Welcome to the web site of Tri-State Kite Sales with owner Mark Smith.
Tri-State Kite Sales is the nation's leading source of quality aftermarket parts for the complete line of the Quicksilver ultralight aircraft, and has been in business more than 25 years.

For a history of Tri-State Kite Sales, these links will give you some idea of the type flying done years ago, using the weight shift planes.
Good Old Days
Early Quicksilver Experiences

My airport has two runways, and a water runway for flying floats. Here is an overall view of the place from an ultralight and also, outer space.

My Airport

One thing that sets my business off against most of the other ultralight businesses, Is that I am continually improving the designs. Since I do actual flying of what I sell, the faults show up pretty quick as do the merits of the changes.
Small wheels, high dihedral, poor ground control, small props, all led to major changes in the early days of my business.
Here are some of the neater projects that have been started, and likely influenced the products that I offer.

Photo Page
New Designs

There were nearly 10,000 MX's sold over the years, with most of the models sharing many of the design features of the MX. There are many changes that make the plane fly better, handle better, steer better, handle wind and gusts better, and so on. This section will detail many of the changes.

MX Modifications
Lower Tail Tubes
Motor Mount Variations


Early on, I bought many of the fiberglass parts that make the MX series better looking and flying. When the suppliers stopped making the parts, I started, and still to this day, make many more neat and functional parts for the various models.
This section shows much of what is available, now made by Victor. He is making a whole array of parts for ultralights.

Fiberglass Parts

History of Quicksilver
Eipper Formance
Eipper Aircraft

Description Of Models
Early Weight Shifts
The First UL
The DoubleQuick
The MX
TheMXII
The MXL
The MX Super

Related Items
The Competition
AD Notices

Over the years, I have come up with some interesting ways of doing things. This section outlines as many as i can remember,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Quicksilver Tips

As an instructor and ultralight pilot, I have some interesting thoughts on the rules that guide or flying. My thoughts are listed here.

My Thoughts on FAR 103

There are several items that don't seem to fit anywhere else and I've listed them under this group. They cover so many areas, I can't even list the highlights here. Just click below and read them for yourself.

Misc Items

This section covers many of the topics that relate to flying in general such as why things fly, and where to look for specific information. Scan this section for a whole other range of topics related to ultralights and flying in general.

Many more Aero Links, on the 'Net

Several years ago, a guy called me from Terre Haute, Indiana, asking if I could build him a custom MX II Plus to use as his training plane. He came down every monday for twelve weeks, and togetehr we built the whole plane. This shows the whole thing from sewing the sail to assembling the wings and the test flight. details of the engine installation, wiring harness and such are but a few of the items covered here.

The Building of an MXII

Tri-State Kite Sales
1121 N Locust St
Mt Vernon, IN 47620

Airport GPS Position:
37°54.10 N
87°47.30 W
Caborn Road South off Hwy 62
Posey
Patch Fly-In Thursday through Sunday, Last Saturday in June
Mark's Birthday Fly-In Saturday & Sunday, Second Saturday in October

Or e-mail mark@trikite.com

All information ©2007 Tri-State Kite Sales