I hate ultralights

[Shiny Side Up]

Including a first degree of separation casts a pretty big net.

I should have been more specific, that was referring to the control rigging issue. But even with the degree of separation, contrast it to regarding the same issue with certified airplanes, and the mis rigged controls is almost of mythical proportions - the only ones I know of are the few that have shown up in the same accident report that is often a part of the CPL ground school material. I don't know anyone, or even have a first degree of separation from anyone that has ever happened to, and I know a lot of pilots. On the other hand I know (no degree of separation) of at least six ultralight fliers that have crashed due to the problem (and all of them have gotten airborne before realising the problem - a short coming in their training perhaps?) and even was asked to fly an ultralight once where the problem was discovered.

Worse, was that issue was deemed acceptable by some of the ultralight guys present, "you just got to remember" seemed to be the consensus...

So what? No one is else is being harmed.

That's debateable, these guys aren't random loners after all. But what's worse I find is that those hazardous attitudes that pervade the ultralight community often sucker in the unsuspecting. I get a fair amount of business from the occasional fellow who realises (that is to say scared the shit out of himself) that there might be more to flying than what's there. Some want "just enough" training to make themselves safe, others become converts to which I'm glad.

Maybe you're cool with people being hurt in flying machines, but it bothers me. I've seen enough corpses for this lifetime.

[culver10]

Check out this EBay ad, I do not think it is joke?? Make sure you zoom in on the fine sheet metal work!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRA-LIGHT-WIT ... ft&afsrc=1

[Pop n Fresh]

Check out this EBay ad, I do not think it is joke?? Make sure you zoom in on the fine sheet metal work!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/ULTRA-LIGHT-WIT ... ft&afsrc=1

Shiny, it's a thousand bucks and a tail dragger. Are you in? I'll finance it.

[Shiny Side Up]

Jeebus, I thought that thing was maybe someone's brainchild scratch build invention that was hopefully in the prototype stage. Says its been flown 50 hours! Wonder if "quit flying due to health problems" meant "hurt self in crash in ultralight". Nothing is straight on it. Not sure he knows what carbon fiber is, the windshield is definitely not carbon fibre. But hey, the most important thing in the world is to get airborne as cheap as possible right?

[SkySailor]

LOL...she's a beaut! Gotta love how those tin bashers worked their magic with a rubber mallet on those complex curves. Clearly, this is not what I had in mind when advocating a cheap(er) flying solution!!

[Pop n Fresh]

It's water cooled. I can't remember which side you were on in that thread.

I am thinking of sending it to that guy in Africa that was trying to fly his home built with the farm equipment wheel attached who was having issues with breaking welds on the steel angle iron construction. I think his craft would be better described as an "unintentional heavy." Of course he might be best left stuck on the ground.

[Taiser]

Hummel makes great plans and have a lot of well respected flying planes that don't have any issues. This thing is a poor copy. Don't know what the hell this guy built, but he didn't follow any plans very well, in fact probably just went off a photo... also a reason why he's only asking 1800$. This is not a fair example representing the BULA category! LOL I think this guy got most of his metal from a blown over shed...

[jschnurr]

In other homebuilt news:

In 2007, 24-year-old Nigerian physics student Mubarak Muhammed Abdullahi spent nearly a year building a 12-metre (39ft) long helicopter out of spare parts sourced from old cars, motorcycles, and even a crashed Boeing 747, using money he saved from repairing cell phones and computers.

“When I was a kid I loved helicopters,” says Abdullahi. “Whenever I saw one in the movies, I used to ask ‘how does this thing work?”

Years later when he told his college friends of his plan to build one, they laughed. “Only whites can build things like that,” they said. His response was to build a bright yellow helicopter with push-button ignition, an accelerator lever and a joystick for thrust and bearing. It was powered by a 133-horsepower engine salvaged from a Honda Civic.

Unlike the flying machines of many other amateur aviation innovators, Abdullahi’s contraption actually flew, although never above a height of 2.1 metres (7ft). But it did earn him international recognition, a TED Global Fellowship and a scholarship to study aircraft maintenance in the UK.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/2013062 ... t-builders

Good Job!

[photofly]

I asked in another thread about somewhere in the Caribbean to learn some float flying - or something else interesting; I found this article about a base in Guadeloupe which seemed to fit the bill:
http://www.zenith.aero/profiles/blogs/f ... -caribbean

Then looking at the webpage of the company (http://www.ulm-orizon.com/) it seems the guy there died in an ultralight accident the year after that article was written. I couldn't help but think of this thread.

[flytdeck]

It is now the summer of 2022 and it would be interesting if the members' attitudes toward ultralight or the regulations have changed significantly. I am a proponent of aviation in all forms and actively discourage OVER regulation (including those for drones).

And GOOD airline aviators not only encourage, but participate in light aviation. It is a passion that does not discriminate.

[pelmet]

I have been suspicious of homebuilts, experimentals, ultralights, etc for years. But on the other hand, have had an interest in them. It is more the bad maintenance of incompetents thinking they are competents building the aircraft. Reading high profile stories like the Wal-Mart billionaire guy getting killed a few years back in his own ultralight didn't help.

But I do like reading the magazines about some of these aircraft such as EAA and like to try different aspects of aviation. I had considered getting some Trike training a few years back during my visits to LA after being introduced to one but never got around to it.

Eventually, I had decided that perhaps I might dip my toe into the ultralight world. I fly at several different airports in my area but not at the one that specializes in ultralight types. It had been on my list for a while to visit and perhaps learn more. There was even a guru who had his own flight school and after all, why not fly with the guru to learn as much as possible. We are talking about a guy with a stellar background in ultralight and non-ultralight aviation.

So one day, I decided as I was proceeding to go fly a new rare aircraft type at a particular airport(airport #1), that I would stop off at this grass airstrip(airport #2) and talk to the guru. I had heard that he was getting out of the training thing but perhaps I could fly with him. Perhaps I could even do a quick flight with him on that day, although time was tight.

I was on my way to visit the grass strip, about a 30 minute drive, which involved passing an exit I take to get to another airport where I fly(airport #3). It just so happened that a fire truck sped past me and exited at that off ramp and that road had been closed. I figured there was a car accident or house fire and continued on toward the grass airstrip another 15 minutes away.

I arrived and wandered around. Not much was happening as it is a sleepy place but ran into a guy working on his ultralight. We started talking ultralight stuff, so asked if he was the guru. I was told that the guru was in today but had just gone flying and might be back in an hour or so. That was a bit too long to wait, so I headed off to that flight that I already had booked and figured I would come back another day.

I enjoyed my flight on that new aircraft type and headed home. The news showed that there had been a plane crash at airport #3 around the time I had driven by it. Further searching showed that it was an ultralight which made me wonder if it was the guru. it took a while to figure out but it turned out that it was and he was unfortunately, badly injured along with someone else.

I don't know the cause of the accident. I heard stories of some very low circuits that were being done and someone else mentioned some interesting water circuits at a different location that day on a nearby local lake but that shouldn't have been too much for a highly experienced guy. But it did dampen my enthusiasm for flying ultralights and that is as close as I have gotten so far. I suspect I will get around to flying them, but it will be in a careful manner.

[broken_slinky]

I fly and own both certified and ultralight aircraft (weight-shift trike and paramotor). The certified allows me to cover a lot of ground and get places quick. The ultralights on the other hand are low and slow playing in the county machines. Both types require respect and diligence when it comes to piloting and maintenance. Have a look at a certified aircraft's maintenance manual then the ultralights. Then look at the maintenance logs. Just the thickness alone will tell you the level of maintenance between the two. Yeah, there's the odd one out there that was maintained to certified levels but they're very few and far between. With the ultralights tends to come some complacency too which will quickly kick you square in the butt. When you're flying low and taking risks, if something goes wrong, you have no time to react with a positive outcome. We'd all like to think we practice emergency procedures to a competent level but in reality, it doesn't happen. We've all watched the YouTube videos of the guys doing the low altitude maneuvers. More times than not, it results in a call for an ambulance. I guess what I'm trying to say is that ultralights can be as safe as certified as long as you deal properly with risk management.

[WANP]

I hold a commercial license, have had a license for 26 years ( commercial for 25 of those 26 ) and just ordered a paramotor so i can fly it around my farm, and locally, as well as take it in my car on road trips. But definitely going to keep my 180 for longer flights, and carrying passengers.

In almost 8,000 hours, haven't scratched a plane, and plan to continue safety when flying the paramotor.
I will travel hundreds of miles to a good instructor, and stay at a hotel for a week while learning how to fly it properly.
I could easily see a more conventional style ultralight plane someday in the future, being an addition to my life. For now I will be on a foot launch paramotor, or cessna 180.