I had seen an ultralight at an air show many years ago and thought it would be really neat to fly one of those.  Getting a private pilots license is very expensive and renting a plane to fly is also very expensive.  Owning one was out of the question.  My father had a pilot's license but only flew occasionally.  I had flown with him a few times (whenever I got the chance) and had taken the controls for a while so had an idea what it was all about.  I kept thinking that if I could find a location that taught how to fly an ultralight, I would at least pay for enough lessons to get to try flying one to see if I would like it (duhhhh!).  I had heard about a place not far from where I lived and had found an email address and written but never got a reply.  It was probably an old address that was not used anymore.

I did have one extra piece of information and that was that it was a QuickSilver dealer. Finally after searching off and on for a couple years, I called QuickSilver and asked them.  They gave me the name, Mike, and his phone number.  It was closer than I thought, only 12 minutes away.  I called the Mike and talked to him.  He said he had limited time and so could only teach people to fly that bought an ultralight from him but he had one for sale, a Sport model, if I was interested.  He offered to have his nephew take me up in his own two-seat Quicksilver Sprint.  I had to think about that -- about 2 microseconds.  I made arrangements and it actually turned out to be my 55th birthday.  It was the best birthday present I ever gave myself!  I was hooked.

It took me a few more weeks to decide how to pay for it.  Then it took several more weeks of training.  It wasn't that it would take so many hours of training, it was finding wind free days that matched both Mike's and my schedule.  It was surprisingly easy.  Mike was a great trainer.  It might also have had something to do with the fact that I had flown with my father before (but never landed or taken off), and that I spent many hours practicing on MS Flight Simulator.  See more details on learning to fly and flying on the link what its like to fly an ultralight (coming soon).

Click on pictures for large picture in a separate window

This is me in my Quicksilver Sport ultralight sitting on the grass runway.  It is winter and I am in my winter flying clothes.  The engine is running, I'm ready to go. You didn't really think it just sat in the hangar all winter did you?

Taking off -- about 30 feet off the ground.  Summer picture (notice there are leaves on the trees alongside the runway in this picture).

At altitude and starting a left turn.

A front view.

Selected specifications for Quicksilver Sport Single-seat Aircraft

wing span: .......................................................... 28 feet

maximum speed level flight 100% power ..............59 mph

empty weight......................................................254 lb

maximum range (5 gal tank) ............................. ...91 miles

useful load .........................................................271 lb

               full specifications and performance