Ultralight Aircraft Manufacturers

There are hundreds of ultralight aircraft manufacturers around the world which comes as no surprise given the thirst of mankind to soar with the birds and see their world from an amazing perspective. With the extremely high initial cost, maintenance costs and lengthy training/licensing requirements involved in being able to fly standard aircrafts, many enthusiasts are turning instead to ultralight aircraft options.

There are many types of ultralight aircraft. Below you will find a few manufacturers listed by the type of aircraft that they produce.

• Flying Boats – an ultralight that takes off and lands on water
  • Aliseo – Headquartered in Pompany Beach, Florida they produce a sleek flying boat that can carry two people up to 10,000 feet at speeds up to 80 mph yet is easy to launch and transport.
  • Seair Technologies, Inc – Their flying boat can also be used as a ground based ultralight with an optional trike frame.
  • Trikes – ground based three-wheeled ultralights
    • Sportflight International LLC – Astra Trikes built in Bloomfield, Indiana, they currently produce five different models:
      • Astra 912 – 80 hp Rotax 912 four cylinder four stroke engine
      • Astra 503 – 54 hp Rotax 503 two cylinder four stroke engine
      • Astra S2 – 100 hp Rotax 912S four cylinder four stroke engine
      • Astra HKS – 60 hp Japanese HKS twin cylinder four stroke engine
        • Astra 103 – Rotax 503 two cylinder two cycle engine
• Electric Aircraft Corporation – They produce electraflyer trikes which cruise at around 70 mph. The battery pack recharges in 6 hours or just 2 hours with a 220v charger.
• Evolution Trikes USA – Their model, the REVO, seats two in tandem and is a good choice for long cross country traveling.
• North Wing -  producers of light sport trikes, ultralight trikes and hang gliders
• Flightstar Sportplanes – currently offer kits for three models and they are working on a fourth called the e-Spyder that will include an electric power system. The current three:
  • SC II
  • SL II
  • Spyder
• Quicksilver – Located in Temecula, California, they are the world’s largest manufacturer of sport aircraft. There are authorized dealers all over the world.  Some of their models include:
  • GT 500 – can also be put on floats or add an agricultural spray system
  • GT 400 and GT 400 Special Edition
  • MXLII Sport
  • Sport 2S
  • MXII Spring
  • MX Sprint
  • MX Sport – can also be put on floats
  • Helicopters – ultralight helicopters are generally one-person aircraft although some will hold two people.
    • Air Command International
    • Vortech, Inc – provide plans, kits and parts to build ultralight helicopters
    • Powered Paragliders
      • Aerolight  – Located in Miami they offer paramotors, paragliders and all the necessary gear.
      • ParaToys.com

Clearly there are many options for the aviator at heart.  For just a few thousand dollars in most cases, and a few hours of training, you too can be soaring with the birds!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.