Eipper Quicksilver
| Eipper Quicksilver | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Quicksilver MX | |
| Role | Ultralight aircraft |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer |
Eipper Formance Eipper Aircraft Quicksilver Aircraft |
| Designer | Bob Lovejoy |
| Developed from | Quicksilver hang glider |
| Variants |
M-Squared Breese Ultralight Engineering Astra Ultralite Soaring Wizard |
Quicksilver is a line of single and two-place high wing, single-engine, ultralight aircraft that evolved from weight-shift hang gliders including Bob Lovejoy's High Tailer.
The earliest powered version, the Quicksilver C, was created as a self-launching hang glider, designed to allow pilots who lived in the flatlands to be able to self-launch without a hill. The design later evolved into an ultralight aircraft for powered cross-country flying.
The aircraft line has been in production since the late 1970s and remains in production in 2012 by Quicksilver Aircraft of Temecula, California.
Founded by Dick Eipper, Eipper Formance began manufacturing the early Bob Lovejoy-designed Quicksilver ultralights in the late 1970s when hang gliding was very popular. The Quicksilver hang gliders differed from most hang gliders of that time period in that the Quicksilver had a rigid rectangular wing and a tail with a horizontal stabilizer and a rudder. At that time, the majority of hang gliders were simple Rogallo wing-type hang gliders.
Eipper added a seat, wheels, and a small engine behind the wing of the hang glider, and the Quicksilver ultralight was born. This aircraft was controlled by pushing a bar forwards and backwards, and side to side, in the same way that hang gliders are controlled. This shifted the center of gravity of the aircraft and allowed the pilot to control the plane. Many pilots wanted an aircraft that was controlled with a stick and rudder, similar to the way "typical" light airplanes are controlled, so Eipper added rudder and elevator control surfaces to the Quicksilver ultralight, giving it two axes of control. This aircraft was called the Quicksilver MX. The high dihedral of the wings caused the plane to bank when the aircraft was turned with the rudder, but there was no direct means of controlling the roll axis of the airplane—the aircraft only rolled in response to the yaw axis. Pilots still wanted a true three-axis control ultralight, so Eipper added spoilerons. The spoilerons were only minimally effective, providing only a minimal amount of control over the roll axis. The next generation of MX had true ailerons which gave the aircraft full roll authority.
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