Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - American Aerolights Eagle

Another early type of microlight to be registered here was the American Aerolights Eagle, but tragically it was probably our shortest lived microlight.

American Aerolights Inc of Albaquerque, New Mexico was born in 1979 out of the Electra Flyer Corporation who manufactured hang gliders in the 1970s.  The President of American Aerolights was Larry Newman with Bryan Allen as Vice President.  Both of them had alternative claims to fame with Larry Newman being part of the crew that made the first trans Atlantic balloon flight in August 1978 and he was also part of the crew that made the first trans Pacific balloon flight in November 1981.  Bryan Allen was the pilot (and power source) of the Gossamer Condor which won the Kremer prize in 1977 for the first human powered flight around a figure eight course around two markers half a mile apart, and he was also the pilot and power source for the Gossamer Albatross which in 1979 was the first human powered aircraft to fly across the English Channel.

The American Aerolights Eagle was a hybrid control microlight with pitch controlled by the canard with a tiller for yaw/roll and weight shift for pitch.  It was cable braced from a kingpost and had a mainly single surface wing.  Its length was 15 feet 4 inches (4.69 metres), its wingspan was 35 feet (10.67 metres) and the wing area was 193 square feet.  It weighed 170 pounds empty (77 Kg) and MAUW was 435 pounds (197 kg).  It was typically powered by a 20 HP engine such as the single cylinder Cuyuna or Zenoah which gave it a cruising speed of around 45 mph.

We have only had one American Aerolights Eagle registered in New Zealand:

ZK-RLG (c/n 4229-2/MAANZ/012) was registered to R L Gregory of Queenstown on 22/1/82 and made its first flight on 17/2/82.  Two days later, on 19/2/82 it hit the top of a row of tall poplar trees near Dunsandel and spiralled to the ground killing Roy Gregory.  It had only flown 3 hours.  It was cancelled on 1/9/89.

This was the first recorded fatality in a microlight aircraft in New Zealand.