Chrysoberyl
Member
I am a lifelong aviation nut, and two of our children fell from the same tree.
In the mid-1960s I received a Glider rating and did about 10 hours of solo afterwards. That doesn't sound like much, but if you fail to catch thermals at 3,000 feet, you are back on the ground in less than 30 minutes.
Friends have given me stick-time while in flight - a Piper Cub, and a Stearman. For the past several years LSA aircraft rekindled the desire to fly. However, prices cause me to slide well below that.
My first choice was a Pipistrel Virus [VeerUs] that I could register as a powered glider or LSA. This is what Cessna should have designed, in my opinion. A powered glider would give more freedom than an LSA, if I could regain currency and get a power endorsement. A very deluxe kit with many, many options would be about $95,000 today with the Euro at $1.2643. A ready-to-fly with NO options, delivered to the east coast would cost about $92,800. Couldn't find any partners to share the cost - would have needed three.
My next choice was Vans RV-12. The kit with everything needed to fly was $58,000 at first and now is heading toward $62,000 plus cost of tools that could be as much as $1,200. It is a beautiful design, but again, no partners available - could have done it with one or preferably two.
My current target is an ultralight. A local Challenger II is available, built by a man who has built 8 airplanes, and has an asking price of $12,500 with very low time. I prefer a tractor design rather than a pusher where everything that comes loose from the engine or is sucked from the cockpit goes through the propellor.
I have looked at one exceptional pusher, the UK ultralight design winner, the e-Go <e-Go.me>. This beautiful design is a single place, all carbon fiber canard with a 40hp rotary engine, weighs 251 lbs, gross 503 lbs, and can cruise at 138mph - the LSA limit. There is a simulation of it that will run on X-Plane. Don't know what the U.S. price will be, but they have some serious, highly experienced aeronautical engineers doing the design and tooling for production. I don't have time to wait for it, but it is a beauty.
I have looked at the Legal Eagle and the Double Eagle. I would prefer the Double Eagle, but its only legal use is for instruction of people who want to transition to single-place ultra-lights. That must be why they don't call it the Legal Double Eagle.
My problem with the Legal Eagle is that no one will supply a complete kit, for liability reasons. If I were younger than PLENTY-nine, and had more time I would try to scrounge, or order parts as needed.
Partnerless, I now I am looking at a Belite Ultralight kit <beliteaircraft.com>. I saw it at Oshkosh last year, but I still was under the LSA delusion. Jame Wiebe has done a fine job designing beyond a Kitfox Lite he had bought, plus he designed what he calls his Patch Flyer instruments - 8 flight instruments on a metal panel weigh about 1/2 pound. His interactive price lists for fly-away and kits show you the final weight of your individual and combined choices. He is more intent on producing Legal Ultralights than any ultralight maker I have found. The wings fold so I could store it in my basement, and I could modify my largest boat trailer to haul it to the airport, as illustrated in his blog on the web site.
I look forward to trading information with you and reading about your projects.
Keep smiling, not matter how happy you are!
John
In the mid-1960s I received a Glider rating and did about 10 hours of solo afterwards. That doesn't sound like much, but if you fail to catch thermals at 3,000 feet, you are back on the ground in less than 30 minutes.
Friends have given me stick-time while in flight - a Piper Cub, and a Stearman. For the past several years LSA aircraft rekindled the desire to fly. However, prices cause me to slide well below that.
My first choice was a Pipistrel Virus [VeerUs] that I could register as a powered glider or LSA. This is what Cessna should have designed, in my opinion. A powered glider would give more freedom than an LSA, if I could regain currency and get a power endorsement. A very deluxe kit with many, many options would be about $95,000 today with the Euro at $1.2643. A ready-to-fly with NO options, delivered to the east coast would cost about $92,800. Couldn't find any partners to share the cost - would have needed three.
My next choice was Vans RV-12. The kit with everything needed to fly was $58,000 at first and now is heading toward $62,000 plus cost of tools that could be as much as $1,200. It is a beautiful design, but again, no partners available - could have done it with one or preferably two.
My current target is an ultralight. A local Challenger II is available, built by a man who has built 8 airplanes, and has an asking price of $12,500 with very low time. I prefer a tractor design rather than a pusher where everything that comes loose from the engine or is sucked from the cockpit goes through the propellor.
I have looked at one exceptional pusher, the UK ultralight design winner, the e-Go <e-Go.me>. This beautiful design is a single place, all carbon fiber canard with a 40hp rotary engine, weighs 251 lbs, gross 503 lbs, and can cruise at 138mph - the LSA limit. There is a simulation of it that will run on X-Plane. Don't know what the U.S. price will be, but they have some serious, highly experienced aeronautical engineers doing the design and tooling for production. I don't have time to wait for it, but it is a beauty.
I have looked at the Legal Eagle and the Double Eagle. I would prefer the Double Eagle, but its only legal use is for instruction of people who want to transition to single-place ultra-lights. That must be why they don't call it the Legal Double Eagle.
My problem with the Legal Eagle is that no one will supply a complete kit, for liability reasons. If I were younger than PLENTY-nine, and had more time I would try to scrounge, or order parts as needed.
Partnerless, I now I am looking at a Belite Ultralight kit <beliteaircraft.com>. I saw it at Oshkosh last year, but I still was under the LSA delusion. Jame Wiebe has done a fine job designing beyond a Kitfox Lite he had bought, plus he designed what he calls his Patch Flyer instruments - 8 flight instruments on a metal panel weigh about 1/2 pound. His interactive price lists for fly-away and kits show you the final weight of your individual and combined choices. He is more intent on producing Legal Ultralights than any ultralight maker I have found. The wings fold so I could store it in my basement, and I could modify my largest boat trailer to haul it to the airport, as illustrated in his blog on the web site.
I look forward to trading information with you and reading about your projects.
Keep smiling, not matter how happy you are!
John
