Gliders and Ultralights
Lishman started out by flying a motorized ultralight fixed-wing glider called the UFM Easy Riser, a bi-wing craft designed in California by Larry Mauro as a hang glider. Bill practiced foot launching from his back yard (a 100-acre (0.40 km2) wooded lot with a large hill at one end) with varying degrees of success. Steering on the Easy Riser was controlled by two drag rudders, mounted between the wingtips. To turn, the pilot twisted the bars under his armpits from which the pilot hung. Pitch control was by shifting the pilot's body;weight: leaning forward made the airplane pitch down for more speed; and leaning backward made it pitch upwards and slow down.
Tired of endlessly hauling the glider back up the hill, Bill took the next step and bolted an 8 horsepower (6.0 kW) go-kart engine on to the back of the hang glider (thus forming an ultralight aircraft), carved himself a propeller and on a fateful day in 1978 made Canadian aviation history by becoming the first in Canada to foot-launch a rigid-winged powered ultralight aircraft.
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