I hate ultralights

[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.