Badlands 103 at Oshkosh 2024

[Bruce_L]

Got back from the big show this past Sunday. Chris had a vendor display as usual and we got to see the 4-stroke motor mounted in the trike style landing gear 103 he was still working on. The super deluxe orange and silver awesome Badland that he custom painted a few years ago was there on display and I got to see Chris fly it several times at the ultralight field. He did great and had some nice landings too. There were very few ultralights participating this year. There were at least 3 LSA's flying from the same field. I had a few questions that he helped me with and I got to talk to some other Badlands customers (Bob and Gary) in person. I hope he picked up a few potential customers for his efforts during the week. Perhaps one day there will be be over 100 BL 103s out there flying. As for me, I am trying to get back to my build. Life has tossed me a few curves with serious health issues of some close family members so the build has been put on hold for a while, but the good news is that it looks like our prayers are being answered and things will be fine in the long run. I hope everyone out there is chugging away on their project and hope to fly with you guys one day.

[Badland-F5 Pilot]

Got back from the big show this past Sunday. Chris had a vendor display as usual and we got to see the 4-stroke motor mounted in the trike style landing gear 103 he was still working on. The super deluxe orange and silver awesome Badland that he custom painted a few years ago was there on display and I got to see Chris fly it several times at the ultralight field. He did great and had some nice landings too. There were very few ultralights participating this year. There were at least 3 LSA's flying from the same field. I had a few questions that he helped me with and I got to talk to some other Badlands customers (Bob and Gary) in person. I hope he picked up a few potential customers for his efforts during the week. Perhaps one day there will be be over 100 BL 103s out there flying. As for me, I am trying to get back to my build. Life has tossed me a few curves with serious health issues of some close family members so the build has been put on hold for a while, but the good news is that it looks like our prayers are being answered and things will be fine in the long run. I hope everyone out there is chugging away on their project and hope to fly with you guys one day.

Awesome info Bruce. Talking to Chris a month ago, he encouraged me to visit AirVenture this year. I wish I could have attended, but I had knee surgery scheduled (completed, and in recovery now) which made attending impossible this year. I hope to be there next year with my F5 and that ThumpAir motor hanging off the front. I would love to have the tricycle gear, but I think I'll do better with the standard tail dragger. I like the idea of being able to do off field landings, and that's just done better with a tail dragger. Bummer on not having many ultralights there. I wonder if part of that is because of the high costs we're all suffering in this economy? It would be great to have a fly in at Chris's place with a good 10 or more BL aircraft someday. Thanks for the update, prayers on healing of health issues, and time for some work on your plane.

Todd

[GaryR]

This was my third time at Oshkosh and by far the best. Mostly because my Badland was there as a favor to Chris. About a week before, he called and said the covering for the new plane hadn’t come in so at the last minute we decided that he should take mine to have a example of a flying plane,and one that was done but not covered. He drove up and took off from my field (about 2 1/2 hr drive and flew it back to Truman and landed at his place in less than 2hrs. One stop to top off fuel but used less than 2 gal/hr.
He had a nice tail wind but it still blew me away..the two planes definitely attracted so much attention and there were people at the booth all the time and Bob and Scott and Brandy and even my wife Lu were helping answer questions. He flew the orange plane every day and got so much attention that I can’t . help but think that ultra lites have a big future. I’m sure he will get more sales to add to the list. And his two new employees are great guys and I’m certain are going to help get the wait list shortened which will help with more sales. It was a great week and I encourage every one to plan Oshkosh in there future and to get more Badland planes in the air.
GaryR

[Badland-F5 Pilot]

This was my third time at Oshkosh and by far the best. Mostly because my Badland was there as a favor to Chris. About a week before, he called and said the covering for the new plane hadn’t come in so at the last minute we decided that he should take mine to have a example of a flying plane,and one that was done but not covered. He drove up and took off from my field (about 2 1/2 hr drive and flew it back to Truman and landed at his place in less than 2hrs. One stop to top off fuel but used less than 2 gal/hr.
He had a nice tail wind but it still blew me away..the two planes definitely attracted so much attention and there were people at the booth all the time and Bob and Scott and Brandy and even my wife Lu were helping answer questions. He flew the orange plane every day and got so much attention that I can’t . help but think that ultra lites have a big future. I’m sure he will get more sales to add to the list. And his two new employees are great guys and I’m certain are going to help get the wait list shortened which will help with more sales. It was a great week and I encourage every one to plan Oshkosh in there future and to get more Badland planes in the air.
GaryR

Greatly appreciate your posting and showing off the plane. I love hearing about that fuel economy. It's at the point where it's plenty long enough to enjoy a good flight, but also just over the amount that anyone would really want to stay seated (meaning time to take a break, land, and stretch the legs). I'm in total agreement on the opportunity for major growth in the flying community. Also great to hear about the new employees and increase in production. I'm at the point where I'm going to really start pushing Chris for a date on my F5. I want to be done with is by next spring and make it to 2025 AirVenture. The only issue that I still have is the lack of the FAA allowing for UL training, instead trying to force people to Sport. It doesn't seem right that PPG is allowed to fly two in an inflatable wing (the pilot has to have a set number of hours of flight, as well as being an instructor), while we in actual aircraft can't. The FAA needs to open the same opportunity that PPG has under Part 103 to ultralights. There are several of us working on this, but it's a very difficult mountain to climb. If training was available just like it is for PPG, the ultralight sport would grow very quickly (IMHO). Thanks again for the post and allowing your plane to be used to promote Badland. I would love to see a Badland 103rd Squadron with 8 to 24 (or more) Badlands on the ramp at AirVenture someday! Now that would be cool.

Todd

[Bruce_L]

Wow Gary, I didn't know he flew it from your place to Truman. I thought he loaded it up in his trailer instead. What a testimonial to a great plane/engine combo. I loved seeing it on display at Oshkosh and am so jealous of that awesome orange color scheme on the covering job.