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Geared to Students

For this flight evaluation, 1 used an aircraft donated by owner Tony Berman. (Thanks again, Tony!) He and designer Phillipe Prevot built this Sky Ranger. Talk about your factory service! The two assembled and flew the plane in 3 x 16-hour days. Clear-coating, instrument fitting and attaching the cowl came later but in only 3 days, our test Sky Ranger went from. crate to flight.

Despite this highly personalized attention our test bird had a mild right turn in it which caused me to use left rudder nearly all the time. 1 kept having to reposition my feet on the pedals to get a better purchase on it.

Helms says that by using the bungee cord attached well aft of the pilot in the tail cone, you could fix some turn tendency by sliding the bungee to the appropriate side. This has limits of course, but for reasonable adjustments, it may prove sufficient. By creating a small opening in the skin on the underside, you can reach up and manipulate the bungee

which causes the firm, rudder response. The bungee is attached to a mid-cone cross member and is the same location to make that turn adjustment. Because of this, access might be something you'd like periodically. Fortunately it's easier than it sounds as the covering slips on the fuselage (also wings and elsewhere) and seams are joined by cord lashing or Velcro closures. Prevot always tightens up the return bungees on the rudder pedals because he believes it is better for A students, explains Helms as he accounted for the rudder stiffness I noted. By making the pedals resist movement, you must work a little harder to fly the plane but students get necessary feedback while their tactile sense of control movements sharpens. The dissimilarity of efforts - smooth, fairly light stick and stiffer rudder pedals - made harmony between stick and rudder less than perfect. 1 made good quality but shallower Dutch rolls, which says a lot about overall control lightness, response, and harmony. As I tried to do them more steeply, 1 wallowed around the sky. Of course, my lack of experience in the model must also contribute to control sloppiness.

The Sky Ranger has sprightly if not inspiring performance. I loved that this 2-seater had a 50-hp Rotax 503 though Helms admits that he sees the logie for the 80-hp Rotax 912 installation. Naturally, that 912 would give stronger climbs but it also costs $8,500 more, than the 503 and raises the weight ofof the Sky Ranger by 70 pounds.

Still, I can see that a modestly priced Rotax 503 can perform well in a flight school environment.

Many people love the 503 and you save a lot of up front cash (though one 912 argument is that total overhaul expenses will be lower in the long run).

Climb is only in the range of 500 fpm, I'd estimate. Tony had not installed an altimeter so 1 couldn't be accurate in my measurements. Contrarily, Helms and his 200-pound friend found the Sky Ranger to do well even in Helms' hot home state of Arizona. Perhaps individual performance categories are tops in their class, but the entire package must be a good one. A Sky Ranger has won World Championship status two times since 1996 and 2000. Phillippe Zen, then a dealer for the Sky Ranger in France, won them both in his class. (3 AXIS UL AIRPLANE ) Helms is circumspect about this achievement. If

it wins, it must be a pretty good performing ultralight, but is it the best? Well" Though hé may be striving for honesty, the truth is that it won, twice,that does mean something.