Barn Find readers find all manner of unusual vehicles for sale, including airplanes. Clarke B found this project listed on craigslist in Empire, Michigan for $700. The seller knows nothing about it and just needs it gone. This is a configuration mostly seen in ultralights. Someone spent many hours, and lots of money, building this airplane and sadly, it will never fly unless it can qualify as an ultralight aircraft. It will need to weigh less than 254 pounds when completed. Otherwise, the new owner would have to register it as experimental. He would have to prove that he had built at least 50% of the airplane as well as pass a thorough inspection. Proof would be in the form of pictures, builder’s logs and materials invoices. The builder was getting close. It looks like it is ready for cover and the engine and propeller installation.
This is the engine mount. The engine would sit above the pilot’s head and the view would be through the spinning propeller. The installation, however, appears to be much lower than on a typical ultralight aircraft with this configuration. It looks like it could fly with an engine designed for ultralights. A Rotex 447 engine only weighs about 60 pounds and has about 40 HP. If this airplane weighs less than 200 pounds, that would be plenty of power.
You can see how an airplane hanging from the ceiling would get in the way. I suspect the builder abandoned this project when he discovered it is too heavy. If that is the case it might make an interesting airplane to hang from the ceiling of a restaurant or museum. Do you think it’s possible that this airplane could weigh less than 254 pounds when completed? Do you think it could possibly be safe to fly, not knowing things like what type of glue was used? I cannot imagine this aircraft ever flying. Thanks, Clarke B, for a very interesting submission.
Empire is located on the Lake Michigan shore just south of the Leelanau Peninsula which puts it roughly in the Center of the Universe. With the amount of positive psychic energy concentrated in that area this plane shouldn’t even need an engine to fly. Maybe not even wings.
Decidedly other-worldly when you get right down to it.
Lived in TC for close to 20 years, had to get out, realists are toxic amongst the self involved!
A $700 home built plane. What could possibly wrong there?
I know nothing about airplanes in general but, if you’re thinking of flying this one someday, I’m guessing the $700.00 price to buy it is the least expensive part of the whole project. I could be wrong… Not a airplane guy.
And I’m selling $3.00 parachutes to stow on the plane. You know…just in case.
Looks like…..https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaglor_Scooter
It’s perfect for what it’s doing right now, hanging up as shop art.
This aircraft is called a Flaglor Scooter, a design from the 1960s. It is designed to be powered by a converted VW engine. A Rotax 447 will not have enough power. It weighs way too much to be classed as a US Ultralight. It would be a
“Light Sport” qualified Experimental aircraft.
Sad, but the best use for this would be for kindling. I’ve seen 2 homebuilt sailplanes bought by a group effort of people at the airport. One glider they burned (a BG-12) and the other they cut the wings off to make it a wind-sock sort of thing. They were afraid that if anyone flew them, they would be killed as well as making the airport look bad. Flying homebuilt aircraft has proven to be the most dangerous hobby there is.
Wilehelm, It is true that the safety record of homebuilt aircraft is not as good as factory built certified aircraft….and there are several reasons for that, not necessarily related to the quality of the design or construction.
However, to conflate that to say that “homebuilt aircraft has proven to be the most dangerous hobby there is” is factually untrue and quite a leap from supportable claims.
That is not to say THIS project is a worthy candidate for resurrection….you may be correct in your assessment here, but to extend it to ALL homebuilt aircraft is grossly unfair.
Here is a YouTube of one of these planes in flight. Well, sort of…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT3PdQH1C5M
Can you say death trap? Unsafe at any Speed.
These first flew in 1967 and have a good safety record. As a homebuilt, though, you would not be able to register this one because you would not have built 51% of it. Sad, but it can never fly.