Two-stroke powerplants have always been the norm for ultralights, but after 250 hours of Rotax flight, my interest in flying a two-stroke engine waned. Many options exist for craftsmen wanting to build light, simple aircraft that meet the parameters of Part 103, but Milholland’s aircraft depart from ultralight convention by being designed around a four-stroke engine. The Legal Eagle XL is the latest version of the classic Legal Eagle ultralight first designed by Leonard Milholland 20 years ago. Lightweight plywood gussets are glued in place on the rib fixture and temporarily secured with small staples. Rib construction is conventional spruce cap strips in a truss design. All necessary rib parts were cut in advance and placed in order of assembly. The RV-6 and the Legal Eagle XL are my tickets to enjoying aviation fully, whether the mission calls for cross-country travel, seeing the earth through the top of a canopy or chasing the sunset, at a leisurely pace, at treetop level.Īn organized workstation is the key to expedited rib assembly. The sheer joy of flight introduced us to aviation, and many of us are now eager to close the loop and return to a simple mode of flight because it is, well, fun. It seems I tapped into a realm of thought shared by many aviators as we face increasing budget pressure and medical concerns looming over the horizon. What I did not expect to find, however, was the high level of interest my Eagle triggered from fellow RV pilots, both in person and via the Internet. The two aircraft are perfect complements and offer access to opposite corners of the performance spectrum. It was the desire to return to Cub-like flying that prompted me to add the Legal Eagle to my hangar, not dissatisfaction with the RV. The Cub reawakened the very reasons I want to aviate, and the economy of operation resulted in guilt-free flights. Some of the most enjoyable aviation I have ever experienced was shared with a 1940 J-3. While $60 may be a reasonable fee for an hour on the therapist’s couch, it is now a bit painful to watch those dollars flowing through the fuel computer during a leisurely flight to nowhere. But economic reality has put a damper on many of the joyrides that often occurred on summer evenings merely for the purpose of relieving the stress of a busy week. The RV-6 has transported me to distant corners of our country, taught me much about flight and perseverance in completing a complex project, and remains a wonderful means of enjoying the social circles surrounding weekly breakfast outings. This was another step on my path to rediscovering the simple pleasures of low-and-slow, inexpensive flight. The sunset flight was enjoyed not from within the RV’s acrylic canopy, but with the sun-tinged atmosphere swirling through the Eagle’s open cockpit, accompanied by the little half-VW enthusiastically barking through its short exhaust stacks as it sipped 2 gallons of auto gas. This flight was a composite of countless evening sorties I’ve flown for the past two decades, but instead of turning 8 gallons of precious avgas into noise with my RV-6, this excursion was conducted behind the stick of my Legal Eagle XL.

The previous 45 minutes had been a combination of loitering over the rolling countryside looking for grazing herds of whitetail deer, interspersed with several touch-and-goes to sharpen rudder skills.

The race was on to complete one more lap around the traffic pattern before the sun sank beneath the horizon and capped a glorious evening of flying.

Legal eagle