Transition from flying LSAs to Ultralights

Greetings all!

A little background about myself. I have mostly flown CTLSs, RV-12s, and C-172s and I am looking to get into ultralights. I want to purchase an Aerolite 103 within the next few years.

I have a few questions for you all:

How hard is the transition over from sport aircraft to ultralights?
Should I seek transition training?
Since I have flown LSAs, does that put me in a better position to fly ultralights than say, someone who flew much heavier aircraft?

Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and insights.

Andy

Andy Humphrey at Heavenbound Aviation in Ohio is a Aerolite dealer and might be able to answer your questions.

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Originally Posted by arstarin

Greetings all!
How hard is the transition over from sport aircraft to ultralights?

Not hard, but it is different. Most pilots transitioning to ultralights flare too high, stall the plane at 5-10 feet, drop it in and break something. Flying an ultralight you don't flare as such, you pretty much dive at the runway at near cruise speed, level off at 5-10 inches and wait (not long) for it to settle onto the ground. Most pilots get it in a couple of hours.

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Should I seek transition training?

Yes, absolutely yes. If you plan to get insurance, the insurance company will probably require it anyway.

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Since I have flown LSAs, does that put me in a better position to fly ultralights than say, someone who flew much heavier aircraft?

Yes.

I've recently been helping to train a pilot who sold his CTLS and bought a Quicksilver (the Quick is LSA, but flies like an ultralight). I'm not a CFI, but have time in type, so I checked out the CFI who is in turn checking out the owner. I've also been flying with the owner (which was enjoyable enough that I'm going to pursue my own SP-CFI). He would have broken the Quick if he'd tried it on his own; as a matter of fact he did damage the Quick in a hard landing when flying with the CFI and the CFI didn't grab the controls fast enough... we're waiting on parts, fortunately Quicks are easy to fix.