Has General Aviation Missed the Potential of Basic Ultralights?

[Buzz]

Short answer is YES! But there are many problems along the way not the least of which is the "airfied". Neither the local, regional, or hub airport is suitable in todays environment. None of those are an "airfield". I am referring to about 10 acres of grass in an elongated shape to allow an ultralight operation within an urban environment where the kids have access without having to drive a car to get there.

Jedi-
I toyed with this part of the concept for a long time. There is a shortage of hangar space in my area. Even if we could get "a" hangar space, we'd rapidly need more space.

Maybe at some point the local chapter could fundraise enough to build or buy a hangar, but what do we do in the interim?

I was reminded of what we did in the "old days". The local Quicksilver dealer initially operated out of a couple of trailers they towed to a local grass strip. That worked until the U/L club got large enough to build a building that had 8-10 "T" hangars.

Central to this idea is to have a concentration of training activity at one spot. We need to do that both for the learning element and the social element. Aviators need to compare notes to increase their learning. They also need to be able to socialize with each other.

What I have found is that, with the early basic Quicksilver MX I can put 3 machines in an ultralight trailer I have that has a tow weight when filled of less than 2500 lbs. That means it can be towed behind nearly any mini-van.

In addition to overcoming the shortage of hangar space in the area, trailering initially also gives us the freedom to train at nearly any field that could be suitable for ultralights. It doesn't necessarily need to be an airfield. [I believe the ideal operating location would be a sod farm with the right layout. I'd love to find one we could get permission to use in our area.]

As for being close to the kids for transportation purposes, I think about all the soccer moms and dads. Soccer is a sport that no teen can get to on their own. If we have an active enough club, teens will carpool with each other.

Lastly, I know there will be some comments about assembly and disassembly and what a hassle that is. Agreed.

However, there are some other factors. First, the MX is a simple machine. This is entry level training and we are not going to have a lot of bells and whistles that slow down the assembly process. Second, imagine how well the average aviator will get to know their machine when they have participated in the assembly and disassembly. This is not just about learning to aviate but learning about aviation. Lastly, most training sessions are going to be either weekend evenings or mornings. I believe many weekends we will assemble on Friday night and then not break down until Sunday night unless there is weather forecast. Entry level kids will use the machines first thing in the morning and last at night. The more experienced aviators will be using them during the day when there is more wind.

As we scale up, I believe we can continue to keep operating costs down by trailering. The trailer I have now can hold either 3 complete machines or the wings and tails for 6. With 6, the trikes can go on pontoon boat trailer we put a plywood deck on. Those cost a fraction of an enclosed trailer.

While my first desire would be to have a hangar at a perfect teaching airfield with X trainers in it, that's not going to be a reality for sometime. Initially we'll work around that and operate from trailers. The ultralight trainer design we are standardizing on [the MX] makes trailering an initial solution to finding places to operate.

-Buzz