Aerolite 103 Kit to Be Built in the Fun Fly Zone

June 25, 2019 - Dennis Carley, owner of U-FLY-IT Light Sport Aircraft, and Rick Hayes from Hayes Aero will be building an Aerolite 103 kit during the week of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in the Ultralight area, aka the Fun Fly Zone. Visitors will be able to observe an experienced person assemble a quick-build kit and learn useful tips and tricks for building ultralights.

EAA Ultralight and Light-Plane Community Manager/Member Programs Specialist Timm Bogenhagen said the goal of the project is to demonstrate how affordable, fun, and easy a kit like the Aerolite 103, which complies with ultralight regulations, is to build.

"The goal is to spend five days building, and then on Saturday evening during the 6:30 flying period for ultralights, it would taxi up and down the grass runway," Timm said. "It won't fly because being a newly built ultralight, AirVenture is not the appropriate environment to test fly it, from a safety standpoint."

The build will start and finish during the week of AirVenture. "The Aerolite kits have a lot of assembly and very little fabrication," Timm said. "The construction type is typical of ultralight-style aircraft where aluminum tubes are joined together using brackets and gussets and covered with colorful Dacron sailcloth." This method of construction drastically reduces build time.

The build will take place starting on Monday, July 22 in the workshop tent in the Fun Fly Zone, right next to the Ultralight Barn.