This website promotes a focus on affordable aviation, but the word “affordable” means different things to different people at different times.
For some “affordable” may include Special LSA selling for more than $200,000. After all, that’s a fraction of a loaded Cirrus SR22, for example. For others, even $20,000 is more than they wish to spend.
Fortunately, you have a wide variety of choices. Our April 2020 series was composed of ten articles about used light aircraft you can buy for less than $10,000.
We also continue work on our Part 103 list. From the current count of 57 producers, most have choices that are affordable to most pilots plus you get the benefit of almost no regulatory authority over your flying activity (no pilot certificate, no N-numbers, no medical, plus you can buy ready to fly and maintain any way you wish).
So, Now…
Affordaplane
Any design so named seems to fit our mission perfectly.
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How To Account for Growing Part 103 Ultralight Sales? Here’s My Plan (But Please Help!)
Pilots around the world are aware of Part 103 Ultralights but many have a blurry view of the industry that produces these aircraft. Most are unaware how well this often-overlooked segment is doing in recent years, even during Covid 2020.
FAA refers to these lightweight flying machines as “ultralight vehicles,” a term that creative rulewriters adopted in the early 1980s to avoid heavy regulations typical for “aircraft.” This wording helped the young industry grow and develop. It worked so well the regulation has not been altered for decades.
Even ultralight enthusiasts in America and other countries may not be fully aware how popular ultralights have become in recent years. When Light-Sport Aircraft came on the scene in 2004 they knocked out the ultralight two-seater training fleet. Many believe ultralights never recovered.
How wrong they were, yet who can blame them because no one truly knows how many ultralights are being built and sold these days.
SilverLight Shines Brightly Among Modern Gyroplanes — All American, Available, and Modestly Priced
After thousands of articles, I’ve have heard over and over about two common ingredients sought by pilots who visit this website: Affordability and Availability. Once you make a decision about what to buy, you want to be able to get it quickly and you want it to fit your budget.
The first requirement is understandable. It’s all fine and good to wish you could buy something but if it’s way out of your price range or if you simply cannot commit to a large purchase right now, it isn’t likely to happen… and after all, who doesn’t love a good price?
The second requirement addresses human nature. Once you’ve made your decision you want it as fast as you can get it. Most of us feel that way about most products we research.
Get It Now / Afford It Now
Look, I’m well aware that what is considered “affordable” differs for every single pilot and may change daily depending on other aspects of life.
Merlin Lite… New, All-Metal, Fully-Enclosed, “Deluxe” Part 103 Ultralight
Are you looking for an affordably-priced airplane? On this website, you can find many choices of aircraft that qualify, with something to fit the budget of almost any pilot.
Using the Search bar at the top of the page, you can look for any text anywhere on this website. Have you tried it? More on this below…*
In this article, let me introduce a new aircraft to you …and, no, this is not Merlin PSA.
Merlin Lite Delight
Among affordable aircraft, Part 103 ultralights have a solid position, both as fixed wing aircraft or alternatives like weight shift, powered parachutes, and gyroplanes.
However, such “alternative aircraft” may not be what you had in mind. Many are open cockpit and pilots trained in a Cessna or Piper can feel uneasy being out in the open (even if behind a pod and windscreen). Also, weight shift trikes, powered parachutes, or gyroplanes handle differently from stick (or yoke) and rudder.
Try and Fly TriFly — Kolb’s Wonderful Single Seat Light Aircraft Goes Both Ways
Some pilots are wary of taildraggers. This is hardly surprising since only tricycle-gear aircraft have been used in primary flight instruction dating back into the 1970s. Most pilot have no experience with taildraggers but nearly all have heard of the dreaded ground-loop tendency such gear configuration can allow.
Indeed, when investigating insurance for a taildragger, you will have to prove you have some experience or get training from a suitably-experienced instructor — and you won’t find many able to help you.
How about if an aircraft went both ways? What if an affordable aircraft allowed you to fly with tricycle gear but permitted you to practice your taildragger technique yet still use the nosewheel’s self-straightening capability if you start to get a little “sideways” (literally or figuratively)?
Kolb Aircraft has an answer.
Kolb TriFly
Producers of Part 103 aircraft, such as Kolb Aircraft report consistently strong business for the last few years.
Back to the Future… Let’s Go to Oshkosh (OK, from last year) for a Full Tour of Light Aircraft
It’s almost July and any active pilot knows what that means: Oshkosh! Except not this year. ☹️
I interrupt the ongoing battle with Covid-19 to take you on a nostalgic tour of Oshkosh-19. View this excursion by video below.
Hey, when you can’t go to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2020, why not simulate from the safety and comfort of your home or backyard? Just like Netflix urges you — “Watch It Again!”
This brief virtual tour of aircraft and people from AirVenture last year may have you wishing you were starting to pack your bags for the big show this year …sigh!…
Oshkosh Redux
Sometimes called “Disneyland for Airplanes,” if you like things that fly — whatever form they take — you can probably find it at Oshkosh. Like a kid in a candy store, everywhere you look offers sweet temptations.
Oshkosh is so sprawling you can’t see it all but this post along with the video below tries to capture objects of interest to readers of this website and viewers of Dave’s “The Ultralight Flyer” YouTube Channel.
One More Part 103 Ultralight Aircraft: UltraCruiser by Hummel Aviation
In April, lots of readers were clearly pleased with the “Vintage Ultralights” series. Thanks to our cooperation with Videoman Dave and his popular YouTube channel, we were able to present ten well-proven aircraft that could be purchased for well under $10,000 …assuming you could find one that met your needs and passed a careful inspection.
Bargains may not be the easiest aircraft to find and buy yet the effort can pay off with a flying machine allowed by your budget and which can bring a smile to your face. That seems worth the search.
However, our 10-aircraft review was not exhaustive. Even more choices are available! Some very modestly priced aircraft — Legal Eagle is one of several (yes, several!) possibilities — are available as a new aircraft purchases for a fairly small amount of money. Another is Hummel Aviation’s UltraCruiser (see lots of links below).
Light-Sport Aircraft News: Oshkosh? E-Fan Ends! 1Q20 Numbers, Sling Academy, Refreshed EMS
In the rush of coverage of Vintage Ultralights and other late-breaking stories such as the Blackwing speed record, I had to set aside a few news items. Here’s a catch-up…
I am pleased to serve a need for news during a month when we should have been covering Sun ‘n Fun and Aero Friedrichshafen. As everyone knows, those events are now rescheduled for 2021, both as a result of the global lockdown that has affected hundreds of other events.
You hardly need any more coverage of the coronavirus craziness so let’s get to aviation news and take a small break from these worldwide events. But first…
Oshkosh — Go or No/Go?
It has become one of the most-asked question in aviation. Will the big summer celebration of flight happen or go the way of every other airshow this year?
Return of An Old Favorite — Carlson Sparrow May Appear at Oshkosh 2020
Having celebrated the inventiveness of ultralight designer Wayne Ison in the last post, it seems quite appropriate to recognize another, Ernie Carlson. Does that ring a bell for you? One hopes.
Ernie was the man behind Carlson Aircraft along with his wife, Mary. This pair introduced Sparrow, a Part 103-capable single-place ultralight plus larger models like Sparrow II and XTC.
I won’t say they’ve been lost to pilots but they’ve been hiding. Now, out of the history books will return the Sparrow, thanks to David Cooper, the man behind Team Mini-Max. Our tenth of ten Vintage Ultralights featured his work and below you can see a video interview with him below talking about the Mini-Max line that he is also keeping alive and well.
Carlson Sparrow And Friends
“With the help of a couple partners we bought the Carlson Sparrow company. It will still carry the four designs they created and will be located next door to Team Mini-Max LLC in Niles, Michigan,” advised David.
Sun ‘n Fun Day 5 …Wrap Up — Cub and Mother; Sopwith Camel Replica, Father of Ultralight Aircraft
Sun ‘n Fun is over. While staff, tent vendors and more have plenty of work to do, customers and vendors have all vacated the area, scattering off across the USA as they return to base.
Some have a new airplane. Numerous vendors reported solid sales during the show. Pilots liked what they saw and a good economy is powering activity. I will follow up with a show summary soon.
Following I have three more short stories. However, watch for dozens of new videos from Light Sport and Ultralight Flyer on YouTube and I will have further reporting from material gathered at Sun ‘n Fun 2019.
MOAC — “Tweety” got mine and lots of well-deserved attention (photo), being the very first airplane American Legend produced, back in 2005. The original aircraft was on display at Sun ‘n Fun. Since the company has since registered 226 aircraft, Tweety launched quite a good run.
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