (Committees for gyroplanes, gliders, airships and balloons are also possible, but are not presently active.)
This month, “Light Stuff” looks at AirBorne Australia. Though its home is an immense distance from our shores and despite many other trike entries from the U.S. and overseas, AirBorne has built a solid following among Americans. However, AirBorne is one of those companies that does more than initially meets the eye.
Going Both Ways
Besides the Australian company, I can think of only two other manufacturers that currently build both ultralights and hang gliders.
Six Chuter Spirit
Veteran company Six Chuter has led the powered parachute pack since 1991.
With more than 1000 powered parachutes in the air, Six Chuter, Inc. of Yakima, Washington, is one of the leading companies in an increasingly crowded field. However, things haven’t always gone so well for the company. In 1992, Six Chuter nearly went out of business. Down to less than $1000, the company closed a three-unit sale that saved it.
The order signaled the beginning of the powered parachute phenomenon, and Six Chuter has never looked back. Sales hit 112 units in 1994, and they have grown ever since. Six Chuter has seen the industry develop dramatically, and it’s been a major player every step of the way.
When Six Chuter employees attended what they feared might be their last airshow a decade ago, prospects looked bleak. Company owner Dan Bailey recalls: “We were less than well received at the show.
Blois Airshow
This French light-airplane show Tops Anything in the U.S.
The name of the French venue is a bit awkward for Americans, though it rolls off the French tongue fluidly. Blois—pronounced Blwah—is a superb airshow that should grab the interest of every light-airplane enthusiast.
Light Airplanes Everywhere!
I’ve been to Sun ’n Fun for more than 25 years and to Oshkosh nearly as many. I spend a lot of time in the ultralight area of each, and they’re big events, no question. But both take a second seat to Blois. Yes, believe it or not, the event 185 kilometers south of Paris last August is the largest of the ultralight airshows I’ve seen.
With 90 exhibitors and more than 500 aircraft, most of which were flown to the event, Blois beats even Paradise City at the Lakeland, Florida, Sun ’n Fun fly-in. I’ve known of this 22-year-old show since the ’80s but attended for the first time last summer.
New Aircraft Arrive at Arlington
With 200-foot-tall trees and mountain peaks topped with snow throughout the year, Washington is a scenic place for an airshow. Despite a drought that caused the grass to crunch underfoot, light aviation looked alive and well at the EAA’s Arlington gathering for 2003.
Local Boys Make Good
One main attraction was the much-anticipated RV-10 four-place aircraft that drew big crowds. But a Washington-area group also revealed their efforts of past months. Sport Flight Aviation displayed in the ultralight area with the first of 50 kits in progress. Two completed Talons—the last of the old design—stood alongside a new Typhoon. The new closely resembles the old.
Company owners Todd Thompson and Ron Osborne took pride in showing me extensive CAD-generated drawings printed after a lengthy effort to document the popular northwest design. Each of the men operates a non-aviation business. They teamed up to resuscitate a company left leaderless after the death of its founder, Roger Bitton.
Gemini Twin
A New Powered Parachute From a Well-Known Leader
Randy Snead branches out into his own company
Once an important figure in
Buckeye Industries, Randy is
known to many as the man
who worked on the technical
side and performed flight-testing for
Buckeye. When the former company fell
into struggle (see Editor’s Note), Randy
departed to do his own thing. Customers
who followed state, “It’s the people
behind the company” that are important.
I can find no argument with this
approach; we all tend to trust those we
know.
In turn, Randy is assisted by people he
trusts. His wife, Fern, is the business
manager and also operates the parts and
ordering department for the young firm.
Their son, Jeremiah, has experience in
general aviation aircraft, weight-shift
trikes, and powered parachutes, and he’s
built many powered parachutes. In the
EAA way, Gemini Powered Parachutes is
a family affair.
Introducing Gemini
Powered Parachutes
“It’s the American way” say others.
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