Happy Birthday, Quad City Ultralights | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-02.10.25

Airborne-NextGen-02.11.25

Airborne-Unlimited-02.12.25

Airborne-AffordableFlyers-02.13.25

Airborne-Unlimited-02.07.25

Sun, Mar 02, 2003

Happy Birthday, Quad City Ultralights

Challenger Maker Celebrates 20 Years

Quad City Ultralight Aircraft Corp, maker of the popular Challenger series of single and two-place ultralights and light aircraft kits, marks its 20th continuous year in business on March 1. President David Goulet founded the business in Moline, Illinois, and still operates out of the same facility at 3810 34th St.

Quad City has sold 3,000 aircraft since that time, and 2,700 are flying, Goulet said. "Generally, we aim to sell about 150 aircraft per year," he said. The high-water mark for sales was 1992, when the company's 10 employees churned out 250 aircraft kits.

How'd He Do It?

He attributes the company's longevity to good word-of-mouth advertising, exceptional service, and the aircraft themselves. "The aircraft does everything pretty well," Goulet said. "It's not the fastest, not the slowest, just a nice airplane to fly."

The company's two most popular models are the two-place standard and two-place clipped-wing. Goulet recommends the 48-hp Rotax 503 to most customers because of its simplicity and ease of installation. Quad City sells about 10 floatplanes per year, which require the additional power of the 65-hp Rotax 582 engine.

For Now, Kits Only

Goulet is watching developments of sport pilot/light-sport aircraft closely. He does not plan to offer finished aircraft, but may offer a satellite finishing factory for customers to complete their aircraft.

FMI: www.quadcitychallenger.com

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (02.10.25): Takeoff Roll

Takeoff Roll The process whereby an aircraft is aligned with the runway centerline and the aircraft is moving with the intent to take off. For helicopters, this pertains to the act>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (02.10.25)

"The seizure of this Venezuelan aircraft, used for evading U.S. sanctions and money laundering, is a powerful example of our resolve to hold the illegitimate Maduro regime accounta>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (02.11.25)

“Just a few days ago, the FAA’s primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours...” Source: Part of a statement by Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and >[...]

ANN FAQ: Q&A 101

A Few Questions AND Answers To Help You Get MORE Out of ANN! 1) I forgot my password. How do I find it? 1) Easy... click here and give us your e-mail address--we'll send it to you >[...]

Airborne-NextGen 02.04.25: Dream Chaser, Drone Pilot Busted, Asteroid Samples

Also: New Acting FAA Boss, Matternet M2 Drone Ops, Serbian Midnights, NOTAM Foulup Sierra Space announced that its Dream Chaser spaceplane successfully completed the Joint Test 10B>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2025 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC