Tri State Kites, Mark Smith's, SmithSilver experimental & ultralight aircraft, Midwest LSA Expo.

Tri State Kites, Midwest LSA Expo, Mt Vernon Illinois, Mark Smith, Andy Alldredge.   / lightsportandultralightflyer   - Help support the Light Sport & Ultralight Flyer by becoming a Patron, contributions start at as little as $1.00 per month! Visit -   / lightsportandultralightflyer   to sign up. You can also purchase a yearly or life time subscription at http://www.ultralightflyer.com Thank You for your support! One of the most successful airplane designs of all time is the Quicksilver. Van’s Aircraft of RV fame has delivered more kits, yet with 10,869 RVs presently flying, Quicksilver still remains far ahead with more than 15,000 flying. Naturally, such market success spawned other builders. Those who attempted to copy and duplicate Quicksilvers have mostly faded away but some enterprises (see at bottom) built a business out of supplying parts and components that Quicksilver itself never offered. One of the most successful of these is Tri-State Kite Sales, based in Mt. Vernon, Indiana — and no, not Mt. Vernon, Illinois where the Midwest LSA Expo is held every September. Let’s be fair. Andy has not exclusively labored on Falcon for 18 years. He said, “It was about a five year project, but I worked on it when I had spare time.” Based on my several inquiries since learning more about Tri-State Kite Sales* I have discovered this Indiana company has a very loyal following (mostly from their region) and they have an active, functioning enterprise. At this point, I want to give credit to the founder of this business. Mark Smith was the man behind Tri-State and he started out making various components for Quicksilver aircraft that the then-California company chose not to pursue. Quicksilver maintained their business focus on fabricating kits. They were amazingly successful at selling their line. Not only did they ship more than 15,000 kits over many years but in 1982 and 1983, they often claimed deliveries of more than 200 units per month! Regretfully, Mark Smith died in July of 2017 but his longtime friend, Andy, kept the business going strong. Mark’s nephew Tom Smith also works with the business, handling most of the fiberglass work. The enterprise was and still feels like a family operation. A Quicksilver-type design like the standard “Smithsilvers” that Tri-State makes from scratch typically cruise 40-60 mph where Falcon is as much as 50% faster. “Yes, this will be a little higher-priced aircraft,” Andy observed, “and it must be built as an Experimental Amateur Built.” Let’s put it in perspective, noting that all prices mentioned below are subject to change. A standard single place Smithsilver by Tri-State Kite Sales assembled for fly away costs about $28,000, said Andy. A two-place with all the extras gets into the high $40,000s and Falcon with a Rotax 503 may come out at about $75,000 equipped as extensively as the one pictured nearby. For those with genuine power lust, a Rotax 582 is also available for about $10,000 more. Contact Tri-State (see near end) for an exact quote and delivery times. Mark Smith founded the company in the late 1970s and formally organized in 1981. In those 40 years, Tri-State has delivered more than 200 complete aircraft and an uncounted number of aircraft served with replacement parts or Tri-State accessories from fiberglass nose pods to new wing covers and everything in between. The Rotax 503 engine is nestled down in the aft wing center section because Andy wanted to lower the thrust line to a more neutral position. This means the dual-carb Rotax 503 and its 50 horses push the airplane forwards with less pitch influence, which is a significant part of how it can achieve higher speeds.