Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I feel a... stirring in the Force
For the first time in a number of years, I actually find myself excited about an aviatory subject. Specifically, ultralights and/or kitbuilt planes. I'm actually not as excited about actually legal-ultralights as I am about very light kitplanes.
It turns out that to be a legal ultralight, a plane has to fulfill a number of requirements, like only carrying one person (the pilot), a freakishly low maximum weight (254 pounds, I think -- about 100 lbs lighter than my Ninja 250), etc. The bonus if you meet all these requirements? No FAA license needed.
Ah-hah! But I have an FAA license, so I don't have any difficulty moving up to a non-ultralight airplane, which most specifically interests me because I can carry a passenger, and because I can go a bit faster.
The goal is not actually to go fast, but it'd be nice to be able to pass the traffic on the freeway (at least, if they're driving the speed limit).
So far, two kits have caught my eye in a serious way. The first (picked out of a list completely at random, of course) is the Loehle Spad XIII. It's only a single-place, so it's less interesting to me now, but it is freakishly light.
The second kit, which has garnered much more of my attention is the Fisher Classic. The more astute of my three readers will have determined by now that both planes are biplanes. Indeed, I find the biplane is the exciting part of all this.
The idea of flying any old highwing doesn't really do it for me. I wouldn't get into kit building to duplicate what I could get from a Cessna or a Piper. I find myself attracted to kitbuilding for the idea of flying an "old" airplane that's brand new.
I'm not going to do anything about it now, but it's cool to finally feel any real attraction for flying again.
Posted at 19:46 permanent link category: /aviation
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater