Word: ultralights
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There have been more elegant descriptions of the gaudy, gawky new flying machines called ultralight aircraft, but none more accurate than this waggish observation. The plane that sounds like a low-calorie beer does resemble a plastic -and video-age version of the Kitty Hawk. Or, as a Tolkienian might put it, a petroleum-feeding pterodactyl. In any case, the planes are designed not to lodge beauty in the eye of the earth-bound beholder but, rather, to warm the soul of the seat-of-the-pants pilot. Put-putting along a few hundred feet up at 40 m.p.h...
...ultralight's surge in popularity is almost surreal too. There are 10,000 to 15,000 in the air, about twice as many as there were two years ago. The 30-odd manufacturers of the Dacron-and-aluminum birds, which range in price from $4,000 to $6,000, expect to sell some $90 million worth this year. Unlike many outdoor fads, ultramania is not limited to the Sunbelt, although California, Arizona, Florida and Texas are strong states; the Midwest, particularly the St. Louis area, is also ultra country, possibly because the craft fares best over flat terrain...