Ultra Lights Take Off

The Ultra-light Movement Grows Up

The ultra-light aircraft movement in Australia has seen major and significant developments in the past 12 months. Its legal status, practical scope – even its name, have changed, reflecting the growth and broadening vision of what is now better called the amateur-built movement.

It is 23 years since Air Navigation Order 100. 18, entitled “Ultra Light Aircraft” authorised the construction of certain very small aeroplanes by amateur builders and 15 jubilant enthusiasts met in Melbourne to found the Ultra-Light Air­ craft Association of Australia. The ANO limited maximum take-off weights to 500kg and there was also a restriction on wing loading. The resulting hardware, lovingly produced by the burning of much midnight oil from 1958 onwards – the Stitts Flut-R-Bug, Druine Turbulent, Luton Minor and Jodel D-9 – were not only light in weight. They were, of necessity, light in performance too.

Pressure by the Association over the years has brought the weight limitation up to the present figure of 1000kg – a weight that can embody considerable power and perfor­mance. This achievement, with the abolition of the wing loading limitation in favour of stalling speed formula, has opened the way for the construction of aircraft totally different in concept from the original single-seater overgrown “model aeroplanes” of yesteryear.

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