Quicksilver’s MX added more conventional controls although rudder pedals moved spoilers, seen in shadow on the wings.
Quicksilver MX is a high-wing, tricycle-gear, two-axis control aircraft in a pusher configuration. It was the first ultralight to be mass-marketed and mass-produced.
As a bolt-together assembly kit, Quicksilver required no manufacturing of parts by the builder. All fabrication was done at the factory. A kit took between 60 and 80 hours to assemble, using common hand tools, and could be built in as little as a one-car garage. Accomplished builders, often dealers for the brand, could put one together in less than 20 hours.
Quicksilver was the first ultralight kit on the market to come with a very comprehensive assembly manual, with all of the AN bolts and anodized tubing clearly marked and supplied on shrink-wrapped packaging boards. No one had anything like this organization at the time and I’ve never seen such packaging again.
Originally power was supplied by the Cuyuna 430 engine but this powerplant was later updated to the Rotax 377 and then Rotax 447 engine. With 40 horsepower, the very lightweight Quicksilver MX climbed with great vigor although it simply didn’t fly fast no matter how much power you put on it.
The MX model abandoned the weight shift idea - this was too foreign to lots of potential customers. Instead, it used stick-and-rudder two-axis controls, but with a difference. The joystick connected to the elevator and rudder while the rudder pedals were connected to spoilerons on top of the wing.
Admittedly, this still throws pilots who learned in a Cessna 150, but if you ignored what controlled what and simply flew it as you expected, it worked surprising well but with an advantage no 150 driver ever considered: the pilot could deploy both spoilerons at the same time by depressing the rudder pedals. This killed lift on the wings and allowed the aircraft to get into very short runways. Quicksilver’s MX added more conventional controls although rudder pedals moved spoilers, seen in shadow on the wings.
By the time the earliest MX models came out, Quicksilver was a huge force in putting people in the sky. In one year - a reader reminded me it was 1983 - the company sold more aircraft than Cessna, Piper, and Beechcraft combined. That got the attention of plenty of aviators. Average selling price back then, for a ready to fly aircraft: $3,595.00. (Today, that would be $9,667 after adjusting for inflation - still a fantastic bargain, and as you’ll read below, you can still buy one for the original low price.)
Quicksilver MX is a high-wing, tricycle-gear, two-axis control aircraft in a pusher configuration. It was the first ultralight to be mass-marketed and mass-produced. As a bolt-together assembly kit, Quicksilver required no manufacturing of parts by the builder. All fabrication was done at the factory. A kit took between 60 and 80 hours to assemble, using common hand tools, and could be built in as little as a one-car garage. Accomplished builders, often dealers for the brand, could put one together in less than 20 hours.
Originally power was supplied by the Cuyuna 430 engine but this powerplant was later updated to the Rotax 377 and then Rotax 447 engine. With 40 horsepower, the very lightweight Quicksilver MX climbed with great vigor although it simply didn’t fly fast no matter how much power you put on it. The MX model abandoned the weight shift idea - this was too foreign to lots of potential customers. Instead, it used stick-and-rudder two-axis controls, but with a difference. The joystick connected to the elevator and rudder while the rudder pedals were connected to spoilerons on top of the wing. Admittedly, this still throws pilots who learned in a Cessna 150, but if you ignored what controlled what and simply flew it as you expected, it worked surprising well but with an advantage no 150 driver ever considered: the pilot could deploy both spoilerons at the same time by depressing the rudder pedals. This killed lift on the wings and allowed the aircraft to get into very short runways. Despite it’s functionality, some pilots didn’t like the arrangement and the company later adapted conventional ailerons with all the controls hooked up as expected. With Quicksilver MX a market leader in its day, the iconic series of models still leads the world in ultralight aircraft style kits.
Videoman Dave wrote, “The Quicksilver MX is one of the safest, most fun flying ultralight aircraft I have ever flown, and I highly recommend it.” Through his The Ultralight Flyer RU-vid channel, Dave rates the Quicksilver MX an A+ when powered by a Rotax engine, with good, tested fabric, an airworthy propeller and a low time engine.
At the time of production of this video The Ultralight Flyer would estimate the value of a used not-abused Quicksilver MX to be $3,500 to $5,000.
#aircraft #pilot #aviationlovers
28 авг 2024
