Chapter 2 sample

“Airplanes are like women – pick what you like and try
to get it away from the guy who has it, then dress it out to the
limit of your wallet and taste.”
- Stephen Coonts
2. Choosing an Ultralight
If you have your heart set on an ultralight there are several
ways to satisfy your urge. Potential ultralight pilots can choose
between new ultralight kits or used ultralights. Additionally there
are “project ultralights.” In this chapter we will explore each of
these categories as well as the benefits and value of add-on options. A good start toward your purchase comes when you determine which category of craft you are interested in. You can save a
lot of time, effort, and money by being brutally honest with yourself as you read this section.
The rule here is simple: you should acquire an ultralight that
will not frustrate you. Therefore your own individual preference,
abilities, and temperament should determine the category of
ultralight you choose.
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A Professional Approach to Ultralights
Purchasing a New Kit
“The power of work, the power of creativity, can be your
salvation.”
Nicole Kidman
It’s all about time and money. While there are many benefits
to purchasing a new, right-from-the-manufacturer-ultralight kit there
are also drawbacks. And, of course, money and time are among
the first that come to mind. However, if you have both, there are
several good reasons to build your own ultralight.
First, you will know the quality of the work that has gone
into the construction. This is important because there are not any
regulations establishing the quality or consistency of the work being
done on ultralights or, for that matter, experimental aircraft. As a
result, this is one of the most common reasons that many people
decide to buy a kit and build themselves.
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Choosing an Ultralight
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In fact, an experimental airworthiness certificate issued by
the FAA does not in any way address the quality of workmanship,
but rather only reflects that the following FARs for amateur built
aircraft have been complied with:
1. A weight and balance has been done on the aircraft
2. The appropriate placards have been installed
3. The following paperwork has been filed:
A. The registration
B. The statement of amateur built eligibility
This is the reason that there are two stages to the airworthiness certificate. Requiring sometimes as much as forty hours of
flight, without passengers, and a statement by the builder that no
adverse flight characteristics apply.
The purpose is to establish a reasonable time period to prove
that the aircraft can be operated safely. During the second phase,
after this restricted flight period, you are then allowed to carry
passengers.
The second advantage to building your own ultralight is that
you will have control over the workmanship, as well as the maintenance, from the start. You
will know that the aircraft has
been taken care of to your
standards.
Of course, if you buy
used, you can employ the services of an expert to validate
the condition of the aircraft.
However, some people end up
buying new after a long search
ending in the inability to locate
an ultralight that meets their
standards already assembled.
Equally important, it’s new. Obvious, but true. Everything
will look good and feel good from the onset. Not to mention the
sense of accomplishment you will have from flying an ultralight
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A Professional Approach to Ultralights
you have built yourself.
One important consideration, though, is that the labor you
invest in assembling an ultralight typically has no value when it
comes time for resale. Of course all rules have exceptions, but
they are rare.
Some pilots want to skip the headache of building, but they
still want to purchase a new ultralight kit. They want a well-built
ultralight, configured their way, with their own color scheme. So
they hire a professional to build a kit. If you fall into this category,
understand that there is nothing wrong with this option, as long as
you don’t care about recouping the labor costs when it is time for
resale.
If you are inclined to purchase a kit, there are a few things
you should take into consideration. To start with, even the toprated ultralight manufacturers, in order to make a profit, have to
consider all of the potential options that will be included in the kit
verses the price that will be charged.
Since a fully loaded kit may be too pricey for a large section
of the ultralight community, advertised kits are usually bare-boned.
Hence, a low price alone doesn’t make an ultralight kit a good
value.
Competition being what it is, if one manufacturer can reduce
the price by a thousand dollars under the competitor’s price, quite
often that manufacturer will make the sale. One viable method
for reducing the price of a kit is to leave off some expensive parts
and offer them as options. This is seldom revealed during a sale’s
pitch. Additionally, compromising the quality of the parts included
in the kit may also reduce prices.
For this reason, essential components can sometimes be inadequate and, in some cases, down right dangerous. Since most
potential buyers are not repeat customers, manufacturers don’t
have to worry about satisfying the customer long term, but rather
just making the sale. We hear similar stories over and over from
customers who are building kits.
Consider the following:
A very good friend and customer of ours purchased a twoplace ultralight/experimental because the price was better than
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Choosing an Ultralight
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the competitor’s and the aircraft displayed during the sale’s pitch
was so beautiful. His first surprise came when he received the kit.
The shipping charges amounted to over six hundred dollars, an
additional cost that he had not counted on.
The next surprise came as he was assembling the aircraft. He
continually ran up against one specialized tool or another that was
needed to complete the
project. He would attempt
to make do but would
eventually end up purchasing the necessary tool.
And the clincher, the advertised two hundred hour
assembly time was closer
to five hundred hours.
If that wasn’t
enough, he discovered
that many of the items on
Dave Stephens and his Rans S-12
the display model were
not part of the stock kit.
In fact, he was shocked to
find out that the cockpit enclosure was a separate kit entirely with
a price tag of five hundred dollars for the front enclosure and an
additional five hundred dollars for the rear enclosure. Reluctantly,
he ordered these two kits.
You can only image his frustration when he received them,
preceded to install them, only to discover that there was a twelve
inch gap between the front enclosure and the rear enclosure. When
he inquired, the manufacturer said, “Oh yeah, that’s an additional
kit. The middle enclosure runs one hundred dollars.”
Similar events continued throughout the project. For instance,
all of the instrumentation was extra, totaling almost two thousand dollars by the time he installed everything on his wish list.
There wasn’t any wiring, hoses, paint, primer, or prep materials
provided with the kit.
After the kit was finished, he found out that the wheels, tires,
and brake system were so cheap that they actually constituted a
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A Professional Approach to Ultralights
safety hazard.
The propeller was wooden and was just slightly mismatched
for the airplane. Since it wasn’t adjustable he faced exchanging it
for one that would give him suitable performance. He was contemplating purchasing a ground adjustable propeller but was preempted by a fuel cap that came loose and exited the aircraft through
the propeller thus destroying it. Subsequently the manufacturer
elected to use a more reliable, better quality fuel cap, we suspect
due to liability concerns.
This story is meant to educate you, not to scare you. It is
simply the norm in the business. As we said, in order to reduce the
cost of the kit, the manufacturer has two choices:
(A) Eliminate components
(B) Use a lower grade of materials
Otherwise they would need to increase the price. And the
truth is if they told you the final cost for their kit, you would
probably purchase the competitor’s kit and they would lose the
sale. Those of us in the business simply understand how this works
and accept these facts.
Quite often, if Brian is negotiating the purchase of a kit, he
will request a reduction in the price and ask the manufacturer to
leave out all of the things that we are not going to use.
For example, he may choose to leave oil injection off of the
engine. He may have already decided on a ground adjustable propeller and ask them to remove the wooden propeller from the kit.
Knowing the wheels and brakes are low grade, he may request
that they be left out as well.
If the manufacturer supplies instrumentation, it is usually
inadequate quality. Brian may have elected to install an engine
instrumentation system instead, so he will request that they remove any instrumentation.
Having this information ahead of time, and making these
choices when you order your kit, can reduce the cost by hundreds
or even thousands of dollars.
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We can’t blame the manufacturers for these inherit characteristics. It is the consumer who drives them to make these choices.
Consumers want a “bargain.”
The key point to remember is that a low price alone doesn’t
make an ultralight kit a good value. As we said in Chapter One, the
bargain almost always backfires. A low or discounted price can be
attractive, but the money saved may not be worth the compromises in the total package.
Research. Take the time to find out what components are
included, what tools are required, what extra material will be
needed. Ask what instrumentation comes with the kit. Ask for
references. Talk with other builders and professionals to get a realistic idea of the time, money, and work involved.
The bottom line: if you have the time, ability, and desire to
build your own ultralight, it can be a very rewarding experience. If
you do your homework and take the time to build it right, the first
time, you will be rewarded with years of trouble free flying.