DFE Ultralights

Sometimes a great idea comes along and for whatever reason just doesn’t make it completely off the ground, pun intended. Such is the story behind the dream of Jack McCornack the founder of Pterodactyl Limited. Jack saw that the Manta Fledge hang gliders of the 1970s as a design that would lend itself well to an ultralight plane. He took the Fledge IIB and revised it by replacing the glider seat with a pilot seat and modifying to add a two-stroke Xenoah 16 hp engine driving a 36 inch propeller. He named his new creation the Pterodactyl Fledgling although it was often referred to as Pfledge.  The 1979 Pfledge cruised at 45 mph with a maximum speed of 50 mph. It was a very light plane at just 125 lbs yet had a range of 56 miles. During the period from 1979 to 1984, he continued creating different designs, including:

• Pfledge X  - had a Xenoah 242 engine
• Pfledge OR  -powered by a German Sachs SA-340
• Pfledge 430D – featured a Cuyuna 430D engine that Jack helped design
• NFL – the “Not Foot Launchable” was not a successful design
• Ptraveler – powered by Cuyuna 430D
• Ascender – the first with an improved climb rate, powered by Cuyuna 430R
• Ascender II – second of its type but with an improved muffler among other improvements
• Psounder – one of a kind, produced for a Colorado State University research project
• Ptug – hang glider towing version of the Ascender II
• Ptiger – renamed from Ascender II after improvements were made
• Ascender II+ – developed for larger pilots
• Ascender II+2 – developed for two-seat training flights
• Light Flyer – the last designed by Jack, as a tribute to the Wright brothers flyer, less than 10 were sold.

Unfortunately for Jack, his dream ended sadly when he sold the company to a group of partners, “Freedom Fliers” that abruptly went out of business and never paid Jack for the company. Yet, his claim to fame still exists in the form of 1,396 aircraft and thanks to one of his dealers a new era has begun.

Dave Froble was one of his dealers in 1978 and owned a number of Pterodactyls. In the interest of keeping them flying he started looking for parts and plans in 1991. The next year he formed DFE Ultralights (DFE stands for Dave Froble Enterprises) and began making kits in different models similar to the Pfledge and Ascender series. He named his ultralights Ascender III. The various models are indicated by letters, thus there are the following:

• Ascender III-A similar to original Pfledge with nose wheel steering
• Ascender III-B canard version similar to Ascender II
• Ascender III-C – with or without sidecar kit; similar to Ascender II+
• Ascender III-T – a hang glider tug similar to the Ascender II Ptug

Although he produces only a few complete kits, he does continue to supply parts to keep both his planes and those remaining from Jack’s production in the air.

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