Al Mulford's Ultralight Escape

[fatdice911]

I seem to recall you were using Swedish Partner chain-saw engines when I saw this fine UL back in, when was it, 1982?

[almulford]

@fatdice911 You are correct. We were using Partner chain-saw engines around 1982. They were 7 hp. each.

[pipkeajaj]

Investors...Im in Uruguay South America faaaar away...Maybe a friend of mine may chat on this subject. He lives in USA and is a pilot and enthusiast of light flight...I have sent him this video and informed him a little. Something good may come by, who can tell....Regards, Alan.

[pipkeajaj]

You could use so many engines...Konig Radial, Simoninni, JPX corsair, MZ 34,Solo 21O, Polini Thor and many more...A cheap one but reliable with cheap available spares is the Radne Racket Aero with redrive with centrifugal clutch as do have many others, just search in the paramotor world, even a Wankel is available. Radne really has some 13hp std, but can be souped up, though against reliability.You can make a light streamlight pod as the Flightstar as as option...

[almulford]

@pipkeajaj It is tempting... There is a small airport in my area for sale with hangars, and large buildings, and even a machine shop. Perfect for an ultralight factory. I had a hangar there for awhile for the Flightstar I have.  All it would take is an investor to help me out :-) I also had thoughts of electric power, if and when the batteries got lighter.

[pipkeajaj]

Do it!! Bring it back! Why wouldn't it do well? Paramotoring has opened the eyes for real basic/portable/minimal personal flight for many and a new general enthusiasm has come, many dont like the ram air wings or cant footlaunch them so they look elsewere...A twin place that can maintain level on one engine would be great too...I guess the only twin (sail and tube) now is the Leza AirCam?...Very expensive and heavy.First in line should be the basic Hummingbird...

[pipkeajaj]

Read general information of Gemini International in the web...besides tech specs of the plane.

I see it should be perfectly suitable as an ultralight today...Maybe even better than in its heyday...Dont know if in the USA a twin engined can fit the part 103? Twin engines is safer for the pilot and the third parties on the ground...It should be a plus...11:1 glide ratio? Is that true?

57mph cruise? Isnt that on the high side? Cruise arround 45 mph? I like it!

[almulford]

@pipkeajaj We, (Gemini International) were the only ones that built the "Hummingbird". It was a complete factory built ultralight, and each one test flown by me. I know the Lazair well. It was the only other twin at that time. You are correct, 45mph was the cruise. 11:1 glide is not correct, it was more like 9:1. Often thought about bringing the "Hummingbird" back, especially with all the new engines available now. Depending on Part 103.

[pipkeajaj]

Some 34kgs out of 7hp? Is that correct? I have been in the paramotor world since 94 and never got close to that figures with 7hp. Tried many reductions and props...Who designed the Hummingbird? Was it manufactured by more than one? Unless it had a great flaw in some respect It could be very interesting today with so many paramotor engines available now! Specially if capable of keeping aloft on one engine! Other than the Lazair there arent many twin engined ultralights...Regards.

[pipkeajaj]

Incredible it flew with a total of 14 hp and direct drive, ever measured its thrust? How did it handle with one Limbach at full power? Would two 1.10 mts prop fit, geometrically? Wingspan? Wing area? How was its general handling with the "V" tail? Mechanical mixer I suppose? Was it three or two axis controlled? Thanks & Regards. 

[almulford]

@pipkeajaj Yes 14 hp, reduction drive. We measured each engines thrust at 80 lbs (partner engines). The limbach engines were direct drive, You could actually takeoff and fly on just one engine. Wingspan was 32', full 3 axis controlled. The "V" tail was great! A mechanical mixer hook up. It flew and handled great. Even today I get email from people that still have and fly the "Hummingbird" Ultralight. Many have refitted it with engines found today.

[pipkeajaj]

Hi, could it keep level on one engine? I find twin engined ultralights, as long as they could keep level flight, with one engine or climb a little, safer in many a way...Many forced landings could be avoided and the pilot would develop an interest of maintaining his engines. Flying with one alone back to safety he probably would be quite afraid and probably learn... having being spared of a forcefull landing had he had one engine...I have two Konigs 430 SC radials, nice for one of these...

[almulford]

@pipkeajaj In response to your question, the engines we were using at the time we made this video, were converted Partner chainsaw engines, 7hp each. If one engine died, the other would only extend your glide ratio by a good deal. Later in manufacturing, we changed to 2 - 25hp Limbach horizontally opposed, engines. With the Limbach engines, you could takeoff and climb on single engine operation.

[TheTslam]

I fly Ascenders right now but love this Hummingbird.Al ,are these still in production by anyone..This is a fantastic video and would def get ppl into flying ultralights..

[rOMANgABRIELdirector]

I am searching long and hard ffor a plan to build a bamboo flier in the spirit of alberto santos, would u happen to have a plan. is there a configuration i can use to improve on the demoiselle design. Can wing warping be used with ailerons? WHy the v wing configurations. id love some help. Thank you.

[guitarpilot1]

Hang Gliding Baby! I'd rather fly my hang glider. These days we are getting 200+ miles with no motor therefor no fuel. It's more like the superman flying that you dreamed of as a kid.

[impazzitoinvolo]

Nice video! Thanks for share it.

What is the name of the "V tail" ultralight?

Cual es el nombre de ese tipo de ultraliviano con cola a V?

[almulford]

The "V" tail ultralights were known as the Twin Engine Hummingbirds. I manufactured these ultralights back in the 1980's, in Sparks, Nevada.

[impazzitoinvolo]

Thanks. But why you leave the production of these V configuration in ultralight? Any airplanes and more gliders use the V tail with nice performances.

Arrivederci and thanks again

[zooberrr]

@almulford Hi there, I have an opportunity to pick up one of these Hummingbirds for about $1000. If I was to replace the engines what would be a good substitute. Or should i have them rebuilt.

[almulford]

@zooberrr Can you tell me what engines are on it now? When I manufactured the Hummingbird Ultralight, we used 3 different manufactures for engines, "Partner", Solo, and Limbach engines.

[nevadas1]

@impazzitoinvolo This is called the Hummingbird

[1carloselsocio]

congratulations buen video asi se vuela  ... medellin colombia

[sscobalt815]

two engines=twice the chance of something going wrong and twice the fuel (not so much with these engines)

[leviterande]

what the advantage of having twin motors than one signle?

[Sportpilot99]

The obvious advantage is that if one engine seizes up or fails somehow, you still have and engine and have a much better chance of being able to get to a suitable landing area instead of just the glidepath imposed with a dead stick landing.

[nevadas1]

@leviterande It is not an advantage, it is the performance that these little birds give. Thanks for asking.

[leviterande]

if the one engine quits.. that is what I mean,

[nevadas1]

That's the nice thing about this ultralight, if one engine quits (it did on my solo flight) You can fly on one, providing you weigh 150 lbs and not more.

[ilikecheetos12]

ultralights are a blast to fly...i remember when we used to fly swing seat ultralights...now adays they are more and more like real airplanes....well some of them anyways.

[mikexray123]

Excellent flying footage. Very inspiring to a guy like me who will have his own plane some day. Not to take away from the video,..but the music was a little on the corny side and didn't do justice to the great flying scenes.

[mustang684]

agreed

[ehswan]

Aw to fly, suddenly we are air born. Ain't flight grand!

[irishmike07]

Way friggin cool. Thank you. But I want you to know I've been thinking so hard about selling one of my Harley's and building one of these. I was born and raised in Coos Bay and remember watching the light's fly over the sand dune's. I alway's wanted too. I'm moving to South Dakota soon. Tell me that would not be a great place to fly!!!

[LTF85199]

Are they using ground effect advantage to improve range?

[almulford]

No ground effects we had to make many trips back to re-fuel. Took about 3 weeks to get all the footage. We were limited back then to a 2.5 gal gas tank to stay within weight limits.

[LTF85199]

oh wow, It is probably very risky to use ground effect at that kind of enviornment anyways huh?. Really beautiful flying i really enjoyed it, i might do that some day using a plane that I may design with huge fuel tank.

[almulford]

South Dakota a good place to fly. Let me warn you that these little airplanes like motorcycles you will find yourself wanting to do nothing else but go fly someplace for the day. The "BUG" bites you hard and you just can not get enough.

[sullivanrd0]

Great video! I fly a Hummingbird 103. It flies great but is just a bit light on power. I am using the original Solo 210 engines. Low and slow, it IS where the fun is.

[storminatwork]

Many thanks. If you're ever this side of the pond look me up and we can go flying in the Scottish Highlands! Stormin

[storminatwork]

Al,

Great video. I fly a Skyranger in Scotland! As a result of a rule change here we can now fly sub 115kg ultralights (microlights as we call them) without a heavy regulatory burden. Any US aircraft you'd recommend in this category? Storminatwork PS Check out my vids on Youtube ...although they aint the same quality as yours!!!)

[lazair3]

Hello,

What a great way to capture you and your friends doing waht you love to do. I too fly Ultraights, A Lazair actually and I am currently trying to solve a vibration problem with the filming I'm doing on my Ultralight. What camera's and mounts are you using to eliminate the shaky camera problem by mounting it to the airframe?

Thank you,

George

[almulford]

The way we did it was to use a good wide angle lens. This solved the shakes but we had to fly closer to each other than it looks on film.

Also we used 16mm film cameras and did film to video transfer.

[lazair3]

It's all over my head, but hopefully I can figure out a way to showcase the Lazair I fly. Thanks for taking time to answer my question.

[bfolla06]

awesome video... sure makes me wish i had one... I have been looking into building my own ultralight. My biggest obstacle is cost, so far the best option seems to be the Affordaplane. Do you know anything about this type of ultralight?

[1stfruitscomm]

Very nice! Especially liked the stair-step formation right off the deck down the river. Shweet!

I don't understand one thing though. From the ground camera you show 3 a/c flying down the river. Then the aerial shot is also of 3. There had to be one flying the camera plane, so why's there not 4 in the ground shot?

[almulford]

Correct and good EYE. We used another Hummingbird Ultralight with a camera mounted on the nose for that shot but wanted to keep it out of the scene beings we were only using it as a camera platform.

[ultralightflyer2002]

that is what flying is all about,,,the old slow ultralights used to have flyins,,,balloon popping, spot landing, and flower bomb dropping,,camping out under your wing for the long weekend,,where did it all go,,,if the F"N"AA have their way,,it'll be back to that way,,all the user fee's they're trying to impose on GA aviation

[almulford]

I could not have said it any better.

I am lucky though to belong to a very active club here where I live now and we do all those things every week.

[osamabmw]

the music is beautiful

and the aircrafts are good  flight

[jhagen20042000]

Hummingbird ; let me guess ... like the lazare there no longer made ...if so where can I get one ? awasome vidieo

[almulford]

Correct, the Hummingbird no longer manufactured, but still can be found used with many upgrades such as more powerful engines.

[AfterOmega]

This is an inspiring video. It sure makes a man give in to daydreaming.

Is this model something a begginer could start with? Could you give me some idead of initial cost plus yearly operational costs?

Great post. Thank you

[qtip67t]

Awesome video. What type of camera was used especially the rotating camera portion?

[almulford]

Military gunship film cameras found at a surplus store were used for filming. The rotating unit was home made and had a controller mounted on the side of the landing carrage next to the throttles. Then did film to video transfere for editing.

[sroder]

cool video, what kind of engines you have on those birds? Looks like they seem pretty stable.

[almulford]

The engines used at the time of filming were Partner Chain saw type engines 7-10 hp each.

[nikitalita1]

I'd love to learn to do that! I want to see Tablerock up close. Cool!

[udellg]

Cool Vid