Home Built Ultralight Aircrafts

Feb 22
17:26

2007

Bobby Handzhiev

Bobby Handzhiev

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You have heard about them - home built ultralight airplanes and helicopters. If you wonder what "home built" means, I can assure you it is exactly what you think - they are really aircrafts which you can build at your home, garage or home workshop.

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You have heard about them - home built ultralight airplanes and helicopters. If you wonder what "home built" means,Home Built Ultralight Aircrafts Articles I can assure you it is exactly what you think - they are really aircrafts which you can build at your home, garage or home workshop.

Building your aircraft yourself has many advantages: you don't need to pay for features that you don't want, you may use parts and colors of your likeness (of course the parts need to work together) and in general you will save money. Depending on your level of experience, there are several ways to go ahead with building your flying vehicle. You can build "from scratch" or from kit. Building from kit also may require different effort and knowledge - some kits are almost finished ultralight airplanes, while others are just an airframe and few parts. I'll review these options in details below.

Build Your Aircraft From ScratchOk, obviously it will take an eternity to build an airplane really from nothing. Building "from scratch" means not to use kit - but you still needs parts and materials.

Unless you are very knowledgeable to develop your own project, you can not manage without a construction plan and manual. There are thousands of models home built aircrafts and plans for them are sold on the Net. Usually the price of such plans is between $30 and $130. The plans usually include schemes, work tables, test cases and material list.

If you search the Net for "home built aircraft plans" you will find a lot of sites offering such products. Building your airplane "from scratch" may take a lot of time and might be a challenge for your motivation and construction skills. If you don't like to build things, better don't go this way.

Building Ultralight Airplane Or Helicopter From KitThe kits are well documented and tested packages of parts ready to build your aircraft. Most ultralight airplane and helicopter models are available as kits - in fact there are many which are sold only as kits and not in completed version.

Building from kit is cheaper than buying a ready airplane, but more expensive than building from scratch. However the kits are saving you a lot of time - depending on the level of their completeness of course. Some kits are just an airframe and parts - and you must build it all. Others are almost completed airplanes and you have very little to do. Just like when building your aircraft alone, if you consider buying and ultralight airplane kit make sure that you don't lack motivation to work on it. Usually you have to be prepared for 500 - 1000 hours of work.

You can find out more about the ultralight kits at http://ultralight-airplanes.info

Popular Home Built Airplanes And HelicoptersThere are literally thousands of model developments for the aircraft home builders. But few of the models have gained a lot of popularity and worth a look unless you have anything specific in mind.

The "G-1 ultralight helicopter" is one place heli which is often built without a cabin or has a very simple plastic cabin.

"Scorpion-133" is one of the most popular ultralight helicopters. It's construction plans are sold for around $130. You can also find this model to be sold as a ready to fly aircraft.

If you are on low budget, consider the "Indian Ultralight Helicopter" - it's been advertised with it's low cost which is under $8,000. (can be found at http://www.indianhelicopters.com/helicopter.htm)"

Legal Eagle" is one of the greatest home built ultralight airplanes (more information at http://www.ultralightnews.com/plansbuyerguide/legaleagle-aircraftplans.html).

Probably the cheapest and easiest to built experimental aircraft is the Powered Paradigler which can cost under $2,000.

Building your ultralight airplane yourself or from a kit can be great experience and fun. However you should consider the time, instruments and skills that it requires. And before doing anything at all, do check your country law about experimental/home built aircrafts so you know what kind of licenses are required.