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So many people postpone their dream to fly because of lack of time or money. If you knew that for few thousand dollars, few months and a lot of fun you could have your own ultralight airplane, would you still postpone?

Building an ultralight trike yourself is one of the most exciting, yet pretty achievable things you can do to achieve your dream. If you think you need a master’s degree in engineering and construction genius, you are wrong. People like me and you build ultralight trikes every day. And yes, they fly on them!

So how do you go?Purchase Construction Plans

You can purchase plans online even in download able format. The prices rare exceed few hundreds (and often are under $100), but the plans contain everything you need.

Preferably, get plans with full size drawings to you can avoid inaccuracies in resizing. Make sure that the plans contain a complete list of materials and sources so you an save time looking around. You can also use a partial kit

Some companies offer partial trial kits. This is an excellent way to gain some experience and expertise and later decide if you want to purchase the kit or just continue building only by the plans. The trial kits of course are much cheaper than the complete ones and take less time to be built. Most companies also provide free phone support. What kind of airplane to build?

This article is called “How To Build An Ultralight Trike” because I believe the ultralight trikes are the best beginning for starters. They are much simpler and faster to complete than the fixed wing airplanes. Finally, the kits and the materials for them are much cheaper.How much time is it going to take?

For someone with skillful hands building an ultralight trike from scratch will take 1500 – 2000 hours. Count 2500 if you are not that good in working with tools.

If you want to do things faster, just purchase a kit. With a good kit you’ll build your ultralight trike for 250 – 300 hours.

Just don’t let bias to keep you away from your dream. Building an ultralight airplane yourself is not only possible, it is fun.

Buying an ultralight airplane is like buying a new car. It can be expensive or cheap, it can be great experience or great failure, it can bring you a lot of joy and happiness or unpleasant and dangerous accidents. It’s not like buying a hamburger, so don’t do it when you are hungry.

There are many important decisions that you must take before buying an ultralight aircraft. Of course the price is important, but there are more – what model to be, used or new, fixed or flex wing, where to buy it from and so on. This article will try to give you some basic directions for taking this important step.Choosing the right type

If you have decided to buy an ultralight airplane you probably have your preferences. The main choice you’ll need to make is either to buy a fixed wing or a flex wing aircraft. The flex wings have a lot of advantages like lower cost, taking less space, being able to take off from an automobile road etc. On the other hand, if you want to have a real airplane with pilot’s cabine, professional devices and all that, and to use it for more than just fun, you’ll have to choose a fixed wing. You can search the Web for my article Flex Wing Vs. Fixed Wing Ultralight Airplanes if you want to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of these two types.

In addition to this, you may want to take a look at the ultralight seaplanes, the gliders or the powered paragliders. You could miss something pretty cool just because you don’t know about it. So, study more about the types of ultralight airplanes before making your choice. You can find a lot of information about them at http://ultralight-airplanes.info.Used or New?

Isn’t that a dilemma which comes to you each time when you are going to buy something big? Buying a second hand airplane has some advantages, but of course the main is the lower price. An used aircraft can cost 50% or less the price of a similar new one.

On the other hand, you should not buy second hand if you don’t know how to check its quality. You need to ensure that the engine, fuselage and wings are good enough and are not damaged. If you don’t know how to do that, you need either to go with a friend who knows, or just buy a brand new airplane. The Prices

Talking about prices, what can you expect? Of course, the prices vary a lot and it’s up to you to choose within a lot of models and types depending on your budget. Here are some very basic guidelines, but please note there can be big exceptions:

- A brand new ultralight airplane with fixed wings costs from $20,000 and can go to more than $50,000

- Used fixed wings can be found for $10,000 or even less, but better don’t buy cheaper than $10,000

- The new ultralight trikes (fixed wing airplanes) start from $10,000 and usually go up to $30,000

- You can find used ultralight trike for $5,000 or even less

- A powered paraglider can be built or bought for $2,500 (if you find someone selling such – it’s a rare chance).

As you see, there are opportunities for everyone. Just make sure that what you buy is safe. Your life costs more than any amount of money.Additional factors to consider

Your safety is the most important and it’s not enough to ensure that your ultralight airplane is not broken. You do need a parachute system. This can add $2,000 to the costs, but can save your life. Sometimes (especially with the trikes or powered paragliders) you need a helmet too.

When buying an ultralight aircraft, you also need to know in what license category it falls for your country. The regulations are different and you need to ensure that you will be able to fly in your area.

Hangaring your airplane also can cost you a lot of money and nerves. If you don’t have a good place on your own or there is no airport hangar close to you, maybe you should think about buying a trike which can stay in your car garage.Where to search?

Of course the best option is to browse the classified sites on the net. Cost-wise however it would be much better to find a good airplane in your area, because transportation on big distances can be an issue. Check if there are any companies around you which build or resell ultralight aircrafts. Often they will also offer used ones.

If you prefer to search the Web, write “ultralight airplane for sale” in your favourite search engine and you’ll get a lot of classifieds and company sites. If you have decided on the type, make or model, you can narrow your search.

Another good idea is to search for “ultralight airplane kits” – then you will get a whole lot of results, options and prices. But building plane yourself from a kit is an entire different topic which I won’t cover in this article.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you spend enough time planning and researching. Your airplane can be your partner for the next 10, 20 or even 50 years. It’s like a marriage except that you could have more than one partners.

If you are interested in ultralight aviation, you have probably spent some time thinking how to simplify your flying. Most of the ultralight enthusiasts meet various problems to achieve their dream.

The price of the ultralight airplanes is relatively low, but still not for everyone’s pocket. Then you have to add costs for obtaining a license, hangaring, fuel and flying permits.

On the other side are the paragliders. They need literally nothing except wind. The problem is you depend on the wind way too much.

I guess some smart guy have realized that many of us need the best of both world. Thus the powered paraglider was born. How is it different?

The powered paragliders can fly and pick up on their own, not matter if there are appropriate wind conditions or not. They have a very simple engine sitting on the back on the pilot and allow very easy flying.

The powered paragliders are cheaper than the ultralight airplanes and do not require a pilot license.

You can even buy your powered paraglider online and receive it in few days.Safety of powered paragliders

Typically the powered paragliders are considered safer than their unpowered cousins, because you have greater control on the flight itself.

If you have experience flying a “normal” paraglider, you will be able to use the same knowledge about safety that you have acquired before.How to start?

If you feel interested, there are several things you need to do:

- Think about your education. If you have no experience flying a paraglider, it’s highly recommended to attend a flying course

- Plan your finances. The powered paragliders are one of the cheapest way to fly, but still you will need several thousands dollars to do it safely

- Research new and used market of powered paragliders. There are a lot of options, but some pilots prefer to build their own motorized paraglider. It’s easy!

- Buy, pack, get trained and start flying

There is just one step from powered paragliding and flying a real ultralight airplane. Some pilots prefer to stay with the paragliders, other want to grow further. Whichever you choose, paragliding is an excellent way to start.

Well, it may take you slightly more than that to choose the right ultralight helicopter, to save the money, to buy it and to start flying with it. But it will take you exactly or less than ten minutes to read this article and to understand the most important that you need to know about owning an ultralight helicopter.What is an Ultralight Helicopter?

It’s a helicopter like each other, but classified as ultralight, because… well because it is ultra light. The ultralight helicopters have much simpler and lighter construction than the regular ones, they often have no cockpit at all, can’t fly as high or as fast and can’t handle such load. The ultralight helicopters usually have one or two seats only.

Besides these differences, the ultralight helicopters are fully functional, have rotor wings and you need to know how to fly a helicopter if you want to fly on them.Buying an Ultralight Helicopter

For some people the first time they hear about ultralight helicopter is when they talk to me. But don’t get miss leaded, it’s not because the helicopters are hard to find. Most people don’t know that there are literally hundreds of companies and small workshops producing ultralight helicopters or kits for them. Just search the Web and the aviation classified sites and you’ll see what I mean.

It’s still quite possible that you won’t find a company which is producing ultralight helicopters in your city. That’s why the best approach is to search the Web for sites with aviation classifieds or sites providing resource links about ultralight aircrafts. You’ll easy find all kind of used and new ultralight helicopters to be sold. The prices can start from as low as $10,000.Building your Ultralight Helicopter

If you have some construction skills or just like to build things you can really build your helicopter on your own. This does not mean you have to be an aviation engineer and to construct it yourself. There are two options for you:

- To build your helicopter from a kit. Many companies sell ultralight aircrafts and helicopters in kit form (in fact the kit offers are more than the ready airplanes). The kits are documented and tested packages of parts ready for you to build. Usually it’s cheaper to build aircraft from a kit, but it takes significant amount of time and efforts. It’s a fun however.

- If you are a really big enthusiast, you can purchase only construction plans (usually the prices start from just $50). The plans contain information what materials and parts you need and how to build them. It’s harder than when using a kit, but can be a greater fun and can save you more money.Flying your Ultralight Helicopter

Learning to fly your ultralight helicopter will certainly take you more than 10 minutes. In some countries you will be allowed to fly ultralight (in EU called “microlight”) without a pilot’s license. But it is strongly recommended that you attend an aircraft school and get real fly training from experienced instructors.

If you have not yet flown a helicopter, you should know it’s quite harder than flying a fixed wings airplane and the ultralight helicopters are not an exception. Get prepared for one of the greatest – and most rewarding – challenges in your life.