Ultralight planes on the frozen Tornio River

Tornio, Finland. Tornio Ice Fishing Competion was held last weekend in Tornio. Thousands of people were fishing, but there was also something else on the river, which took my attention. Two ultralight planes took off and landed on the frozen river.

Ultralights are one or two seated planes. Maximum take off weight depends the countries, but for example in Europe using wheels the max weight is 450kg and using floats it is 495kg.

Plane category: Ultralight
Model: Avid Flyer MK IV HH
Built: 1993 Italy

This plane is using wheels and skis on the snow.

Even the plane is light the take off distance is surprisely short.

Another plane is from different manufacturer and design looks also quite different.

Plane category: Ultralight
Model: Aeroprakt A-22L Foxbat
Built: 2009 Ukraine

This plane is using float, which can be used both on snow and on the water.

This runway is long and wide enough.

Take off distance for A-22L is also short, even it´s uses floats on the snow.

Ultralight plane is cheaper way to buy own plane. Also the licence for ultralight is cheaper to get than for normal small plane like Cessna and Piper. Of course ultralights have also limitations compared to tradional planes. One of the biggest is payload, which is not as good. Ultralight planes are anyway interesting and important category in the aviation.

Regards,
Mika