1st February 2015
We're 20 Years Old Fly-in Party

Please book yourself a ticket early.

give Flylight a shout. info@flylight.co.uk tel: +44 (0)1604 494459 www.flylight.co.uk

1st December 2014
The New Flylight FoxCub is born

We are hopefully going to have production ready for early January 2015.

If you want a demonstration, please do not hesitate to contact Flylight."

The FoxCub is a ssdr flewing wing microlight featuring the compact rig system that allows the owner to be able to fold the wings and lower the overall height of the trike in minutes, as demonstrated at the Telford show.

At the time, we hadn't enabled the mechanism to allow the leading edges to break and fold whilst on the trike. This we have now done and to be honest, even we at Flylight were surprised at the relative ease to carry out a complete fold to enable the FoxCub to be loaded onto a small trailer and take home.
We managed a time of less than 10 minutes to completely fold down ready for transport. At the show we were timed at 4 minutes to lower the trike, fold the wings and have ready to push into a very small space in a hangar, container, poly tunnel, chicken coupe or shed and another 4 minutes to be able to open the wings and have ready for flight, these are genuine times and were whitnessed by very large crowds. Even Judy Leden (worried about being vertically challeneged) managed it with ease.

The FoxCub is essentially a 30% double surface, kingpostless wing with exposed cross tubes and a few well placed battens (5 per side) but, has a relatively taught sail for efficiency. The 8.5 meter span and 13 m2 gives very light handling that will pop a smile on the most dower of aviators. It was designed for fun and convienience as a priority.

With the Polini Thor 200 (29hp) and an 80kg pilot, it leapt into the air in a measured 20 meters off of 03 hard at Sywell and will launch in far less with the Polini Thor 250 (36hp).

Cruise is around the 38 - 40mph with a top speed of 58 - 60mph, climb looks like 800 ft/min with the Thor 200 and will be 1000+ ft/min with the Thor 250.

By the time you are reading this article, we should have the first production machine in and be well advanced to getting our demonstrator ready for flying.

So, if you are looking for a small, light, easy to rig and store package that is perfectly house trained and will snuggle up ionto the smallest of corners along side your's or anyone else's pets, give Flylight a shout. ben@flylight.co.uk tel: +44 (0)1604 494459 www.flylight.co.uk

10th October 2013
2013 Bivouac Tour

The 2013 French Bivouac Tour has been completed. We managed a 500 mile circumnavigation of Paris and achieved one of our best ever flights.
Although not the biggest tour, this one was certainly one of the most rewarding. For the first time in the history of the Tours, Alastair Lea, one of our customers flew from his home field near Basildon, Essex, across the Channel to join the Tour at St Valery 30 km north east of Le Havre.
The trip took 9 days to complete with flying every day. We visited new airfields and were bowled over by the hospitality of all the French pilots and their friends. On occasions, the airfield's club house and facilities (often including the bar) were given over to us for the nights stay.
To see more of the trip and previous trips, please visit the Bivouac Flying Tour (Bivvy) Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/581141198609691/

We are now looking at September the 4th to the 14th for the 2014 Bivouac Tour, contact Ben@flylight.co.uk for more information.

19th August 2013
Gold and Silver at the EMC

Rob Grimwood and John Waite achieve gold in their Skyranger Nynja 912s and Paul Dewhurst came a credible second in his Dragon Chaser powered by a Polini Thor 250 at the European Microlight Championships held in Slovakia.

Rob Grimwood and John Waite managed to hang onto the gold position against stiff opposition from the Ukrainians Yuriy Yakovlyev and Tymofii Yakovlvev giving the Skyranger aircraft another prestigious victory.

Flylight's Paul Dewhurst kept the top position all the way through the week long competition, up until the final task, the soaring event. Jean Michel Serre took the last task by a large margin, it was his favourite task, and moved into the gold position leaving Paul with a well deserved silver..

There is a certain irony in this as Flylight has recently focused on the touring side of SSDR microlights with the Dragon Chaser. Thinking that the tasks at the EMC would be more biased for the touring style aircraft, Paul took the Dragon Chaser only to be beaten at the last task by a soaring aircraft similar to our old Dragonfly, the renamed Dragon Discus. Only goes to show, you can never be prepared enough. Second place is certainly not a bad position and the Dragon Chaser proved itself as a capable, fast and efficient plane.

Congratulations to Rob, John and Paul, a great result.

9th July 2013
The Dragon Chaser has now flown with the Polini Thor 250 (36hp) engine

The maiden flight of the Polini Thor 250 powered Dragon Chaser went without a hitch and with better than expected performance, she's AWESOME!

Fitted with a 1.4 meter Helix 2 blade prop the unit gave a climb rate of 1000'/min (5 m/s) with a 80 kg pilot.

Take off distance was very short (30 - 35 meters) with very fast acceleration, a real kick in the back. Vibration was minimal, so much so it would be best described as 'silky smooth'.

All who flew her were very, very impressed and all are of the same opinion, we have a winner.

The weight of the Polini gives the engine a huge advantage over similar power engines. The total weight is 22 kg including radiator, coolant and propeller, thats 22 kg for 36 hp... Wow!

21st January 2013
There be dragons!

The DragonChaser is up and flying and turning heads already.

The design brief was to produce a single seat, sub 115kg microlight that would be able to keep pace with more contemporary 2 seat designs but at a fraction of the cost. Initial flights show a speed range of 32mph (51kph) min to 75mph (120kph) max straight and level. Hands off trim is 55mph (89kph).

The Simonini Mini 2 Evo gives an 75kg pilot a climb rate of 700ft/min (3.5m/s). The 20 litre tank gives 3.5 hours duration with 30 minutes reserve, providing a still air range of 190 statute miles+ (305 kms+).

Thanks to some small improvements to the geometry between the wing and trike, we have improved the handling of the original Chaser making it more stable in turbulence, not that the original was bad. Turns are better coordinated with light, effortless response to any control input.

Not only is the DragonChaser more economical to operate than any 2 seat flexwing on the market it is also very compact even rigged and will fit into a very small space, reducing the cost of hangarage significantly. Being such a light weight, the aircraft can be trailered home and stored easily into a single car garage.

The Icarus Human Powered Aircraft Cup will be held at Sywell Aerodrome from the 19th of July to the 28th, 2013.

There should be a number of teams competing for the coverted title giving the spectator some spectacular sights of these beautiful creations floating across the airfield in the still morning and evening air.

Click here for a YouTube link for the 2012 event.