Hello up there!

Hi,

I'm new to the site and new to flying (sort of). I have soloed in a QuickSilver MX and I've taken a couple of 'introductory' flight lessons (a couple of years ago). I have, however, spent over 100 hours "Flying" various PC simulators. I've recently acquired an old MX with a Rotax 447 on it, but have yet to fire it up. I'm afraid that the sails and airframe may be suffering from 'old age', and possibly the engine as well.

So here's my current (but not firm) plan... I will either have the 447 rebuilt (up to $2300) or I'll buy a Volkswagen engine and I'll build my own plane from plans. I've purchased plans for the Affordaplane as well as the Volksplane (VP-1), but I have not found any truly useful web resources related to either one.

I'm looking for someone with real experience in either one of these planes... and/or even a different plane that I can build and fly myself. I would just buy a used Quicksilver, but space is limited and I need something with removable wings that I can trailer to and from the dry lake bed. No hangar costs, no licensing fees, etc.

At this point, any advice that will get me closer to lift-off is greatly appreciated.

I will be starting the project by Christmas, so if nothing else makes sense, I'll end up putting a rebuilt 447 on the Affordaplane.

Thanks for any input!

Larry

Hello Larry and welcome to the group . To give you ideas I think it will be important to know your budget and your plans once you have something to fly . Will it be just a go around on the weekends only , or you want to go far .... . To me the ultimate trailable it's the PPG , quick deploy and the view it's great . Trailering a tube and fabric a/c down the road in a trailer , I'm not sure it's going to be easy on the fabric unless it's enclosed .On the other hand you already have the MX so IMO the shortest way it's to fix the engine and put new sails .

PR

PR

Welcome

Look into a 2A042 or 4A084 or even a 4A032 engine. They are starting to get a decent following

Good advice... thanks!

Here are a few more details...

I'm definitely going for low budget (oh how I wish that wasn't so), that why the "Affordaplane" and "Volksplane" caught my attention. Both can be built for a couple o' grand. And I'd like to run the same gas as my car, which is regular unleaded. I could go with "Premium" if necessary, but I'd like to stay away from any specialized fuel that I can't buy without going to an airport (cause there isn't a public airport here).

And the flying will be mostly weekend stuff around the area. I live in Pahrump, NV... a rural area 60 miles West of Las Vegas, so I'll be launching from the nearest dry lake bed... flying out around the low-lying hills until I reach half-a-tank of gas and then heading back to the lake bed. There is one place, Dumont Dunes, that I'd like to fly out to occasionally. It's a couple of hours by car so I probably won't have the range with only 5 gallons of gas, right?

Another question I have is what kind of comm equipment and instruments will I need? I'll have a car/plane GPS so as not to get lost, but who controls the "rural" airspace and how do I talk to them while in-flight?

I do have an enclosed trailer, so damage in-transit shouldn't be a factor.

Maybe I'll take another look at that MX... Sails are only about $800 and I doubt that the engine needs to be *completely* rebuilt... but still, I'd be in the air for around $3,000 which ain't bad! Plus I will look into the engines that Greg mentions.

I'm still looking for anybody with actual building/flying experience with the Affordaplane or VP-1.

Hey, how do we move this discussion to the "Ultralight" forum?

Thanks again

Larry

I would recommend that you get the ASA Test Prep book for Pilots or Sport Pilots. They are both excellent sources of info, even if you never take the written test for either.
My wife bought the King Videos for pilot written test. Also great stuff but a lot more expensive.

Hey Larry , There's going to be a new metal wing Air-bike soon , i'll wait until you post on the Ul area .

PR

Hey Larry , There's going to be a new metal wing Air-bike soon , i'll wait until you post on the Ul area .

PR

larry,
I dont know if you have any intrest in the legal eagle or not but it was designed to be a ul with 1/2vw power. www.betterhalfvw.com

also, if you are looking for an airplane that can be trailered easaly check oiut hart aero's sweet pea line, the wings can be folded and the plane trailered in 2 minutes. there is no 2 hour assembly like the volksplane affordaplane or legal eagle.

STAY AWAY FROM THE AFFORDAPLANE!!!

Chris

"STAY AWAY FROM THE AFFORDAPLANE!!!"

Now there's the kind of feedback I was looking for

Can you elaborate?

Larry

There have been nothing but dissatisfied A Plane builders, the commotion started on the builders group when someone discovered that the original A Plane had never been out of ground effect! To my knowlege there is only 1 flying A Plane in existence and it was highly modified from the plans by the builder to make it safe. despite the factory claim of 254 pounds it would be hard to build one less than 354 pounds. If you like the idea of the foam wing construction check out the Sky Pup, a easy build that can handle whatever engine you wish.

If you want a ultra simple and cheap plane tat can use the 447 or half vw then check out hart aero www.hartaero.com I have done buisness with doug (bought my plane from him) he is a super nice guy and a great designer! I am very attracted to his sweet pea biplane (have seen it in person) and I believe that it would perform well with whichever engine you choose. the best part is that you can buy a ready to cover airframe for less than 3 grand!

I wish you luck with whatever route you choose to go down.
happy flying
Chris

Thanks TONS Chris!

I was wondering why it was so hard to find a forum dedicated to the A-Plane... Can't say I'm not disappointed, but it's better to find all this out *before* I make the same mistake myself.

I'm thinking I haven't given the MX a fair shake yet, since it's been in storage since I acquired it. I will be working in that direction until she either flies or is sold.

I did check out the Sweet Pea and it's looking pretty good. I like the 'fold-n-go' construction of the wing. If the MX doesn't pan out (or I decide to 'graduate' to something with ailerons) I'll be giving it a serious look.

Thanks again!

Larry

To be fair, I've read all the posts I can find on the A-Plane, and the general consensus seems to be that it's not a dependable company, but there are no details about the actual plane and exactly why or where the weaknesses are...

In fact, this fellow seems to be enjoying his A-Plane just fine

http://members.tripod.com/myultralightpics/id17.htm

Does anybody have any *specific* reason why to avoid the A-Plane?

Thanks

Larry

larry,

I hate to burst your bubble but I was wonderingif you realized that the last entry was made in 2002, makes you wonder if the plane scared him? If you look at their yahoo group you will see that the only one flying is the highly modified 2 seater. If you want to go the A plane route I would advise you to contact and visit a A Plane pilot and have him demo the plane and perhaps let you fly it.

also, visit the eaglers nest yahoo group, leonard has concieved a folding wing mechanism for the legal eagle.

Chris

Yeah, I noticed the date... but then, before I found this forum *most* of the posts I found were at least a year old, so that didn't strike me as odd.

At any rate, I'm just looking for specifics to back up the rumors. I'm still going with the MX as plan A and plan B is as yet undecided.

Thanks

Larry

I agree with you completely by having the mx as plan A.
Even if you have to replace most of the tubing and sails you will still have a cheap aircraft (cheaper than most that you could build) as far as the engine goes I would just tie the plane to a tree or post and run it full power for 30minutes or so, if it runs normally then it is probably good to go.
most importantly
have fun and be safe

Chris

Quote :

have fun and be safe

Good advice indeed!

Quote :

check out the Sky Pup, a easy build that can handle whatever engine you wish.

I checked out the Sky Pup. It needs small engines. I was interested in some form of 4-stroke power, I think it is not built strong enough for a 1/2 VW... not really sure, have had no hands-on. The Banty is much like the skypup. Probably take close to the same money and time to build. Seems a bit more substancial, albiet still very light. It has 3-axis vs the skypup 2-axis. Takes a lil larger engine IIRC.

I have not heard anything bad about the LE. I guess it is still evolving but a good plane, some changes are suggested now and then. Folks have used a variety of engines with it, can't remember all but I know some 2-strokes and the 1/2 VW and the Valley Eng Big Twin.

Last time I checked, recently, the Sweet Pea plans/kit had not been released. I sure like the look of it. The bi-plane is cute but I think in terms of L/D the high-wing version might catch my serious interest.

I think investigation will reveal that the VP-1 will not go FAR part 103 due to weight.

I am attracted to the design idea behind Roger Mann's RW6 Rag-a-muffin Parasol. All wood, but specs are for Doug Fir so cheaper. It is designed for the scrounger. The FFP plane that is similar is the Fisher FP202 Koala. A nice flyer too. All wood parasol.

The ole Weedhopper is still around. I would be interested in a nice comparison between the Quicksilver and the Weedhopper. Two old veterans. One feller (at least) is flying his around with a 1/2 VW on it. 1 gal/hr at 45 mph.

The Hart Aerosport and the Ragwing 16 are Affordaplane look-a-likes you might be interested in maybe.

The Kolb Ultrastar is another minimalist type UL I am lookig for more info on. They pop-up on Barnstormers once inna while.

Checkout the Monofly. Folks seem to really like them. Another flying rail. Simple as can be, but known to be really tough.

The Poorboy has free plans on the internet, but it would be hard to build it as a 103-compliant UL. Also the Texas Parasol has free plans but comes in too heavy also. The plans might be useful to have. Think I have em somewhere.

Beaujon has a website and sells a set of plans bundled, for 7 aircraft for $40. I posted his give-away set of plans for the Enduro (with ads and pics of his others) on the TBUC yahoo group. These are OLD airplane designs, from the 70's and 80's I believe. Very simple and cheap. Folks are building and flying some of them. The Enduro specs a 16 hp Briggs opposed twin! Try finding one of those.

There exists a Yahoo group for the Affordaplane unless it died in the last coupla months. Don't recall the name, but it wasn't Affordaplane. Not terribly active. Kinda defensive too IIRC. Might pick up some info on there on the disharmony source.

The B1rd, the Lazair, the Tbird, Bird2, are cheap and interesting. Phantom deserve a close look. Built TOUGH, some are aerobatic, some are 103 compliant. Skyseekers keep popping up. There are some safety advisories out on this so beware.

I 'spose you know this, but if you are not in a hurry there are some seemingly really desirable (cheap) unfinished projects to be found regularly on Barnstormers.

Rambling in Fresno,
GeoB

Greetings larrymoody,

Have you considered a single seat powered parachute? It sounds axactly like what you need. Easily portable, most use rotax 2 stroke and auto fuel. There is a new one that uses a four stroke Honda twin and less than 2 GPH. Relatively safe to fly. Stall resistant. Low and slow.

R Craig