Folding wing ultralight for chapter project

The best folding winged UL in my opinion is the Kolb Firefly.

Hating to be overly picky - Ultralight (USA) aircraft ( air vehicles) come in a variety of flavors,,,,,,  fixed wing, flex wing, sailplane, gyrocopter, helicopter, balloon, lighter than air, PPG, PPC, .....

Could you be a bit more specific?

For pilots who aren't too heavy, you could check out the Sky Pup.

The sky pup is interesting. I was looking at the N3 Pup as well, it has folding wings and a 1/2 VW.

I'm just poking around and trying to come up with ways for chapter members to get involved and have a chance to fly. Many members just don't have a lot of money to spend these days and I would like to try and promote something like this. It's funny though, on Youtube, the N3 Pup looks like it climbs at 20' a minute. It sure looks like a noce design though!

MJ

Lincoln, I was doing some more reading on the Sky Pup, that's really a nice design. I wonder why more ultralight people don't build it. With a glide ratio of 12:1 it's quite an aircraft.

MJ

I like the CGS Hawk. Wings do not fold as easily as some but it flys nice.

I know of 3 different ones.  The Sky Pup,  Rag-Wing(Roger Mann has 4 or 5 to choose from), The Banty.  The Sky pup is poly styrene(about 85%) and the other 2 are of wood also in kit form is the mini-max  line

Michael:

Given the weight they usually come in at (as I recall maybe 220 or 230 lbs) and the 400 lb gross, minus two gallons of fuel, the pilot should be 160-170 lbs or less. I wouldn't fit it very well even if I lost that much weight as it's pretty narrow. So anyone above a certain size probably needs something else. As I recall the engine is supposed to be under 62 lbs, which probably means a two stroke or some ingenuity. The original was supposed to be 190 lbs, which leaves a bit more slack.

The plans seem pretty well done, which means that one's initial impression is of a lot of complexity. But it's probably just that he didn't leave things out.

Michael, are you talking powered or un-powered?  Heavier than air, or lighter than air.  I've owned more folding wing aircraft than non folding wing aircraft in my life.  The only aircraft I ever built had an N number on it.  It and everything needed to fly it fit in the back of my Dodge mini-van.  It was powered and lighter than air, and used propane for fuel.  I currently have two ultralight (no N number required) folding wing aircraft that are un-powered.  One fits inside behind the back seat of my S10 Blazer, and the other fits on top, and could fit inside a twenty foot X twelve inch piece of PVC pipe.  The one that fits inside the car can only carry a 220 pound pilot, but the other can handle a 300 pound pilot easily.  I have had hour and a half flights on both.  When I have an hour and a half flight, I usually end the flight, because I am getting bored, or my bladder capacity has been reached.  I think my current aircraft are the purest forms of aviation one can experience.  Either one of my current aircraft could be converted to a powered aircraft, and still meet the 103 requirements.  Pilot weights would probably go down some from what I have listed, but they would still work.

There are several projects for sale on www.barnstormers.com.

Mike Kimbrel's Banty has been around for along time, though you don't hear much about them any more.  Simple wood and fabric construction, folding wings for storage, modest performance on a Rotax 277 or equivalent (Hirth still sells new engines that small).  Might be worth giving Mike a call to see if he still sells plans.  It uses the same bread board and rubber stoppers engine mount as the Sky Pup and allows a more generous gross weight.

Butterfly Aero Banty Index (see links at bottom of page for more photos)

Butterfly Aero Banty ultralight aircraft (YouTube video)

BUTTERFLY AERO 

1333 Garrard Creek Road 

Oakville WA 98568 

Tel. 360-273-9202 

Check out the "Backyard Flyer"