Thirty-six years ago, the No. 1 song on Billboard magazine’s year-end top 100 list was “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, gasoline cost just $1.16 per gallon, and Microsoft Word, the world’s most popular word processing program, was launched.
But something else happened in 1983 — David Goulet, Chuck Hamilton, and Bill Ehlers founded the Quad City Ultralight Aircraft Corp., a year after the first Challenger single-place ultralight was designed by Goulet. The QCUAC celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Challenger on September 14-16, 2018, at Erie Airpark in Erie, Illinois.
The owners of the airpark, Jim Robinson, EAA 385442, and his wife, Susan, EAA 831254, hosted the event that brought together 29 Challengers, along with 10 other various aircraft and two powered paragliders to partake in the celebration. Jim has been an EAA member since the early ’70s. The Robinsons have owned the airpark for 20 years. This is the fourth anniversary event the Robinsons have hosted.
Karen Oltman, the general manager of the QCUAC, said the founders of the factory wanted to inspire people to do something they only dreamed of.
“When Dave, Chuck, and Bill first started this, the goal was to get people interested in Challengers and be able to learn how to fly,” Karen said.
You could say they achieved that goal. The QCUAC has sold more than 4,000 single-place and two-place Challengers since the beginning, and Challenger kits are still being manufactured in the same building in Moline, Illinois.
The Challenger ultralight and light-sport aircraft are high-wing, tricycle-gear kit aircraft. The frame structure is built from 6061-TG aluminum alloy tubing. Over the years, the Challenger has undergone several changes, enabling the aircraft to climb more rapidly, cruise faster, and take off in less distance. In 2010, the Challenger line of aircraft expanded with the Light Sport X Series Model XL-65. In 2012, the QCUAC came out with the new Challenger Light Sport X Series Model XS-65. The most recent design to come out of QCUAC in 2016 is the Light Sport E Series models EL-65 and ES-65.
The E series is a more attainable entry point for those whose budgets are not up to the level of the more fully featured XL-65 and XS-65. Both the E series and the X series provide pilots with a crisper handling experience featuring a low stall speed, improved crosswind capability, heavy-duty landing gear, hydraulic disc brakes, and a more spacious cabin.
Flying in a Challenger is breathtaking — literally — to say the least. The Challenger allows you the ability to remove the doors, giving you a spectacular view of the world below you. The open structure will give you an overwhelming sense of freedom like you’ve never experienced before. There is nothing else like it, taxiing down the bumpy grass, feeling the wheels leave the grass for the first time, feeling the wind flow through your fingers and hair, and then — nothing. Everything gets quiet. You feel like you are weightlessly floating among the clouds, setting off into the sunset, and setting off into a whole different world. Simply put, the feeling is peaceful.
Some people will ride in a Challenger first, before flying one. Not me. I did it all in one. I was skeptical at first when Jim asked if I wanted to fly the aircraft, but I’m glad I did. I will never forget the buildup of excitement in my chest as I went into a right bank for the first time. My stomach dropped, but soon followed the biggest grin on my face since I was 5 years old at Walt Disney World. When I landed, I couldn’t wait to call my mom and tell her there would be another pilot in the family.
As Jim would say, “On a clear day, flying a Challenger is easy. Set a few doughnut holes on the control stick, enjoy some coffee, and let the Challenger do the flying for you.”
Kits can be purchased in four parts: the tail assembly, fuselage, wings, and engine. The factory will sell the kit with the fuselage framework along with the control and basic wing structure already assembled. The Challenger can quickly switch among wheels, tundra wheels, penetration skis, retractable skis, straight floats, and amphibious floats. The aircraft also has the ability to soar with its engine shut off. The Challenger’s maximum speed is 100-120 mph, depending on the variant, and it has a solo service ceiling of up to 14,500 feet.
Jim has been a Challenger dealer for 20 years and has built more than 22 kits. He said every order is tailored to the customer’s expectations, like ordering a car. You start by purchasing the basic Challenger kit, then you choose your options.
“Do you want a 5-gallon tank?” he asks customers. “Or do you want a 10-gallon tank? Or do you want the 20-gallon wing tank?”
Oftentimes you purchase your kit from a dealer and you’re left to figure out how to build it on your own. To Jim, part of being a dealer is teaching the customer about their purchase. For $200, he will come out to your house and spend the whole day teaching you how to build your new Challenger.
“As your dealer, anytime you have a problem you call me and I’ll talk you through it over the phone or I come out and help,” Jim said.
Cost can be a large factor in making the decision to purchase an airplane. One of the biggest reasons people buy Challengers is because of the low price, Jim said.
“When you take care of it, you’ll have a great airplane you can fly for the next 20 years,” he said. “You can pay $40,000 for a two-place floatplane and fly it for 20 years, and even with an engine rebuild, it’s still one of the cheapest ways to fly.”
Jim said he flies Challengers because he has the option to fly year-round.
“I can fly just as comfortable as can be at 200 feet looking for cougars and coyotes, or I can fly at 2,000 feet and fly cross-country,” he said. “It’s just a fantastic all-around airplane. In the summertime, I can throw floats on it and go fishing. In the wintertime, you can put skis on and take off and land on any flat area of snow. How cool is that?”
During the 35th anniversary celebration, Karen gave out five awards. The categories were People’s Choice, President’s Choice, and Furthest Flown. The President’s Choice award was given to Kevin Brown, EAA 1025595. The first place People’s Choice award was given to Steve Bell, EAA 1038000. Second place was given to Gerry Visel, EAA 1106532. Third place was given to Shahar Niv.
Claude Roy joined Kevin and Steve and flew into Erie Airpark from Canada to celebrate the anniversary of the Challenger. Claude received the award for Furthest Flown after traveling 21 hours and 900 miles from Ottawa to Erie.
Claude has 6,200 hours of flight experience, and at least 5,000 hours of that is time spent in Challengers. He purchased his first Challenger in 1985, and his current Challenger is 27 years old this year with more than 2,000 hours on it. Claude said he has flown more than 60 types of aircraft, including being a co-pilot in a C-130 Hercules and a “back seat driver” in an F/A-18 Hornet. He saw his first ultralight in 1984 and decided to specialize in ultralight flying. He has been teaching people how to fly for more than 30 years now.
“I have two ultralights, and I think they’re the both the best in their domain,” Claude said. “The Challenger is not the best in any category, but it does everything very well. It flies well on wheels, on skis, on retractable wheels and skis, on floats, on amphibious floats. It does winter very well with a closed-cabin heat. For us Canadians, it’s the plane to get.”
Kevin has 1,000 hours of flying experience, of which 500 are hours spent in Challengers. Kevin said you will have challenges in any kind of aircraft if you are traveling a long distance.
During his flight to Erie, he made many stops to sightsee and take rest breaks. While he was traveling about 10 minutes from Mackinac Island, Michigan, to Mackinac County Airport he encountered problems with his exhaust system, putting him in a dangerous position. Though that leg of the flight was short, he already had been traveling for several hours and had several more to go before arriving safely in Erie.
According to Kevin, the exhaust system on the 503 and 582 can be held on with tension springs to keep the exhaust pieces together and let them move. He replaced those with a stainless steel bracket kit, which has a high temperature lock nut on it. Sometime during the 10-minute flight, one of those lock nuts had come loose. There are five pieces to the lock nut: the nut, the spring, and the two bushings that fit between the brackets and the bolts. The pieces that flew off left him with several holes to fix.
“I have seven holes in the wing and … one significant ding on the leading edge of the prop and two on the composite [the trailing edge],” Kevin said.
Pilots carry a standard stock of things they think they may need for repair, Kevin said, but oftentimes they will still face the unexpected and require more help.
“What we’ve found is every place we’ve been, people just step up and offer whatever they have to help you,” he said. “When you’re on long trips, thousands of miles from home, you really rely on the aviation community, and they step up every time.”
When Kevin landed, he didn’t know the severity of his situation, or if he would even be able to make it to Erie. Luckily, he was helped by several people. Kevin said he was amazed by the help he received from people he had never met before. He contacted an employee from the company U-Fly-It and received a text at 3 a.m. noting the parts he ordered had been shipped. He also received help from an aircraft maintenance engineer to assess the severity of the prop damage.
“I also sent Warp Drive, the company who makes the prop, pictures and received instructions … and did the repair,” Kevin said. “Sent the guy the pictures back, and he said, ‘Yup, looks great.’ He saw no issues with me flying.”
After a full-power test run on the ground with no issues, he continued with the flight to Erie for the celebration.
One of the events that took place during the celebration was a “Challenger Chat” hosted by Jim, which allowed pilots to discuss modifications they have made on their aircraft and ask questions.
“It’s a chance for all of us Challenger pilots to learn from each other through experiences we had,” Jim said.
Jim said he has made modifications of his own on his Challengers that set them apart from others.
“I put a third-door option, which the windscreen wraps around,” he said. “When you go to get in it, it’s hard for older people to get their knee up and in the airplane. Older people are who I typically see flying these, too, so those are the people I wanted to target.”
One of the 29 Challengers present at the event was Jeff Nank’s 2016 LSS. Jeff, EAA 863367, said this is the second Challenger he has built. It took him nine months to finish it.
“I bought this Challenger from a man named Jason Anderson,” Jeff said. “He had started on the fuselage and started doing the color scheme with covering, and then I finished up the wings, the nose, and the landing gear and all the electronics.”
Jeff purchased the LSS in 2015, finished it, and received the certificate of airworthiness in 2016. According to Jeff, the LSS was designed for better visibility compared to older model Challengers. The rails on the sides are lower, and the bubble doors allow for better visibility. Before selling the aircraft to Ted Wink in August, Jeff made some modifications of his own to make it more responsive.
Jeff increased all of the control cables in the plane so that there’s a thicker wire going to all those controls, which he said makes it stiffer and controls the plane a little bit better than older versions.
“It also has a taller tail on it,” he said. “Challengers are very rudder sensitive. When you’re flying and you hit a little wind, you have to be working the rudder pedals to get it going straight. Well, with the taller tail on the back of it, it alleviates that problem a little bit. It’s still rudder sensitive, but not as much as the older ones.”
The LSS also has an improved landing gear for better speed, Jeff said. The landing gear on his is different than the ones in the older airplanes. The gear legs are a spring aluminum landing gear, and it’s a solid tube that comes down from the wing to the fuselage that allows you to get rid of the cross cables and drag cables. The reduction in drag increases the speed of the airplane by 2-3 mph.
Walking around the grounds during the celebration, you could see that no two Challengers were alike. It’s interesting to see how every airplane is a little different. There are a lot of modifications people will make with Challengers because it is an experimental aircraft.
“We’re talking about grassroots aviation, in the backyard building your airplane,” Jim said. “I mean, I built an airplane myself and flew it in Oshkosh myself. How many pilots can say that?”
Karen said flying Challengers is an enjoyable and affordable activity.
“It’s the price of a small car, $18,000 or less most of the time,” she said. “Our newest plane, the XL-65 … is just under $35,000 with the engine. It’s just a fun, clean activity for the family.”
Jim said he absolutely loves aviation.
“It is really cool,” he said. “I still say that after 20-some years of flying Challengers and after 4,000 hours of flight time, ‘Man, I can’t believe I’m doing this.’”
Walking to my car, about to leave the Robinsons’ home, I heard a kid yell, “Wow! Mom, look!” I couldn’t help but turn and look as well. It was four Challengers flying off into the sunset. That seemed to sum up the whole event, kids of all ages with their heads cocked up at the sky, enjoying the spirit of aviation. I say “kids” because, when it comes to aviation, childhood joy always seems to make its way onto every adult’s face when the sound of an airplane passes overhead.
