Gyrocopter Pictures

By cvknet

By JoostJB

By JoostJB

By barrettyman

Gyrocopter Videos

• Introduction to Gyroplanes (Gyrocopters) by Dan Donley is 10 minutes movie that starts from the autogyro history and guides you further.


• Flying my Bensen gyrocopter - a very cool video recorded by the pilot. It's just 2:30 but is one of the best videos that help you feel what flying with gyroplane is like.


• Gyrocopter High Wind Takeoffs at El Mirage - nice DIY autogyro flight. It takes a while for this guy to start flying, but this video is also very exciting.
  
• Birdy gyrocopter demo. Birdy is one of the cutest gyrocopters I have seen and this video is really nice. Recorded from the ground.
  
• Homebuilt gyrocopter - this video is interesting because it shows a gyroplane without engine. This one is pulled by something, probably a car.
  

General gyrocopter information

Gyrocopter Safety

Gyrocopter Training

Gyrocopter Discussions

Autogyro Manufacturers and Dealers

It is not parachuting, it is not parasailing, it is paragliding!

Photo by Allie_Caulfield at Flickr

Although being one of the most fun experiences that anyone could have, paragliding has many other 'air sports' competitors making it hard to remember which is which sometimes. Paragliding is considered as some sort of ultralight aviation; a type of aviation that includes all light, simple and relatively slow flying methods. Ultralight crafts include, for example, hang gliders and parachutes. The uniqueness of paragliding lies in the fact that it uses the simplest principle of all times to fly: air currents!

A for air currents...

B for but...

• It is more affordable: you do not need a plane or a boat or any sort of engines. You just need what we call a wing (which is like a parachute but triangular in shape) and a harness (which is the chair where you will comfortably be sitting).


• It lasts longer: as I said before, you depend on climbing air currents which are constantly rising in the air. So basically you can keep flying as long as you want not worrying about running out of gas or something.

C for control...

The most interesting part of any hobby

Tip #1: Focus on the basics

1. A canopy or wing: there are several models varying in shape and quality. My opinion? The wing is worth the biggest share in your budget simply because it's the main part that will make you fly! An average wing may cost you from $2500 to $4000 and usually comes with a nice backpack. Also asking your trainer for an advice about the most recent and affordable models for beginners will help you to make a better decision.


2. A harness: This is worth the second biggest share as it concerns your own comfort. Basically, harnesses differ in their padding and thus in their weight. For a beginner who won't ride for too long, I suggest you get a light harness that you can easily carry and be carried on! You can find a good deal for less than $400. You can also get a more luxurious harness with more padding, pockets and other accessories.


3. A helmet: you don't need to dress 'sporty' to paraglide. You can do it in your casual outfit considering that it will be a bit more chilly up there. But you must wear a protective helmet just in case. You can find good and safe helmets in stores starting from $20. You can use a usual helmet, but try to look for those specially designed for air sports.

Tip #2: Get the accessories one by one

Tip #3: Be economical, but not cheap!

Your teacher, your interest's sail

3 good reasons to pay for a paragliding lesson

1. To introduce you to the sport and help you try it by yourself for the first time. Maybe you will not find it as easy or joyful as it was on TV!


2. To make sure you are safe up there and monitor your errors that could be fatal sometimes. Note that we are not talking about twisting ankles here; it could be your neck!


3. To give you the license

License?! Like a "flying license"?!

How much does it cost?

How to find a good paragliding school?

• The USHGA rating of the instructors (yep, they do have ratings for instructors as well as pilots and the highest of all is called 'Advanced Tandem Instructor').


• The number of hours per each class and the training days. In case the school is in a region which is subject to climate changes, expect that the course duration may take more than planned. Some schools have a 'back up hill' in case the wind direction or speed change!


• Instructor:Pilots ratio. This is a very important factor in the price differences between schools and between packages in each school.


• Availability of DVDs or handouts.


• Last but not least, the friendliness of the instructor!

I hope that you run into this article just before you go shopping for your new paraglider! For being a relatively expensive sport, paragliding needs some good and handy tips to buy the gear you need. Noticed the "you need" part? This is the first thing that you have to put in mind, you do NOT need each piece of equipment that you see on stores. As any beginner in any sport, you just need something that is affordable, nice-looking and of course safe.

Photo by sake028 at Flickr

Where do they sell paragliders?

Why not get a cheaper used gear?

When to decide to buy a new gear?

How to choose a paraglider?

1. Are comfortable with it (the helmet fits well, the harness is comfortable...etc.)


2. Get a warranty for it.


3. See it live, not on the internet or the classified (things are not always as they seem there, specially with a good marketer!).

Introductory-wise

Time-wise

Skydiving is not a solo sport; you will always be accompanied by someone or a group of people (at least the pilot and the trainer!). So basically you will not need much time in learning how to do it yourself, just throw yourself from the plane, do not acrobatically fly much far from it and pull the rope at the right time! Whereas when it comes to paragliding and hang gliding, you have to take some time to learn your own skill and subsequently earn your license. Also you need to follow the wind direction and intensity which could be an obstacle sometimes.

Cost-wise

Cost varies depending on the frequency of practicing the sport. For instance, if you go for regular practice, then paragliding is the cheapest option for you and then hang gliding then skydiving. In paragliding and skydiving, you will only purchase the equipment and pay for the training once. But in case of skydiving, you will always have to pay a fee for the plane ride plus or minus the parachute.

Safety-wise

Although I personally believe that accidents happen to everyone everywhere all the time, yet some people think that checking the mortality rate of the players of a certain sport might help determining how safe it is. The problem is, most of these results (or at least what I ran into on the internet) are usually biased or give the false impression.

Easiness-wise

Indeed it is not easy to say something is easy! You just have to try it to decide whether or not it is doable by you. But away from practicing the sport itself, paragliding is considered the easiest of the three in packing! You can always stuff all your equipment in a backpack and climb a hill to launch. Hang gliding tools are larger and harder to carry and move around with, skydiving needs a plane which is not something that you can carry in a bag or in a truck!

I don't know about you, but getting stuck in the traffic pulls my nerves. And this doesn't happen often to me: I don't want even to think about people who have to deal with it every day. Well, here are several amazing transportation devices that can solve this problem.

Technically not all of these are classified as personal helicopter, but they are all perfect for one or two persons. Of course, you'll have to wait a little bit before using such personal rotorcraft becomes allowed in the cities :D

UFO HeliThruster

UFO HeliThruster is an autogyro developed in New Zealand. Currently it's sold for NZ $63,000 as a kit that you can build yourself or NZ $75,000 as ready to fly aircraft. Cruise Speed: 100 mph.

AirScooter II

Photo by misterbisson

A helicopter which can land on water? Why not! If you don't have a heliport around you, you could land in the lake. Its maximum speed is 55 knots (100 km/h) and it consumes 5 gallons of fuel for two hours. Not the most economical vehicle, but let's be frank, it's a real helicopter.

Visit Airscooter official site to learn more.

GEN H-4 Personal Helicopter

Photo by misterbisson

This Japaneese wonder is advertised as The world's smallest co-axial helicopter and is sold in kit form, so you'll need to build it yourself. Its price is approximately $30,000 and its maximum speed is 55 mph so it ranks as slow. Fuel consumption is 5 galons per hour. Not the most comfortable I can guess by the picture, but looks pretty exciting.

Moller Volantor

This isn't exactly a rotorcraft, but how could I resist including it? Moller Volantor is a flying hovercraft which for now remains only a prototype. If it ever reaches the market, it's supposed to cost about $100,000.

This definitely isn't the answer to your traffic problems, but it just looks very cool.

The "Hummingbird" Flying Platform

While we are on strange and not so practical aircraft, take a look at the "Hummingbird" Flying Platform. How about commuting to work with such a thing? Probably not a good idea considering it's speed of 40 knots and endurance of only 30 minutes.

Kinney Hot Rod Helicopter

If you are looking for a practical solution, the cute Kinney Hot Rod Helicopter might be a much better option than the previous two flying saucers. The minor problem is that this is a homebuilt aircraft and the site sells only plans - so you will need to build the helicopter yourself! Unless of course you find it for sale from someone who already built it.

Kinney is good for transportation: the cruise speed of 80-90 mph and the flight time of 2 hours can make a nice long trip far away of the city.

SparrowHawk II

Here is a rotorcraft that you don't need to build yourself: SparrowHawk II is a ready to fly autogyro sold for $39,500. Cruise speed - 70 knots, fuel consumption - 6 gallons per hour. The same company also sells ultralight trikes - that's useful if you are looking for more economical option.

Skylark Homebuilt Helicopter

If you'd rather build yourself, you may like this naked single-seater with cruise-speed 70 mph. The fuel consumption is not clear, but you can ask at Vortech site and also buy the building plans from it.

HBX-21 HELICOPTER

This is one of the two-seater helicopters and is faster than all the others reviewed here - 150 mph cruise speed. You can find all the info on Stan Ostrowski site.

Am I missing a cool rotorcraft? Let me know!

Photo by pilothotair

What Are Cloudhoppers (Hopper Balloons)

How You Can Own And Fly a Cloudhopper?

• Cloudhoppers are easy to land in small areas - something that you can't do with an ultralight airplane and is hard to do with a regular hot air balloon


• No need to pay airport and hangar fees - you can store you balloon at home or garage and transport it with a truck or even a car.


• Unlike the regular hot air balloons, cloudhoppers can be inflated and deflated by a single person.


• Because they are very simple vehicles, hopper balloons need very little maintenance.

How To Obtain a Cloudhopper and How Much Does It Cost

Safety of Hopper Balloons

Building a Hot Air Balloon Yourself

How To Use This Guide?

Learn To Fly

Learn About Licensing

Learn About Various Aircraft

Aircraft Clubs

Buying an Aircraft

Build Your Aircraft

Blog Masterclass

CARs for flying

No, flying cars are not out yet unfortunately! The CARs we’re talking about are the Canadian Aviation Regulations, particularly those covering ultralight aviation which accounts for 19% of total civil aircraft in Canada.

These regulations are updated every now and then, but basically they define 2 types of aircraft and their specifications:

• Basic ultra-light airplane (BULA).


• Advanced ultra-light airplane (AULA).

A bit of history about sisters BULA and AULA

Although most of the aircraft used back in the 20th century for the earliest aviation trials could be considered as BULAs with respect to the nowadays general definition, yet the basic aircraft got less popular shortly following the fast growing upgrades in aircraft.

Luckily, BULA regained popularity in the 70’s as a dream of solo aviation. For lacking some safety measures and large carrying capacities, BULA's sister AULA was born in the 90’s with specific standards put by Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association Of Canada and followed by all manufacturers nowadays.

To be able to fly either, you have to be trained, tested and ultimately licensed.

Types of permits

In Canada, flying by yourself is different from holding someone else on your wings.

Because according to the rules set by Transport Canada (The folks in the government responsible for all types of transport – obviously), the usual private pilot permit allows you to fly alone in the double seated ultralight plane. In case you want to have someone on board, he or she has to be a licensed pilot as well or you have to carry a higher permit (usually called "recreational permit").

How to get a private pilot permit in Canada?

Piece of cake. Generally you have to:

• Find a good certified school near your residence.


• Get no less than 10 hours of training in the air.


• Be a good student and be able to fly at least for 2 hours without your trainer.


• Get the plane off the ground at least for 30 successful times.


• Get yourself medically checked (your sight, your blood pressure..etc.)


• Show the examiner that you’re a good pilot by taking off in front of him.

That's it!

The basic private pilot permit in Canada allows you to fly solo and only in daytime. So don’t expect a closer look to the stars.

Canadian manufacturers: purchasing rather than transforming

As we mentioned before, there are 2 types of aircraft (BULA and AULA) that differ mainly technically. If you are an owner of a BULA, it is possible to upgrade it to an AULA by adding some pieces here and there.

However, since there’s no financial benefit for them, local ultralight manufacturers in Canada usually recommend that you buy a whole new aircraft instead of the upgrade. The government seems to favor that as well since you’re not allowed to upgrade unless you get a written permission from the original manufacturer of your BULA stating that it can be transformed into an AULA one and that he accepts that.

You can find a list of certified local ultralight manufacturers in Canadahere.

Fly, and don't let anything let you "down"

Wherever you are in Canada, you might like to check the weather conditions here before you go flying, especially for the first time as you don’t want weather to ‘let you down’ on your first flight!

Microlight aviation is a popular method of recreation in the United Kingdom. They British value the freedom and air-accessibility that mircrolight aircraft offers them each flight.

Also called "ultralight aircraft" (which is a less popular name in the UK), a microlight aircraft has different specifications according to its type.

Types of microlight aircraft

Microlight aircraft could be categorized according to:

• The landing surface: some aircraft can only land on land (these are called landplanes) and others can land on both land and water (these are called amphibian or floatplanes).


• The wing: there is a type called the flex wing (looks similar to a hang glider) and another type called the fixed wing or the 3-axis (looks similar to the usual airplane).

The law assigns a maximum weight for each type as a guideline.

Is it hard or expensive?

Not at all. You can start learning how to fly using a microlight aircraft at any age – maybe you'll take a longer period if you are a senior citizen, but ultimately you will get the grips of it.

According to The National Private Pilot's License regulations, you have to spend a minimum of 25 hours in training (ground and air training with a certified trainer) in addition to another 10 hours of solo flying. Not to mention the ability to smoothly take off and land an aircraft and passing the licensing examination.

Once you get your license, you can fly alone or with another licensed pilot at any time you wish (unless the weather has another opinion).

Budgetwise

You may need more or less time than the minimum hours to reach the target performance level. But taking into consideration the average time, fuel costs and trainers' different fees across the country you should put an overall budget of &gbp;2500–3500 for an adequate training.

If you don’t have the time luxury or could not afford paying for all the hours of training, you can still have a license for only 15 hours of training and 7 hour of solo flying but with some restrictions such as strict solo flying (meaning you can’t have someone else on board with you) and limited time and area of flying. You might check this page for the latest updates concerning the restrictions.

Learning to read the weather

One of the most interesting subjects that you will learn during the ground training sessions is Aviation Meteorology. It is concerned with weather forecasting and should teach you how to, roughly, anticipate weather changes that will affect your flight. This is a very important subject to study in a country with frequent bad weather moods like the UK!

Worth-visiting websites

The British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) is an organization that you should know if you are a new microlight aircraft pilot or owner in the UK. Its website provides valuable information about the sport and its regulation as well as a providing some tips on affordable flying and latest updates in the industry worldwide.

Also before taking the test to obtain your license, you might consider downloading the syllabus from the National Private Pilot's License website.

While East Europe isn't the most popular destination among the ultralight flying fans, there are many reasons you may want to consider flying there. Flying training can be cheaper, maintenance, hangar fees and airport fees can be lower too. In many of the countries the nature is great and people are nice. And these countries are just off the touristic track so it's good idea to visit them and experience something different anyway.

Whether you live in East Europe or plan to visit it for flying, the information here will be useful for you. We have tried to find the most accurate resources about ultralight flying in the most important countries of this part of the world.

The aviation law and rules are very similar in most of these countries. In the cases when you can't find information specific for the country, the site of the European Microlight Federation will be able to answer most of your questions. Here is an excellent PDF guide that contains very detailed reference for each country.

Ultralight Flying in Bulgaria

I'm starting with Bulgaria, because being here, I know this country best. Paragliding is quite popular here but recreational powered ultralight aviation is still in its early stages. As the country is part of the EU most of the EU regulations are the same. You do need a license to fly real ultralight aircraft except powered paragliders - currently there are no real regulations about them.

Here is one of the reputable air-sport clubs in Bulgaria where you can inquiry about training costs and conditions.

If you are a foreigner you can check this site for general information about traveling to and living in Bulgaria too.

The weather in Bulgaria is best for flying from April to October. There is a lovely nature to see there.

In Romania

Regulation-wise ultralight flying in Romania is similar to Bulgaria. The country has larger territory but other than that the differences are minor.

I could not find any useful sites about ultralight flying in Romania except this forum (which is in Romanian). If you are a reader from Romania and have some information to share, please do so in the comment so we can help others.

In Serbia

In Turkey

We have a lot of friends and visitors from Turkey and the country has some traditions in organizing paragliding events and festivals. The good weather in most parts of it and the lovely terrain make Turkey very attractive for flying.

See this good page explaining the flight regulations in Turkey. There are also few companies like Birdy Aviation which offer air safaris and other kind of recreational aviation services in case you are not looking to fly your own aircraft.

Here is a list of flying schools in Turkey (look under the sponsored results).

In Poland

Poland is also part of the EU so the regulations should not be much different than those in the rest of it.

In this country there are many flying clubs, some interesting ultralight aircraft are produced, and there is a good aviation portal (in Polish).

Here is also a nice video from the Microlight Championship in Leszno.

In Greece

Greece is a popular destination for flying because of the nice weather and the great views above the sea and the islands. Here are few videos you may like.

Here are some ultralight flying schools in Greece. The cost of the training there is close to the cost in the western EU countries. If you want to save money you'd better check the aviation training in the neighbor countries - Bulgaria and Turkey.

If you are flying an ultralight helicopter, you may be able to land in some of the islands in the Sea (check if it's allowed).

In Czech Republic

The Light Aircraft Association of the Czech Republic has a great and informative site with detailed guide on how to fly a microlight there.

Have in mind that Czech Republic is one of the more expensive countries in the Eastern Europe. However it is very friendly country and safe for flying. The weather is best between May and September.

In Russia

Russians have great traditions in aviation although ultralight flying is currently not that popular there. This does not stop guys like this fellow to do solo flights over Siberia. It should not stop you either.

It's a challenge to find any information about the regulations in Russia, but they should be similar to these in the EU, and if in doubt you can ask in any ultralight club (and there are a lot of them in Russia).

If you can read read Russian this page may answer most of your questions. The entire site is very useful and contains many interesting links. If you can't read it, there is always Google Translate.

In Croatia

Croatia is very beautiful, very safe and quite expensive EU country. Here is a page that lists some flying clubs offering various air sports including even gliding and ballooning.

For some official information you can check the site of the Croatian Aeronautical Federation.

In Hungary

Hungary is one of the most developed countries from East Europe. It's not different than the West Europe countries so if you are westerner you will feel comfortably there. The nature isn't that interesting however so the views from the ultralight will be less impressive than those in Turkey, Bulgaria or Croatia for example.

Here is a good collection of Hungarian ultralight trike pages.

In Ukraine

Ukraine is not an EU country. Crime levels are a bit higher than in most EU countries and the political situation might be a bit unstable at some times. Still, it's an European country and if you wish to fly there, you can do it quite safely.

Here is a site publishing ultralight aviation news from Ukraine.

Did I miss your country? This is not because I have forgotten it, but because we have not been able to find any good information about ultralight aviation in it. Perhaps you can help? Feel free to comment!

We usually talk about using aircraft for recreation here. And sometimes about using them for reaching from point A to point B. Now, let's get entirely into the practical purposes. The airplanes are expensive vehicles so can't we extract some more value from them other than having fun? More often than not, we can.

Most light aircraft can be used, or converted for use in agriculture.

Agricultural Airplanes - What Are They And How Can We Use Them?

In fact the mass-use of aircraft for recreation has started later than their agricultural use. Crop dusting with agricultural airplanes in the USA has started yet from the 20 years of the past century. (source: Wikipedia)

The typical agriculture aircraft are fixed-wing airplanes built or adopted for agricultural use. They are small, light and robust airplanes usually with spraying systems in their wings. Larger airplanes are popular in Australia and New Zealand  where the farms are also larger. Farmers also use helicopters for hydroseeding.

Here's what people mostly use agricultural aircraft for:

• Aerial application of fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides


• Hydroseeding especially in large farms

There are many reasons to use airplanes in agriculture. They make it easier to cover large areas especially when you need to act fast. Using them is more cost-efficient and produces higher yields. Seeding from the air does not contribute to topsoil runoff. Finally, the quicker coverage of larger plots allows catching the best time for seeding or other aerial applications.

Ultralight Aircraft for Agriculture?

Being fans of ultralight airplanes here it's logical to ask whether some of them can't be used for agriculture. In fact they can, but for smaller farms. Most ultralights are too small and light and can't transport large quantities of seeds or pesticides. But if it's a farm of few acres, why not?

Ultralights are sometimes used in larger farms too when the farmers are looking for low application rates, application with higher preciseness or treating irregular shaped areas. In these cases using an ultralight aircraft is more efficient and cost-effective. Of course this is true only if you already own one or can rent it at a good price.

Converting a standard ultralight airplane or ultralight helicopter for agricultural usage doesn't differ much from converting a light or larger aircraft - you need to add seeding and spraying facilities and perhaps some storage tanks.

Agriculture Aviation as a Business

An interesting opportunity is to use your ultralight or light sport aircraft for agriculture business services. It's a great way to turn your expensive hobby into something that can make living. Many ultralight aviation enthusiasts consider running business with recreational flights or making pictures from the air. Very few think about agriculture.

Here is in short what it takes to run such a business. These are just general guidelines - different countries and states have different regulations and practices in agriculture:

• Be an experienced pilot. This is obvious. Agricultural aviation often requires flying low over the ground and covering specific areas precisely. This is not a job for beginner pilot.


• Have proper license. The sport pilot license won't do the work in most cases. Specialized training is required to become an agricultural pilot and you need a commercial pilot license. Find more about it here.


• Convert your aircraft. Unless you have experience in building ultralight aircraft yourself you may need professional services for the conversion. Also, don't forget agriculture is seasonal business. Often there will be low times and huge peaks. You may need more than one aircraft and more than one pilot to run sustainable business. If you just want to make some money on the side so you can support your hobby, then your only aircraft should do the work.


• Choose your business location. Maybe there are enough farmers who will need your services in your town. Maybe not. Maybe there is too much competition already. Like with every business venture you should do some research. Even if it's only for earning side income.

Maybe agriculture is something you rarely think about. We all live in the cities now and most of us are far away of farmers life. But also we all eat :) Agricultural aviation is here to stay and the idea to use an ultralight aircraft for practical purposes other than commuting isn't bad at all.

Do you visit air shows? I'd love to go visit some but we don't have many of them going here. And on the few we have there aren't many interesting aircraft to see. Lucky are those who live close to the cities where the biggest airshows happen.

Of course the most interesting stuff to see there are the experimental homebuilt airplanes. A lot of amazing models that barely get any mention online are being shown there. Fortunately there are good guys who take pictures from the shows and publish them. I researched for the latest and most interesting homebuild aircraft that have been demonstrated recently. I went further and researched where you can buy kits or plans for these vehicles so you can build some yourself.

So here you go, you don't have to visit these airshows. There's a lot of great stuff to see right here, below:

1. Evans VP-1 Volksplane

This is a truly cool wood airplane with simple construction. It's one of the most popular choices of the homebuilders because of its simplicity. VP-1 is a single seater but there is also VP-2 which is a double seater. VP-1 is just 18 ft /5.5 m long and weights 200kg. Maximum speed: 120mph.

You can buy plans from this site and hopefully build this aircraft yourself.

2. RV-8

RV-8 looks great and I guess it flies great too. With its 21ft length it's a bit bugger than VP-1 and much faster. Some modifications can top a speed of 222 mph. There are many quick-build kits for this aircraft containing all the aluminum parts and engine. The regular kits start from $21k and the best quick-build ones are nearly $32k. There are cheaper and more expensive modifications of this lovely airplane.

Better check the prices and all the info on the official site.

3. Rutan VariEze

Here's something different - a canard aircraft. It's a 263kg weight double seater with 180mph / 290kmh max speed. Too bad you can no longer find new plans for this one, and kits have never been offered. You could possibly find used plans and buy some parts for the Long-ez which is a modification of the VariEze.

If you are interested to learn more about the canard airplanes in general, check out this forum.

4. Breezy Aircraft

Breezy aircraft is not a new model at all - it has been created in 1965. But this doesn't matter, because you can purchase kits even today. It has a very unusual design with great open cockpit. Kits are available for rather cheap although they don't contain engine. I think they don't contain all parts either - you can try to figure it out yourself here

This aircraft really has a large fan base. Here is a Breezy builders website. Here are several good pics of the Super Breezy by Yakima Aerosports. It's quite pricey

And here is a blog (unfortunately abandoned) of a guy who builds Breezy, with lots of pictures of the building process included.

5. Cri-Cri

This is the world's smallest twin engine aircraft weighting just 162 pounds and mostly used in aerobatics. Here is a site where you can buy printed plans for building the Cri-cri. The site also contains some good photos and info about the airplane.

6. Culp Special

This 21ft long experimental biplane looks like an old war airplane. It's maximum speed is 240mph and the empty weight is 1500lbs. Unfortunately on the official site they sell everything (motorcycles for example) except plans or kits for the aircraft. This site made by a hobby builder may be more useful for you. Plans for it can be found mostly on eBay for $200 - $300.

7. Bede BD 5J Microjet

This is a lovely small single-seat aircraft. Created in 1960 by Jim Bede, it's no longer offered by the manufacturing company because it went bankrupt. But homebuilders keep using plans and instructions to build this cute airplane themselves today.

On this site you will find a lot of info, bookstore, community, pictures and building instructions for the BD Microjet.

8. Sonex Aircraft

This is a low-wing metal two-seater. Unlike many other homebuilt aircraft you can buy this one ready from a small company in Wisconsin. Each one costs between $20,000 and $26,000 which is reasonable price for such a cool plane.

It's empty weight is 281kg / 620lb and its maximum speed is 197 mph.

The cool thing about this baby is it's available in several kit forms - complete airframe and sub-kits, and even scratch-building kit or plans. It's all available on the official site.

9. Bakeng Deuce

This airplane is heavier than the most we have seen here. It's around 1,000lb, a two seater, and its maximum speed is 140mph. Bakeng Deuce is still produced and is available in several modifications, including as a biplane.

You can find plenty of info, photos, kits and plans on the official site of this airplane.

So here are these 9 homebuilt aircraft that you can start building right now. Is there another specific model you'd like to learn more about?

I often build various software to enhance this site. So I decided to share some of my experience with other webmasters. This is a Jquery/CSS tutorial for webmasters and developers.

The Idea

The idea of building this script is pretty simple: to suggest related articles or pages to those visitors who were patient enough to read a page from your site to the end. What I do is to refer to a random related page on our site - for example the Ultimate guide to ultralight flying. You can go there, scroll to the end of the page and you will see that a small popup gently shows at right of the page and suggests you another article from the same category. Because you read it to the end, chances are you will be interested in more of this content.

This is how it looks on our site.

Creating this effect has two aspects - server-side and client-side. Because the server-side realization can be totally different for different sites, we'll focus mostly on the client side. Anyway I'll show you parts of how we do it on the server-side as well, just so you get the idea.

Using jQuery and CSS to Display The Popup At The Right Time

You could implement this solution in pure Javascript, but doing it with jQuery makes things so much easier. Just have a look below. But first a little HTML/CSS:

<divid="nextArticle"style="position:absolute;display:none;background:#FFF;color:#000;width:200px;border:4pt solid #FC9B32;padding:25px;text-align:left;">
<b>See also:</b>
<ahref="#"><h3>Article Title</h3></a>
<p>Short Resume</p>
<palign="center"><ahref="#"onclick="$('#nextArticle').hide('slow');return false;">Close this suggestion</a></p>
</div>

This is the DIV that holds our related content suggestion. You don't need to have exactly the same CSS for border, text-align, etc. And it's better to define a CSS class instead of placing it inline. The properties that matter are position:absolute; and display:none; so by default the popup is hidden. Make sure to assign some width as well. We use 200px; in this example.

Now, let's make it move:

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suggestionShown=false;
function suggestNextArticle()

{
if(!suggestionShown && $(window).scrollTop()+$(window).height()+200> $(document).height())

    {

        topPos=$(window).height()/2 - 100 + $(window).scrollTop();

        leftPos=$(document).width() - 260;

        $('#nextArticle').css({top:topPos,left:leftPos});

        $('#nextArticle').show('slow');

        suggestionShown=true;

    }    

}


$(window).scroll(function() {    

    suggestNextArticle();

});

function trackSuggestionVisit()

{

    $.post("tracker.php", {}, function(msg){});

}

Dissecting and explaining this code:

Note: don't forget that none of this code will work without jQuery. Make sure you either download and include jQuery or include it from hosted CDN.

Line 1 starts with setting suggestionShown variable to false. We will later set this variable to true to mark that the user has already scrolled to the bottom of the page once. We don't want to re-render the popup all the time, but just to show it once.

suggestNextArticle() is the function that does the "magic". First, it makes sure the user has scrolled nearly to the end of the page. In our case we check for $(window).scrollTop()+$(window).height()+200 > $(document).height() which means when they scrolled up to 200px till the end of the page. It's good to add such extra space because many users may read the article but won't scroll to see your full footer, any ads you may have etc. This value of 200 may vary for your site.

Note that on the same 4th line of the code I check if suggestionShown is false. Like already said, you don't want the popup to render again on the same page if it has already been shown.

Then on lines 6 and 7 we calculate the exact position where the popup will be shown. I have hardcoded a couple of values (100 and 260) because of the exact size of my div. You may need to amend these or make them more "dynamic". Lines 8 and 9 assign the position through the jQuery css() method and show the popup slowly. On line 10 we finally set that suggestionShown variable as true.

Lines 14 to 16 simply call suggestNextArticle() function at any time the user scrolls the page. Only when the two conditions are met, the calculation for the div position is done and the div is shown.

Function trackSuggestionVisit() is entirely optional. We use it to figure out how many users actually clicked on the link to read the suggested story. More on this in the next section.

The Server-Side

Although the server-side implementation may vary a lot, here are some suggestion and ideas about it.

First and most important you need to do several things:

1. Figure out related content to show. We do this by selecting a random article from the same category as the one that the user is currently reading. To avoid suggesting them articles that they already read, we store those article IDs in session and then select only IDs that are not there. You could of course do something different. In PHP what I do looks like this:

$_SESSION['articles_read']=isset($_SESSION['articles_read'])?$_SESSION['articles_read']:array(0);

Here I just prepare the array of read articles. Once we select the current article we add it to the array:

$_SESSION['articles_read'][]=$article['id'];

Then when selecting a random article I just exclude the read ones from the query by adding AND id NOT IN (".implode(",",$_SESSION['articles_read']).") to the SQL query/

2. Track the visit (optional). As we want to know how many people actually click on these links, I added the trackSuggestionVisit() javascript function which sends Ajax request to one of my scripts.

The best way to fire the function is to add it to the onclick event of the link that goes to the suggested page. So inside the suggestion popup you will of course have some link. In it add onclick like this:

<ahref="URL of the suggested page"onclick="trackSuggestionVisit();">Click here to read the article</a>

Note that the onclick attribute should not contain return false; instruction in the way you would usually do when calling a javascript function through a link click. This time you want the event to propagate further to the browser and the user to be taken to the URL in the href attribute.

You can even pass the page name, URL or some ID as a parameter to the function and then in the remote script to track even which articles exactly have been clicked and so on.

The following tables should help you to figure out the difference between the most important pilot licenses. There are minor variations in most of the privileges and requirements for the licenses depending on where you live. Nothing major in most cases.

The idea of these tables is to let you see the differences at a glance. If you want full details, there are some notes and links under the tables. Any questions? Please let me know in the comments!

That's What They'll Allow You To Do:

IR = Instrument Rating. More info about it below the next table.

This Is What You Are Required To Do To Obtain The License:

Instrument Rating - What Is It And Why You Need It?

Instrument Rating is a separate trainging/cerification process required to fly by reference of instruments. It is not included in Private Pilot or Commercial Pilot licenses. Learn more about Instrument Rating here.

Classes and Categories

Regardless of your pilot license you may need to have a specific Type or Class rating for flying your aircraft. For example to fly a helicopter you may need Rotorcraft Category, Helicopter Class. Here is more detailed explanation.

Sources of Information

Following are more sources of information used for the tables above. If you notice any errors in the tables please help us to fix them by commenting.

• Pilot Licensing and Certification


• How to transition from a Sport Pilot license to a Private Pilot license


• Pilot Certificate FAQs


• Commercial Pilot Licensing in Europe (UK)


• The airline transport pilot license


• Federal Aviation Administration of USA

Questions? Comments? Use the comment form below.

You can use this page as your starting point for finding out stuff about gyrocopters - what are they, how much do they cost, what it takes to fly one, where to buy and so on.

There are few articles written by us, and several of the best external resources on the topic. But if you think I have missed something good, please let me know in the comments or through the contact form.

So, is flying from New York to Tokyo with electric airplane coming soon? Probably not in the next ten years, maybe more. But flying an electric ultralight aircraft seems more realistic. Here we'll see what's the current state of this affair and how soon you may fly your electric gyrocopter.

But first, why would you want that?

Advantages of Electric Ultralight Aircraft

If you have followed the development of electric cars, which are getting fairly popular, you already know most of the advantages:

• Reduced motor complexity. Electric engines are simpler as there are no gears. There are less things to break inside.


• No fuel. So there is nothing to explode in case of crash.


• Lower operational costs because of the electricity vs. fuel price, and the lower maintenance.


• Environment friendly. People always argue about this but the fact is that not all energy comes from coal plants. And the CPA of the electric motor is much better. So pollution is less.

So indeed, there are plenty of reasons to want an electric ultralight aircraft or helicopter.

Then of course, there are many problems, and most are well known:

The Problems

• Battery weight is a lot more a problem for electric aircraft than it is a problem for electric cars. Just think about it - the airplane has to lift its weight in the air so it needs more power for each pound of extra weight. But for storing more power you need heavier batteries. This is the catch 22 in electric aircraft that has stopped their development for long time.


• Short time in the air. Due to this catch 22 airplane batteries can store energy for short flights only - typically for 30 to 60 minutes flight. This of course makes them inappropriate for many tasks.


• Battery price is quite high. The batteries of an electric light sport aircraft can cost about $20,000 alone and are good for maximum 2,000 - 3,000 flights.

So that's what is stopping them from real invasion. Things seem to improve recently though. Aircraft like the ESpyder manage the power very well although it still doesn't cross the 1 hour flight. The batteries and power usage slowly improves with the time.

As we still can't reach a big breakthrough in electricity storage many companies are looking towards building solar airplanes or at least combining solar with stored power. There is a project called Solar Impulse taking the challenge to go around the world on solar power. A collection of more practical solar airplanes is available here on Wikipedia.

So while I don't see commercial airlines on electric or solar power anytime soon, it seems that such aircraft can be used for other purposes.

Possible Uses of Current Electric and Solar Powered Aircraft

I'm sure you already think about this: these airplanes aren't good for cross-country flights, but why not have one yourself? For a recreational flight you don't need more than an hour, and the low operational costs are really tempting. Electric ultralight airplanes seem to have great future for personal use and sometimes for agricultural operations.

There is one more place where such aircraft has good future - the aircraft schools. While they can't be used for the full educational cycle because of the specifics, the candidates can certainly have some flying hours on electric plane. The low "fuel" costs can lower the entire cost of the pilot training.

Electric planes can also be used by clubs who offer recreational flights to their clients.

So, What's On The Table Now?

In case your are interested in owning electric airplane, here are some of your options at this time:

• Electravia ElectroLight 2 - a French ultralight, 195kg weight that can fly an hour and half.


• Taurus Electro by Pipstel. It doesn't seem to fly long but looks good.


• Electra by PC-Aero which is available in solar and purely battery powered versions.


• Arcus E which is the first two-seat serial produced electric glider in the world.


• Icaro 2000 which is an ultralight trike and can fly up to one hour with a single charge.


• ElectraFlyer aircraft offer flex-wing and fixed-wing airplanes.

Of course we expect more to appear.

Building yourself is still not popular with electric airplanes because the good models are very new and most old models aren't good enough to justify doing it. But we can expect flying enthusiasts will start adapting homebuilt aircraft for electric motors pretty soon.

The future feels bight but I am not holding my breath for a revolution yet. It's a good idea to look at what's currently in the market and see if it will do the work for you. For personal flying electric airplanes seem really good option if you can swallow the upfront costs.

Sources / More Info

Here are some good places we used and where you can read more:

• Electric aircraft on Wikipedia where you can learn about history and all models.


• Electric Airplanes, Coming to a Flight School Near You - a good essay exploring the opportunities for flight schools.


• Aircraft Electrical Power Generation and Distribution including a graphic.

Many aviation enthusiasts dream about a job as a commercial pilot. What's better than this - doing what you really love and getting paid (really well) for it? The problems with being a commercial airline pilot are not one or two however. Take alone the super-high competition: many pilots who have education and all the required licenses can't manage to find a job at an airline. Add to this the really stressful life of the commercial pilot - responsibility of many people's lives, spending long time away of your family, flying in the night etc. And it stops being the dream career anymore.

So I decided to have a look at the aviation career websites and books and see what other careers could be good for you. By "good for you" I mean careers that are strictly related either to flying or working with the airplanes. I know many people who read here fly their own airplanes. Others build ones. So I'm not going to underestimate you by talking about careers in ticket sales. (Nothing wrong with these careers! I just don't see how they would satisfy your passion to fly or make airplanes).

So with having this on mind let's see what are the best options, how easy is to get such a career, and how much you could earn:

Ferry Pilot

As a ferry pilot you will deliver new airplanes (empty, without passengers) from manufacturer's plant to the end customer or dealer's aircraft store. Obviously it's a job with less requirements than commercial airline pilot because you carry no responsibility for passengers lives.

The license you need depends on the aircraft you are going to deliver. Check out our page about pilot licensing to get better idea about the matter.

In the USA you can expect to earn $30 - $50 per hour as a ferry pilot (maybe more if you can find a good deal).

This is also a profession that can be turned into small business. You can offer your services to aircraft manufacturers to carry private airplanes, light sport aircraft, etc to the customers. Combine this with dealership and you can earn far more.

Patrol pilot

Patrol pilots typically work for the government, military services, security services etc. Less often it's a job available in the private business sector.

The patrol pilot mostly observes and documents. Your job might be to watch traffic on a highway, to document a wildfire, plan and coordinate operational activities, observing a border, identifying criminal suspects, provide information in emergency situations and so on.

It's definitely a very interesting and important work. At the same time it could be quite stressful because you may have to work long hours and days when the situation requires it.

Again this is a work that does not include carrying passengers, except probably people from your team.

Wages are usually on the lower end - in the USA you can expect to earn $30,000 - $40,000 yearly.

This is hardly a career you can start a business with your light airplane, but don't be discouraged. There are options for the creative: you could start offering patrol services for local communities, large farms, oil companies and so on.

Charter pilot

Now this is a pilot career that involves carrying passengers and includes all the responsibilities coming with this. You must have a Commercial Pilot License to operate such a position.

Charter pilots obviously fly charters. They may work at the airlines, at charter services companies, or operate their own small business. Small businesses operated by a single charter pilot with his or her light airplane are often seen in countries and areas that lack good overland infrastructure. This is excellent area to start small aviation business, provided you live at the appropriate place.

As a charter pilot who works for the commercial airlines in the USA you can expect to earn between $60,000 and $110,000 annually.

Agricultural pilot

This is a work you would perhaps love. You would fly over fields with crops and document the produce growth, ensure its safety, probably spread seeds, fertilizers or insecticides.

You would typically operate an agricultural airplane and carry heavy loads with you. You will fly lower than most other pilots which will give you excellent views from above.

OK it sounds lovely indeed but has downsides. You need very high pilot skills to fly over trees, wires and buildings. You may have to fight wildfires. You may have to carry dangerous chemicals and wear protection masks etc. So it's not all roses.

By working for a company you may expect to earn somewhere between $35,000 and $120,000 per year, in the USA. As you see it varies a lot by location, business etc. Most salaries seem to range around $50,000 mark.

This is a good career to starting small business especially if you leave in area with large farms. You can even adapt you ultralight or LSA as agricultural airplane and offer services to local farmers.

Air Photographer

Being air photographer is slightly different matter than the other pilot jobs. First, you don't have to be a pilot at all. Sure, most air photographers are, because hiring a pilot or paying for a flight and just photographing rarely makes economical sense. However you can make aerial photographs using a radio-controlled model aircraft, from a balloon, from a paraglider and so on. And very often these methods are much cheaper than flying an airplane.

Of course some photographs require flying an airplane and usually you should also be the pilot. Talking licensing strictly, you probably need commercial pilot license. In practice photographs can be made by anyone flying under Part 103 (i.e. an ultralight, no licensing required), because you are not technically paid to fly, but to take photographs. I am not a lawyer however, so better consult one before charging for taking photos with your experimental aircraft.

If you work for a company in the USA you can expect to make around $40,000 or so per year.

Aerial photography is excellent area for freelancing/small business. Moreover you could combine flying an airplane with using a remote control model one, paragliding etc, depending on what kind of photos your customers require.

Flight Instructor

In this career you will teach others to fly. Obviously you need to know how to fly first :) You will need instructor license for this plus a rating for the type of aircraft that you will teach on. You will lead flights in dual-controller aircraft and will observe solo flights.

Being a flight instructor is relatively less stressful than being an airline pilot but it still carries quite a lot of responsibilities. As a flight instructor you will either work in a flight school or create your own.

In USA you can expect to make somewhere between $35,000 and $45,000 with this job. It's usually a first step for further (and better paid) aviation career.

Paragliding, Hang-gliding or Skydiving Instructor

While not exactly flying an airplane, these careers also involve flying. There are quite a lot of requirements to become such instructor - they are summarized well here.

At such a job you will do tandem-flights with customers, instruct them on techniques and safety, observe their flights, and perhaps examine their abilities to receive certificates.

You will work at paragliding, hang-gliding or skydiving clubs and schools. You can also start your own business or just freelance as a private instructor.

Expected income if you work in the USA is between $20,000 and $50,000 yearly, usually closer to the lower end.

Most interesting pilot jobs end with this. Below are several other great aviation careers which do not include piloting or even flying. However they are jobs that people who love aircraft will most probably love too.

Flight Engineer

In this job you won't be the pilot but you will still fly with the crew. The flight engineer observes the tools and systems during the flight, helps the captain with information, and even does in-flight repairs when this is possible. A more detailed description of this less known career is given here.

Obviously this is not the type of work that you could base small business on. Sometimes airlines hire flight engineers for contract work but in most cases it seems to be salaried position.

The advantage is this is one of the high-paying careers in aviation, other than the commercial pilot and co-pilot of course. In the USA you can expect to make from $70,000 to $110,000 per annum.

Aerospace Engineer

Don't confuse this career with being a flight engineer. It's not. The aerospace engineer is engineering at its best: you are going to work on, explore and develop new technologies, security systems, structural design solutions; examine materials, aerodynamic solutions, structural design etc. It's an exciting work, no doubt, but you aren't going to fly. You will work in an office or laboratory and usually have a typical work week. And obviously you'll need engineering degree.

There is little chance to start a small business with this career unless you perhaps develop stuff for the ultralight or light sport aviation.

Now on the good part: salaries are usually in the high $70,000, sometimes above $100,000 per year.

Aircraft Maintenance Technician

Here's a great career for all you do-it-yourself enthusiasts! In this job you will repair aircraft, you will inspect devices and equipment, will check flight instruments, replace parts and so on. And the best of it is, most probably you are going to work with different type of aircraft (as long as you have the desired knowledge). So if you ever dreamed to touch various types of helicopters, airplanes, and why not gyrocopters, this job is for you.

Such a career is also good for starting a small business. If you live in area with light sport pilots or ultralight enthusiasts you can offer repair and maintenance services to them.

If you work for a salary, expect to make about $40,000 - $60,000 annually.

Are You Looking For a Job In Aviation?

Please let us know and send your resume to info@ultralight-airplanes.info. Once I have few resumes on hand, we'll try to help by building some place to show up and attract employers.

For me the point of recreational flying is to share the joy with someone. I can't imagine fully enjoying it without being able to share the views and experience with my girl or someone else. On the other hand some people enjoy flying more than others. Your friend or spouse may not be interested in flying as often as you. Or you might be flying for practical purposes like agriculture, aerial photography and so on.

In any of these cases flying in a single-seat aircraft might be a good option. And apparently this is not the only reason. Let's see what other reasons are there to prefer a single-seater:

What Is It And Why Would You Want It?

But first, let me make something clear. Single-seat and ultralight aircraft is not the same. The main characteristic of the single-seat aircraft is obvious - it can have only 1 seat. Weight, speed, and other performance metrics are not specific characteristics of the single-seat airplane in general. Thus, there are single-seaters that are not ultralights: they may fall into light sport aircraft category or even be categorized as light aircraft.

On the other hand, not all ultralights are single-seat. As long as an ultralight meets the weight/speed requirements, it can have more than 1 seat. And many actually have so.

OK, once we clarified what it is, let's see what are the possible advantages. Why would you want to fly an airplane with only one seat?

• Part 103. Many of the single-seat aircraft fall under Part 103 which in short means no pilot license is required (more info about pilot licensing here). And in fact having only one seat is a requirement of Part 103, so in order to fly without license you can fly only a one-main aircraft. Now it's getting clear why would you one such, isn't it! Indeed this is one of the top reasons. There are more to come.


• Aesthetics. Because these aircraft are very light and thin, aesthetics is usually better. Some would say that the best looking aircraft out there are single-seat ones.


• Economic reasons. This is the second most important reason to buy such kind of airplane, if not the most important one. One-man aircraft are cheaper, much cheaper than these with two or more seats. Often they are twice cheaper. And not only this. They consume much less fuel and occupy less space in the hangar. Their taxes and insurance fees are lower. So the economy effect kind of quadruples.


• Performance. Being lighter, many of these airplanes and helicopters perform better and are excellent for aerobatics etc.

Any other advantages you can think of? Please comment!

Several Good Models

There are really a lot of single-seat aircraft models that worth having a look at. Let me share some of the most famous ones:

• Freebird 103 Ultralight - as the name suggests this is a Part 103 ultralight airplane. It has exceptionally light construction with open-air cockpit and 3-axis control.


• T Bird Ultralight is produced by Indy Aircraft. Its single-seat version is called T-Bird I.


• Rans Coyote (S4 and S5) is one of the greatest and most famous single-seat monoplanes. Rans Coyote exceeds the Part 103 weight and fuel requirements so you'll need Sport Pilot License to fly it.


• M 19 Flying Squirrel is experimental single-seat LSA. It's a high-wing airplane with a bit of military outlook.


• H3 Pegasus Ultralight developed by Howland H-2 Honey Bee is available for home building. Plans are sold for $250. It's Part 103 compatible.


• Quicksilver GT 400 - slightly exceeds the weight for Part 103 so it's experimental homebuilt aicraft that you'll need license to fly.


• Challenger Ultralight (the last on the linked page) is sold in kit form and has variation that qualifies for Part 103 and also as LSA. Quick-build kits start from just ~$9,000 without engine.


• Affordaplane is homebuilt aircraft. Plans cost only $7 (electronic - PDF download). The aircraft has open cockpit and can be flown without license.


• The Indian Ultralight Helicopter is famous for the claimed low cost of building - under $8,000 (at least the ad says so!). The plans are sold for $29.


• The Gyrobee is an amazing autogyro sold in different kit forms. The Total Bee kit is currently priced at only about $15,000.


• American Sportscopter - nice looking Part 103 compatible single-seat helicopter. There is also a light sport version called Sportcopter 331.


• The Bensen B-8M Gyrocopter a really old gyro from more than 50 years ago.


• Morgan Aerworks Super Diamond is a modern single-seater available in several variations.

Are there any other great single-seaters you can think about?