Your editor has been on a road trip for several days, visiting the great Motel 6’s of California, and incidentally dropping in at Corning, California to stock up on olives and meet with Brian Carpenter, head of Rainbow Aviation. He holds forth there as dealer for the full line of Quicksilver ultralight aircraft, does flight training, and with his wife Carol, presents training classes on repairing ultralight, light sport, weight shift, and even powered parachute type aircraft. The pair has written several books on these topics. Brian recently teamed with Quicksilver to manufacture a kit aircraft that will eventually include one or more electric motors for propulsion. With many ingenious features and a low introductory price, the all-metal airplane could become an introductory trainer for novice ultralight pilots. He and Quicksilver held a joint press conference at Airventure 2013 to announce the new machine. Fitting easily into ultralight weight requirements, even with a motor and batteries, the EMG-6 (electric motor …
EMG-5 Pulls Forward
Brian Carpenter of Tangent Aircraft Development in Corning, California is crafting one of the more exotic ultralight aircraft in the history of ultralights. Your editor visited his shop in late September, and viewed progress at that point. Brian had most of the previously clecoed fuselage disassembled, and was weighing parts and options for shaving ounces. He has now turned to producing an on-line newsletter to keep followers posted. In his first EMG-5 newsletter, Brian provides a quick look at the rapid reassembly and refinement that has taken place since. “The month of October has been our first full month to work uninterrupted on the project. We have made significant gains on the prototype as well as tooling for the aircraft. The flight control systems are now 80% complete. The landing gear system is nearly 90% complete. The tail assembly is approximately 70% complete. The thrust vectoring system is completed with the exception of the fairings and canard. The motor, …