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Hey Guys, due to some sorry mishappenings I was forced to sell my ultralight. Now, a few months later I feel that urge to fly again. Me and my buddy were thinnking of something that could fly merly in the backyard, 2 acres of flat land. Do you have any ideas, this wouldn't be an aircraft to fly above the 20 foot marker, but merly a glider or parasail. It would be more like the wright flyer then anything else.
Thanks
Ben, have you thought about flying a glider, ie sailplane? I am not sure where you are, but I know there are some glider operations around. Look in local yellow pages or on line for phone numbers. It is not the same as an ultralight, but might be a lot safer than something like a Wright Flyer homebuilt and it will really fly. Go try an intro flight if you have not done it.
I took a ride in a glider not to long ago, but actually this project is something me and a friend could do over the next few weekends. I thought about the easy riser type design, but that's still a little extravagant. The original idea was to build something that could be launched by a vehicle and glide for maybe 50-100 yards, if that. Not really airworthy but a fun project to put in the book of experience.
Thanks for the reply,
Ben
How about a primary glider?For example http://www.airventuremuseum.org/coll...%20replica.asp
Considering the limited space for takeoff, very brief cruise, and landing maybe a hovercraft could satisfy the urge to build something that sorta flies.
Thanks for all the suggestions, I really appreciate them. This sounds a little crazy, but I wonder if there's any chance I could develop a wing system, similiar to that a a jet, for steering on a hovercraft. I really like the idea of a hovercraft, I think the primary glider is still just a bit out of reach. Sorry about the poor grammer, this blog will not let me correct it. Thanks again for all the replies, I really appreciate them. Ben Anderson,
check out the airchair gliders. They may be exactly what you are looking for. Randy
Ben - depending on how much space you have, and building on srbell's suggestion, try Googling "WIG hovercraft" (WIG = wing in ground-effect.)
There's a lot of them out there - this was the first one I found:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRThDxlqMVg
Here's another one - this video made the rounds a while back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6mlLaf8QB4
2 acres is pretty small, especially if it is square. The only thing I know of to operate within that area is a paraglider and it can be winch launched or towed by a quad runner or other light weight vehicle. I doubt you want to build one, however, a used wing may serve your purpose. Be carefull. Towing is dangerous if you do not have good sense or training.
Do you have a hill in your backyard? How about the Basic Ultralight Glider (BUG) by Mike Sandlin, http://m-sandlin.info/
http://youtu.be/GqIrkl1tQUo
Hey Ben,
WHERE in Texas do you live? Where we live in West Texas, the winds are out of the southwest probably 70% of the time at least 8 to 10 a lot of the time, which is a little too slow for this, but about 40% of the time, we get 25 to 30 MPH winds, and during the Spring "Windy Season". two to three weeks of almost daily 45 to 60 MPH straight line winds.
I have several different ultralights, and 80 acres with my own 4,700 foot grass strip, BUT, I would love to take this old Weedhopper that I have, and mount a release hook under the aircraft where you locate the release for a winch launghed glider.
When the winds are 40 and above, I would just hook the un-powered, but ballasted to correct W&B Weedhopper to a 500 foot long tow line. Get in the plane power winch it to full extension, (probably around 300 AGL), and "FLY" it like the giant human controlled kite that it would be.
After I got tired of that, I would just perform a standard "Soft Release" of the tow line, and glide back to Earth. You could just be winched down from whatever altitude that you chose to "Play" at.
Understand that I have a BUNCH of Glider time, and it would behoove you to get a few glider lessons under your belt before you tried this little game.
Brie
Sorry I didn't reply sooner, for some reason it's sending the notices to my spam, dumb email. I live about 15 minutes from Georgetown Municipal Airport, which is about 45 minutes up IH-35 from Austin. I've tried with not a lot of success to get experience under my belt, I was in C.A.P (Civil Air Patrol) for two years, joined for the airplane, and I've done some things with some very nice and generous men around here, but still, when it comes to air, the only way to really understand it, for me anyways, is to actually fly.
Thanks for the post and concern,
Ben
If you're looking for something to build over a few weekends, about the only thing I can think of is a classic Rogallo hang glider... with all the crappy performance that includes. Terminology: A "parasail" is a round parachute towed by a boat as a thrill ride at the beach, I suspect you're thinking of a "paraglider" which a ram air inflated wing... and not something you build yourself, the sewing is very intricate (and critical!). Used ones under $2K, though. Note that towing anything can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing (this applies to all of flying, of course).
The wings in ground effect flyers seem great fun but dangerous. Even with the short wings, accidentally touch the wing tip to the ground and you'll be in ground!
Look at used paraglider "wings" (parachutes to most of us). Pretty good L/Ds would let you foot launch and glide the short distance you have, and an easy carry back to the starting point.
Air Chair Builder. It looks neat.
Attachment 1139
Bug4.
It indicates the plans are light and simple.