The Most Fuel Efficient Airplane In The World - Merlin Lite 

An all-metal ultralight. This is a great aviation era to be alive.

Beautiful engineering concept ,not a lot of struts and wires everywhere ,congratulation for the builder !!!

I love the aircraft. We need a flight review ASAP. Thanks for the great video as always.

Love it! What a great way to spend a sat/sun afternoon...up...up...ALL ALONE

That's nice for an ultralight. Looks like a fun cruiser. Just about the purest form of flight you can climb into. Thanks for showing it.

This is the logical conclusion of "whose dirtbike can jump the farthest?"

At 1:18 that back drop behind the window just reminded me of Draco. I want one of these painted in Draco Red...

36 grand all done speaks to what's possible. And this is sheet metal, imagine what's possible with composite. Shape like a glider, fiber spun on a model, hammered out in a day. Glass fiber costs nothing, polyester resin they hand out at costco :) glider shape, reclined seat, weighing nothing, imagine how fast that can go with 38 ponies.

Very impressed, thanks for this walk around.

Amazing, thanks for sharing!

Wow this is great Mike

Great succinct review!

Thanks Mike for your channel

Sweet ride

Great little plane.

The plane looks cool. Fair price too.

The most fuel-efficient airplane in the world is my Wills Wing hang glider; it barely burns my body fat at all.

Dude… so excited for this vid

Congrats from Brazil!

Very Nice little plane

Excellent!

Thank u mike.this is texas saying that this is by far my favorite aircraft.besides my... And my..

AWESOMENWSSSS!!! THANK YOUUU MIKE

Very Nice Bro!

Good Stuff, Great Tips👍🏿😀

I might have to get one soon

very cool.

Perfect first plane. Especially for RC pilots who dream of flying.

ive seen that motor on powered paragliders. looks like a polini thor

SLMGs (Self Launching Motor Gliders) are "The Most Fuel Efficient Airplane In The World". With their incredible L/D and low sink rates, SLMGs are able to take off and climb with little power. And given the right conditions, they can soar with the engine off.

Wow, what a steal at that price for something that comes fully assembled!

Man it'd be nice to have a lightweight electric motor tacked on inline to that motor, with a small and light battery/cap pack, to give you about a minute worth of high power for STOL.

I'd be very interested to see it flying.

Those wing motors might be capable of automatic yaw control. Possibly regenerative airbrake too. Not that yaw would be much of an issue in something like this, and an airbrake would be trading speed for endurance rather than slowing down much. Ta from UK.

In the United States, the ultralight speed limit at full power in straight and level flight is 63 MPH. If this airplane cruises at 75 MPH, it would not qualify as an ultralight in the U. S.

Catch you on the next video!

Looks like a great time builder! PS This lil cutie earned you a sub. :)

That’s cool

Before you said the price, i was thinking 70k. What a deal!

Very Cool Mike. Best i have seen since the AA1B Yankee. A clean machine, begging for electric power package. If only i had completed my veryEZ back in 1976. Any news on the Celeron 5 ? big bullet shaped high eff design I was so enveous of your way too cool plane, OK wishing you well. How about a trip to Catalina Island for a Buffaloo burger. ? or not enough runway for yah.

@mojogrip Hey Mike. Love the channel and thanks for the content. I was wondering if you had a review for the Rockwell Commander 112TC. I saw one and the plane looks really nice and the interior seems very spacious. I can't find any info on them on RU-vid other than people selling them and flying around with them. No real review and I am now thinking they may have a bad reputation or something. Do you know anything about them?

Very cool plane! I will say that the Rutan Quickie has a faster cruise and still beats the Merlin's fuel numbers...

She’s a beauty

Looks like a tiny Wilga.

Wow!

how does one find when plane events are going to be in and around their area? im new to the world and have never been to a show, would really like to experience that sometime. I split my time between Texas and Minnesota currently. Thanks

Do you have anything about ultra lite choppers with reciprocal engine?, I had read about it more than 5 years and i missed the info, thanks

where is the AirShow? can you explain the motor - seems could put some wt in back?

Reminds me of the fieseler storch...

Like the idea of the in-wing for STOL... and 1gph is nice... Not sure how they're getting around the 254lb for UL tho.. Stay Safe

Looks like a water cooled engine that means it would probably last a while before annual or replacement of engine

Daaamn, I'm so jelly. I so want to fly something like this and I'm terrified of heights 😂

That would go well with a CR500 engine

so on one side it looked like it had a door was the other sides door removed for display purposes and also does anyone know what type of fuel it takes?

I want to take this to the islands Caribbean.

Does this qualify as a "multi-engine" or complex aircraft? Would you need a different license to have multiple engines?

A step up from RC flying at a real affordable price.👍🏾

So where do you go to learn how to fly this?

Can one build time using this type of ultralights?

Love Your Channel Bro

Can't wait to see the floats version. Will there be an amphibian?

Can you put a cowl on it or is it supposed to be open?

This would be a fair weather plane I would I would assume? I think you'd really have to know what you're doing to fly this thing though really. Because it was limitations and speed and how it reacts to to wind shear etc. And where do you take off from you don't take off from an airport do you.?

The numbers & features……..sexy. Imagine carbon fibre

Looks like a tiny Wilga to me. The props buried in the wings are an interesting feature though. With just a little more power, say 50hp, this would have better performance than a Cub, just with one seat. Maybe a 2-seater version might be their next move?

Can ultralights be registered as an LSA/ELSA? This would make for a fantastic time-builder, but the problem is that it’s an ultralight. ;(

Can you use this to build hours?

Isn't the limits for no license flights 245lbs and 55kts? Does this qualify!?

Great video

I mean the Pipistrel Sinus can soar, although not as good as "pure" gliders. MPG goes to infinity in glide mode.

When will we see 2 seat version?

Neato! Thanks, Mike.

Fun.

Can it be classed as a sport lightweight with 2 extra electric motors. I think it specifies a single engine to be classified as a sporty.

Cool that we're starting to see hybrid-propulsion aircraft. A combination of solar (mostly for when parked), a battery, and a matched generator, with multiple electric-drive propellers seems to be the next step. The generator, and battery, could be very easy swap-out units, with most of the weight going in the nose. 8 motors per wing, covering most of the span, is very efficient according to NASA tests. Not having the generator mechanically coupled to a drive unit, and the loss in efficiency of such, could be made up for by the generator running in a very narrow zone of high efficiency, but there would also be an option to mechanically couple a collapsible nose-propeller to the generator through a clutch (to use max gen and max battery for takeoff, for example). So much cool stuff to come over the next decade. Hopefully the rules can be changed for electric or hybrid aircraft to encourage growth.

I like it. $36000?

They should call it, The Rocketeer.

I want to know more about that engine

varieze flys from ft bragg to lakeland 23 gallons non-stop. 3 hours or less.

Can you get it with a cowling? ;-)

you cna only have 5 gallons in the tank right? can I carry a can of 5 more gallons in the back?

That airplane looks like it’s inspired by the Wilga. It looks really good.

Now that is seat of the pants airplane.

Love your channel, but I have a question. What if this is my first aircraft. How will I learn to fly it when it only has one seat? The CFI is not able to sit next to me and correct any errors I make while learning. Thank you for sharing.

Can you use one of these to build flight hours?

Great job showing and telling, keep it up and see ya next time see ya by.

thats a polini and the best polini burns just under 2gph at 75%. Top speed would be 64mph as thats 55knts, whitch is the speed limit for part 103. Could go faster if you had a license and registration for it but then id say put a better engine and more fuel. This may be comparable but the Hummel UIltracruser with its 1/2 VW is still probably the most efficient ultralight (thats not a glider). It get 61gph and if you register it and change the prop it can cruise at 100mph.

Flying in just about its purest form. I can imagine that the wing-mounted electric motors could be used for a form of regenerative braking, spinning and charging the batteries while descending. The price is a bit more than I paid for my 4-seat Beechcraft, but my plane is also 47 years old with the attendant maintenance costs that come with it. And having a ballistic recovery parachute is worth a lot by itself, though the brochure on their website says it's an option so the cost will probably be higher. I'm also assuming that this plane has folding wings and can be transported home when you're done flying for the day.

Quick question: is the 4-gallon limit due to design specs or for legal necessity?

very impressive machine!, few queries i have though : - can it be supplied with a 4-blade prop, 4-stroke engine & auxiliary fuel tanks? - can it be supplied with some STOL attachments fitted? - is it DGCA approved for owning & flying in INDIA? thanks

I'm surprised they didn't go for folding props for the wings.

👍👍

Compared to other aircraft, this is cheap. But there's really not much to the plane as you pointed out. And there are some pretty substantial restrictions for ultralight aircraft in terms of where they can fly. So this will be great for people in rural areas, but not for people who want to fly in or around Class Bravo airspace.

I though ultralights couldn't go faster than 55mph in flat and level flight.

Why did I read that as 75 MPH at first

that looks like a dirtbike 2 stroke engine lol

Well you can only have 5 gallons in the tank you have extra space in the back you could put a extra 10 gallons of gas that is not attached to the gas tank just more fuel

My Quickie Q1 gets over 100 mpg, Mike. It's time for you to improve your research.

At 500 pounds its technically a sport plane and not a Part 103 ultralight. And you would need a license.

Can you put a bigger engine in this plane?