| The Quicksilver design, and manufacturing process were so far ahead of their time, that even today nearly 30 years later they are still the marker that others try to meet. Whether it is the simple bolt together construction, step by step assembly manuals, production methods, dealer network or quality of design, only a select few have been able to follow in the trail that the Quicksilver made. The Quicksilver MX series was first introduced in the late 70's as a weight shift. The control system featured a sling style seat for pitch control with a set of control cables (actually string) running out to the wings and then going to the rudder for turning. Power was originally supplied by a single cylinder Yamaha go cart engine, sitting above the wing, with a drive shaft running to the back of the root tube where it came into a belt reduction drive. Around 1979 the power pack was updated to the 430 Cuyuna, which was mounted below the wing. Then in 1980 the Quicksilver revolutionized the sport of ultralight aviation with the introduction of the Quicksilver MX. It was literally the first ultralight that a pilot could now sit in with a control stick, and rudder pedals. While not true three axis control, it dihedral in the wings to allow for coordinated turns. It also had spoilerons which could be used to kill lift on a wing which aided in turning or with both spoilerons deployed lift could be lost for loosing altitude quickly. Quicksilver also came out with a Yoke, or steering wheel style control system. Here the forward and back movement of the stick controlled pitch while turning the wheel or yoke left and right turned the rudder. The next major change was the introduction of the Quicksilver MX 11. The first real two place ultralight trainer on the market. The MX 11 featured side by side seating, a center control stick, with dual throttles located on the outboard side of each seat. The only problem was POWER - the 430 Cuyuna was just not powerful or reliable enough. Thus the introduction of the Rotax 377 for the single place MX and the Rotax 503 for the two place. | 
