There are three basic flavours of microlight aeroplane, "Type Approved", "Type Accepted" and "Amateur Built". The reason for these designations is that the three classes of aircraft were built under different arrangements, specifically:-
- Type Approved aircraft were built by a CAA approved factory, and fully comply with the CAA safety standards at that time (usually a document called "BCAR Section S".
- Type Accepted aircraft existed before Section S came into being, but have been allowed to continue flying on the basis of partial compliance with Section S, plus a reasonable record of safe operating experience.
- Amateur Built aircraft have been built by an individual or group for their own interest and education under supervision of a BMAA or PFA inspector. For a BMAA administered aircraft they have to have also shown full compliance with Section S, PFA tend to disregard the requirements for performance measurement and an approved operators manual, but otherwise also show full compliance with all the structural and handling bits.
So a type approved aircraft shows the highest available safety standards in microlights, and therefore is allowed to be used for flying training towards the NPPL(M) (whilst the other two classes are restricted to training of the sole owner, or members of their immediate family).
There used to be something called an "A1 kit" where you could semi-amateur build a type-approved microlight, but with direct factory control over your work. These haven't existed for a few years in the 3-axis world, so for your purposes what you're looking for isn't a new build, it's a rebuild - and there aren't any rules as to the extent of that rebuild, the aircraft could have been crashed (I did one of those once, took me 2 years), or have been rotting in a barn whilst used as a chicken shed for 5 years - so from an interest viewpoint for your school it'd all be there.
Types, here's a list (you can verify this on the BMAA's website, I've ignored any single seaters since although you can technically teach somebody to fly that way, it's regarded as a bit old fashioned - everything's nosewheel unless I've said otherwise)...
- Bantam B22s (rare open sided rag and tube with flaperons)
- All Shadows except the Streak versions, and the odd homebuilt D-series. (Shadow Flight Centre at Old Sarum should know if there are any bent ones out there going cheap)
- Thruster TST Mk.1 (basic side-by-side very slow taildragger, open sided. I'm flying a rebuilt one in Hampshire you'd be welcome to come down and look at and have a go in should you wish).
- Chevvron 2-32c (sort of lightweight Vigilant T1).
- Spectrum T1 (tandem twin stick, metal tube fuselage, composite wing, this might be a very good choice).
- Thruster T300 (slightly improved TST)
- Mignet Balerit (actually 2-axis control, and somewhat unconventional, but very safe, you can teach the 3-axis syllabus in it - but very rare, you'd probably struggle to get one)
- Thruster T600T (much improved TST)
- Thruster T600N (T600T with a nosewheel instead of nosewheel)
- AX3 and AX2000 (basically the microlight equivalent of a C150 and C152 respectively, cheap, slow, rugged, safe, easy to teach in - but very ugly and not all that much fun for an experienced pilot)
- CT, Eurostar, C42 (ignoring the amateur built Eurostar and C42) - gorgeous high performance 2-seaters, but too new and expensive, the odds of finding a project are probably very slim.
My recommendation would be to look for an elderly or bent Shadow or Spectrum, either of which should be fairly easy to track down, and will be a good solid rebuild project that you can really get your teeth into, and both of which are great training aeroplanes (as well as being Tandem, which goes down well in the military environment).
(On the other hand, if you want something to start off with, somebody who is clearly desperate for the money is selling a Thruster TST just up the road from you at £3500 with only 380 hours on it - look at www.afors.co.uk ).
How to find a suitable project? I'd go to the
G-INFO website here, search on the type that you are interested in but click the "View de-registered aircraft" box. That'll show the machines which haven't been flying for several years, then drop a line to the owners and see what they've got and whether they'll sell it to you. Taking a quick look, that shows a dozen Spectrums (including the one I did my first solo on
) along with 34 Shadows which might potentially be what you're after. There are a couple of Chevvrons there, but it's all composite and you should take advice from the manufacturer (who are just up the road next to Membury mast) as to whether it's feasible to rebuild one.
P
N.B. Shadows come in many flavours. I'd personally go for a CD given a choice, it's got the best combination of available weight, reasonable powerplant, and good handling of the lot. Mind you, that's the best of a
good bunch, and there isn't a bad Shadow model.