My First Ultralight
I started taking Ultralight
flight lessons in a Rans S12 Araile in September of 1997. In October
of 97 I decided I just couldn't wait. I had to have my own Ultralight!
I found in the newspaper a Quicksilver for sale. I talked to the
owner a number of times on the phone and decided to buy it. I
went to get it on a cold rainey day with a friend and his car
trailer and we drove quite a few miles north of Kansas City.
I was a little disappointed
when saw it. The wings were off and tail assembly was setting
across the building, and all of this tubing laying everywhere!
I was thinking of leaving,but the owner started the engine and
it ran good even on the super old gas that was in it. Well, that
did it and I handed over my check. My friend and I loaded up the
wings and the piles of tubing and parts on his car trailer in
the 40 degree driving rain. I was now the proud owner of a 1982
? Eipper MX - Serial # 1041
My 1982 ? Eipper MX ( after
rebuild )
I got it home and now where
do I start? I contacted my flight instructor Don Topping (a USUA
BFI) to see if he would come over and give it a once over and
to give me an idea of what I need to do. Don looked at my pile
of tubing and parts and sort of shook his head. The tail skid
was bent which wasn't a big problem but we also found that the
leading edge tub to the left wing was bent. To me that was and
Don told me that it had to be replaced. The sails were not in
great shape. Besides the sails being original they had quite a
bit of hanger rash on them. I didn't do a fabric test and had
no way of doing so at the time I bought it. Don told me when I
get it out to the airport we could do a fabric test and there
was some question as to weather it would pass.
A front
view. You can see the back on the instrument panel
The first
thing I did was order my tail skit and leading edge tubing and
a construction and parts Manuel for this particular Quicksilver.
While I waited for these parts to come I spent my time cleaning
the years of dirt that accumulated on everything. After I cleaned
everything I noticed there was a lot of corrosion on a majority
of the bolts and nuts. I replaced 90% of them. The ones I did
not replace were at the engine mount and around the nose wheel.
They were in good shape.
In Mid December
of 97 I had done everything I could do that I knew of until I
got it out to the airport and I wanted to continue working on
my project. There was an MXII at our little airport and the owners
put Lexan doors on it. It really looked sharp. The doors added
10 mph to there cruise speed and kept the wind off when flying
in the winter. I decided that would be my new project on my MX.
I studied
how there doors were built and it didn't seem to be to difficult.
When I got home to take measurement ect to figure out what I need
I found out that the tubing is set up different. I spent a few
evenings just looking at the frame trying to figure out the best
way to do it and started my new project on my MX the first on
January 98.
Along with
building my Lexan doors I wanted to add instruments so I spent
some time trying to figure out how I was going to do that. The
panel ended up being 8 x 9 inches made out of 1/4 inch clear plastic.
and I sanded it to make it look frosted. The instruments in this
small area were an EGT, CHT,80 mph ASI, Altimeter, Tack, and Hobbs
Hour meter and Compass.
This is
my Instrument panel after the crash
In mid March
of 97 My flight instructor and I brought the MX to the airport.
This was on Sunday and a number of the guys in my flying club
pitched in to put it together. After a number of hours it was
ready to go except for one thing. The bolt and nut that connected
the elevator tube and elevator horn was to long and there wasn't
any around short enough to use. I would have to order the bolt
and nut before I could start running up and down the runway. I
will have to say at that time I was not a happy camper. I had
spent hours and hours at home going over the construction Manuel
and checking parts to make sure I had it all so I wouldn't run
into this problem. I missed this. I installed the bolt and nut
during the week and I thought I would be ready to run up and down
the runway, but it was not to be. I was missing two 1/4"
washers for the front of the horizontal stabilizer. I installed
them during the week and the next weekend I thought I would be
ready to go, Again, not to be. The top of the king post was bent,
and it needed to be replaced. This went on for 6 weeks. Club members
kept going over the MX finding things that needed to be replaced.The
last person to go over my new flying machine was a retired FAA
aircraft inspector and he gave his approval. THANK GOD!
After a
couple of weeks running up and down the runway learning to steer
the MX with the rudder because of the fixed nose wheel I was ready
to go. My flight instructor and I met early on a Sunday morning
at the end of May. I was finally going to solo. Our little airport
has a north south runway. The north half is all open and south
half has a hill and a tree along the runway on the west side.
The trees are so close that when we come in to land from the south
we land off to the right of the runway to stay away from the trees.
My flight
instructor told me to go to the north end and do a couple of crow
hops. I gave the MX power and lifted off the ground but there
was a very light breeze from the west and I started drifting to
the left. It wouldn't have been any big deal but about 25' to
my left off the runway the ground drops off down a hill so I set
it down. My instructor suggested I start from the south end of
the runway because the hill and trees would block the breeze.
After the
crash!
I was at
the south end of the runway but with the steering the way it was
I found myself way to the right of the runway in the turn around
area facing the trees.I figured at that time I would give it some
power and steer it down the runway and do my crow hops. I didn't
do that. I gave the MX full power and in about 4 heart beats I
was 50' in the air heading for the trees just above them. In after
thought I should have kept the power on, and climbed on out, but
I didn't. I wasn't suppose to be where I was. I should have been
crow hopping down the runway. I pushed the nose down and cut the
power. I started a right hand turn but I was to gentle on the
rudder, because I had no idea how it was going to react. I wasn't
turning sharp enough and I was heading for the last tree on the
west side of the runway. All I could think of is that I didn't
want to stall the MX in a sharp turn by giving it more rudder
so I decided I would just have to hit the tree. Right before I
hit I pulled back on the elevator and gave it left rudder so I
wouldn't hit it head on and possibly slow my speed down before
I hit. I hit the tree and and I hung there like a fly on a wall.
After about 10 seconds It fell out of the tree tail first. I walked
away without a scratch!
After spending
about $700 and 5 weeks of work I was ready to solo again. I soloed
on
July 19,
1998
I
HAD A BLAST!!!!!
FFP Youngster
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