A fool and His Dream

[Norman Langlois]

Dana
You are also wrong there was no luck about .
For me there was only one line to cross. And it was not my ability to fly or to get it back down in one piece . The line I crossed, was is the plane balanced correctly to fly at all. You all have some attitude of what is acceptable training . And that is were the other line is drawn in the sand, I crossed your line . I have flown the plane twice more. And I will again and again till the plane's take off speed is the way it should be.
That's the reason I was too high not because I had no control. I let it go that high because it was the right thing to do for the circumstance. having excess power
.
This thread turned into a pissing match . It was never about what I was going to do.

I know more about flying than you wish to give credit . You all have ideals of whats acceptable training.

Here an E-mail from one that was there.

Hi Norman...
Thanks for letting me be a part of your triumphal day at the lake!
Cannot tell you how I felt as the plane rose skyward from the surface
of the water, stabilized, flew straight and level, and then descended
for a fully controlled landing. Yes, you DID keep the power on, the
nose up and level, and FLEW the plane to a safe landing.
Congratulations, my friend...you have broken the surly bond that
binds us to the earth and found yourself among the birds; you have
answered the call to become a pilot, and have, by your actions today,
joined that honored band.
Give me a call tomorrow, and if we're in the area, I'll see you at
the boat landing.
Cheers!
Bob M.

Obviously everyone is not agreeing with you this X pilot was there the first day with me and he was not telling me not to fly it. He was entirely aware of my situation. And of course your opinion is he is an idiot to condone my action.

[Flyfalcons]

So your definition of "acceptable" amount of training is ZERO flight training?

[WeaverJ3Cub]

Norman, I gotta say, I just stumbled on this thread after it was resurrected a few days ago, and.......I am absolutely floored. My jaw is on the floor. I usually don't get involved in heated threads like this, but.....

You are seriously attempting to fly an airplane without any flight training?!? I realize that you have "hundreds of hours of simulator experience" and got the airplane off the water without breaking your neck putting it back down, and have some overly romantic instructors giving you the dangerous cover of their endorsement, but this is insane. Plain and simple.

Ok, so you might get the plane off the water, maybe you'll take it to several hundred feet with no problem. Maybe you'll take up a passenger one day (God forbid!), but quite frankly, you don't know enough to know how dangerous what you're doing is. In my own flight training, I learned hundreds of things that I never would have expected from just reading the books or flying a video game.

And plus, do you realize how illegal this is? Seriously.

What's so hard about getting some flight training before attempting to fly a homegrown design (something NASA uses highly experienced test pilots for) off the water (an environment that requires another rating for us real pilots)? Even if the whole "illegal" thing doesn't bother you, at least do yourself the favor of learning how to fly.

For your own sake, and that of your family and friends, I hope someone calls the cops next time you try this. And I'm dead serious. Before you kill yourself (and only yourself, if you're lucky). These instructors are NOT you're friends; the EAA members here expressing their flabbergasted state of mind are your friends, even though we don't know you.

Take heed! Why trade what could be a great story—"Man builds and flies his own seaplane"—for a tragedy—"Reckless 'pilot' crashes homemade flying machine into house, killing 4"?

Are we getting through?

[Flyfalcons]

And plus, do you realize how illegal this is? Seriously.

To be fair I think he is within the bounds of part 103. Everything else you said was spot on.

[WeaverJ3Cub]

Norman, I posted without using my brian first (maybe I should stay away from heated threads!). I apologize.

I did not realize that ultralights did not require a medical and certificate to fly.

http://www.ultralighthomepage.com/FAR.part103.html

Knowing that tempers my previous judgements a bit, however, I still think you're nuts to not get some flight training before trying this.

To be fair I think he is within the bounds of part 103. Everything else you said was spot on.

Thanks for pointing that out, Flyfalcons. Being a Private pilot, I've neglected reading the FARs outside of Parts 61 and 91

[Flyfalcons]

They're good reading if you can't sleep at night.

[WeaverJ3Cub]

They're good reading if you can't sleep at night.

Whew! No kidding! Particularly the airline/commercial parts.

I actually like reading the AIM....but only in small bits.

[hydroguy2]

Norman is not a pilot. He is a irresponsible thrill seeking wannabe. He is selfish and only cares about himself. He does not value anyone's opinion other than his own. His attitude and actions meet 3 of the 5 Hazardous Attitudes of pilot decision making.

• Anti-Authority: "Don't tell me!" - When people have this attitude they may resent having someone tell them what to do or they think of rules and regs as silly or unneeded.
• Impulsivity: "Do something quickly!" - This is what people do when they feel the need to do something, anything and now. Usually they do the first thing that pops up in them.
• Invulnerability: "It won't happen to me!" - Accidents happen only to other people. Thinking this may lead to taking more unnecessary risks.
• Macho: "I can do it!" - These guys we all know. Trying to prove that they are better than anyone else and taking more risks. Both sexes are susceptible to this attitude.
• Resignation: "What's the use?" - These people think that they do not make a great deal of difference in what happens to them. When things are going well they think: "Good luck". And when things are not so well, they seem to think that someone is out to get them.

I wish there were some way to enforce a news release disclaimer, so if and when he wads that thing up, the story reflects that fact that he was an experimenter, not a pilot.

Possibly these threads can help piece will be useful for the acccident investigation. Hopefully others are learning from these threads.

I said my piece before, then tried to keep quiet... but unable.

[Norman Langlois]

Flyfalcons
In answer to you No . Zero flight training is not acceptable. But there is the difference . what you call flight training and what others do. what is acceptable to my case is not available. That was the real point of this whole thread. So I have to do a modified training which is not within your range of acceptability.

I have to do what you disapprove of . Even if I had 20 hour in LSA
if its not a seaplane .I would be exactly where I am right now Zero compatible dual . LSA VS UL is not backwards compatible as you believe. That is where we really disagree. And because there is no known UL trainers that are seaplanes. Also not float planes they are not compatible either. Must be hull pusher. closest thing may be a Sea Ray or Sea Max. These plane a way out side of my flight specs so I am stuck being a displeasure to your beliefs. You know anyone that will give me some stick time? in one of these. I may find it worth the effort in-spite of the obvious difference in spec. If the things I am pointing out have no truth in them then why would you need a tail drager or any other endorsement to fly such. Compatibility is paramount any thing else is a complete false security. And even if you dont agree your ideology has already killed more pilot this past year you should feel ashamed of supporting such a venue.
Only dead certified pilots and student training for certified go on the books they sweep the UL pilots under the rug.That is a fact. All the accidents this past year are on your side of the fence. Clean up your own act before pissing on mine.

By that I mean my training program you don't know what it is or how its being put forth. And I am not going to ask for your approval of the plan first.

[Flyfalcons]

Norman, I fly land planes and seaplanes professionally. Please don't try to fool me into thinking that since you can't find an ultralight, pusher seaplane that instruction in any light aircraft will be of no value, because you aren't fooling anyone. Second of all, please stop referring to your training program, since you don't have one. Self-taught is not a training program. If you have people that care about you in your life, at least consider what everyone else is saying.