Legal Eagle, Legal Eagle ultralight aircraft, Leonard Milholland Legal Eagle ultralight aircraft kit, Legal Eagle ultra lite plane, Ultralight News newsmagazine.

Single place Part 103 ultralights in the United States are defined as single place ultralight aircraft that weigh 254 lbs or less, have a stall speed not more than 24 knots, a top speed of 55 knots, and carry no more than 5 gallons of fuel. To fly a legal Part 103 ultralight aircraft in the United States the pilot does not require a pilot license. Single place aircraft weighing more than 254 lbs. in the U.S. require a pilots license and must be built as experimental, amateur built, homebuilt aircraft. These include weight shift aircraft, more commonly known as trikes, powered parachutes, and powered para-gliders. Single place ultralights in Canada can weigh up to 1200 lbs. and an ultralight pilots license is required to fly them.

 
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The name Legal Eagle came about when the plane weighed in at 10 lbs less than the 254 lbs weight limit for the U.S. - thus "this Eagle is legal became the "LEGAL EAGLE."

According the Leonard Milholland the designer, this is the first time the Legal Eagle has been outside of his home state of Texas.  Leonard has sold a number of plans for the plane and is just now in the process of finalizing some production of fuselage kits and materials packages.

Leonard injured himself several weeks prior to the show and it was the effort of his friends and neighbours that made the trip down to Sun N Fun possible.

The plane features a welded fuselage with an all wood wing, similar to that of a Mini Max, the tail section is aluminums tube using pop rivets and gussets. Controls are standard stick and rudder, with ailerons.

The plane is powered by a "better half" VW engine. The plane cruises along at 53 mph, stalls at 19, and according to Leonard is "real responsive and a pleasure to fly." All of the control systems are located outside the fuselage and the wings are completely sealed to prevent "those creepy crawly things"  from getting in.

"The whole idea of this plane is to be economical - you can afford it if you want to do the work." The plans consist of a cover sheet with the specifications on it, 42 sheets of drawings, and a materials list. Plans sell for $50.

Leonard estimates building time to be about 6 months. The engine is unique in that it is not a "half VW" but rather uses a full case. Plans are also available for the engine design which Leonard indicates he has been doing for over 10 years.

For more information contact 
L.E Milholland  
Box 747 
Brookshire Texas 77423

Mike Kimbrel flies the Legal Eagle

Leonard Milholland

By Leonard Milholland

"It flies like a Cub, a slow Cub." These were the words I got from Mike when he had landed after test flying my Legal Eagle ultralite. Mike Kimbrel's opinion was very valuable to me as Mike has many thousands of hours in a great variety of planes. Mike owns a DC3 and 14 other planes that he keeps at his farm airstrip in Oakville, Washington. He recently flew to England in his 310 Cessna mostly IFR so he was well qualified to test the handling of an ultralite. He is also the designer of the Banty ultralite and has sold many sets of plans for it.


I was invited to a wedding of one of Mike's sons. At the affair, we talked Mike and his wife, Mary, into coming home with us for a couple of days visit. I had for some time been trying to get some highly qualified pilot to fly the Legal Eagle and see how they liked the qualities that I had been enjoying for the last couple of years. I had always thought that the Legal Eagle flew great but I also knew that I might be a little blind to any faults that it might have, as it was my baby and had hatched it here in my own shop. 

The first evening after we arrived at my hangar home I flew the plane for Mike and let him observe as I flew around the pattern here at Sport Flyers field. The weather was not the best as the heat here in Texas had gotten the air a little choppy. After landing I told Mike, "You wait till morning." The windsock will be wrapped around the pole in the morning and I want you to get a smooth air flight. Sure enough, the early morning proved me correct with no wind. 

I was very impressed with the preflight that Mike gave the little ship before he was ready to give it a test flight. Nothing went with out being looked over carefully. This is probably why Mike has had very few problems in his many thousands of flying hours. Did I mention that he is a high time Delta pilot? With no wind conditions we could see just how quick the Legal Eagle could get off the ground. Well, we were pleased to see the plane took off in just 300 ft. and the climb was just as impressive. Mike stayed up for a long time and I was glad I had put a gallon of gas in before he left as I knew the Better Half VW used 2.1 gals per hr. and he could stay up as long as he wanted to. 

Mike made several orbits of our field and I could see him moving the controls to test the stability in several modes. Then he came in for a landing and made a touch and go this was repeated several times. What beautiful landings. Very smooth, not a bounce in a car load. What a pilot. It was plain to see that he was having a good time. With the no wind conditions we were able to see just how much distance the plane would need to land and stop. Wow, just about 200 ft. was all, then he had to use throttle to get back to the hangar. 

All this time I was taking pictures as fast as I could squeeze the shutter button. Mike taxied up to the hangar, shut down the engine and sat in the plane and began talking about another subject. I was anxious to find out about how he had felt the plane flew. I finally asked him what about the plane? How does it fly? Did you like it? Mike just looked at me and said, "It’s great it. Flies like a Cub, a slow Cub."

Legal Eagle ultralight, Legal Eagle ultralight aircraft, Leonard Milholland Legal Eagle ultralight aircraft kit.

Legal Eagle ultralight, Legal Eagle ultralight aircraft, Legal Eagle ultra lite plane, experimental amateur built aircraft.

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