Dennis Macklin

Member Profile

Low and slow is why I love ultralights and light sport aircraft. To me, it is just more basic and fun. Not a lot different than the Wright brothers a hundred years ago.

I have been an EAA member since 1995, and local chapter member since 2004.

I have always loved airplanes and aviation, but my personal involvement has been very limited. I did spend 4 years in the Air force (’68 to ’72) as a crew chief on F-4 Phantoms, but was always relegated to the maintenance end of the aircraft and not the cockpit.

Some six years ago a friend and I thought it would be a good idea to build our own ultralights from plans. That would be affordable for us and give us experience in the building process. The ultralight chosen was the Ragwing special. It is a scaled down Pitts bi-wing. Since we had to fabricate each part individually for each of the four planes we built, it took some 5+ years of work to complete.

One of four Ragwing “Specials” built. They were identical with the only difference being color.

Building a plane is not an easy task but a very fun and rewarding one. By the time we had completed them, they we not as light as advertised. In fact it is extremely difficult to build a true part 103 ultralight. That is why there are so many “fat” ultralights around. Well, the test flight did not go as well as expected and the first one was a total loss. The second test flight was an improvement but the craft did experience some damage. They were too heavy and it was time to regroup.

We then decided it would be a good idea to invest in a proven design and buy a real kit where someone with much more experience designed the plane. I decided on the Challenger II by Quad City ultralight aircraft corp. and my building partner bought the Slipstream Revelation. These are both two-seat aircraft designed for ultralight training. With the new LSA designation, both will need to be registered as light sport aircraft and I will need to complete the new sport pilot certification. Work has been on going for about a year now with the Revelation due to test fly first. I have discovered I really enjoy the building process.

File photo of Challenger II on floats

My Challenger II under construction in shop. It has a Rotax 503. Note yellow wings of Revelation in background. My wings are in foreground.

Member:  Dennis Macklin