Has General Aviation Missed the Potential of Basic Ultralights?

[steveinindy]

i would rather fly one of my ultralights, or classic american built lsa than any plastic plane built in china.

"usa! Usa! Usa! Usa!"

[Sam Buchanan]

One of the biggest reasons that you probably didn't see any ultralights, is that they are NOT allowed in controlled airspace. Is there an ARSA or TRSA within sixty miles of your place? They can't fly there. They also can't fly over "gatherings of people" so forget about flying over the suburbs. MOST of the people that own and fly these things live in RURAL America, and have VERY little trust for the Federal Government, so they tend to STAY in uncontrolled airspace.

Some points for clarification:

Man....you have really dated yourself with the ARSA and TRSA stuff, those things disappeared nearly twenty years ago (might be a couple of TRSA's still around somewhere). These were replaced by Class B and C airspace. We currently fly our ULs in class G airspace (uncontrolled) which allows us into any non-towered public airport that doesn't have a control zone. This means we can fly at hundreds of non-towered airports even if they lie under the outside zones of class C. Airports under Class E can be accessed with permission.

Not sure where the 60 miles reference came from, Class B has a 30 mile Mode C veil, but I can legally fly my Legal Eagle within five miles of the Class C airport that is seven miles away from my un-towered airport. I just need to stay below 700' AGL within the magenta shading around my airport and below 1200' AGL everywhere else. Fortunately my part of the world still has a lot of farm land that allows me to fly pretty much at will even though close to the Class C airport. But the community college adjacent to the airport is off limits.

The most important thing is for us to be good neighbors regardless of where we fly, particularly if flying from a public use airport populated with "real" airplanes. The GA population doesn't have a very high regard for us so we are in a bubble. Fortunately, I've had no issues so far, maybe because my fellow pilots recognize I fly by accepted GA protocol, use a radio, and give way to GA traffic. ULs can coexist with larger aircraft, but the burden of responsibility is on us.

[taylorcraftbc65]

I had all that stuff in my head from when I first started flying ultralights in the mid Eighties, (back then, we couldn't fly over out door gatherings of people, the 60 mile veil was me hitting the wrong key when typing faster than I should. I fly my non electric Taylorcraft as if it WERE an Ultralight, even though I can go a few places that ultralights can't. Speaking about "under the veil", back in 1987, I flew my Spitfire ultralight from Lantana Airport, in Florada, to West End Airport on G.B.I.. I had to guesstimate when I was five miles east of the Florida coast before I climbed through a certain altitude, I forget how high Ft Lauterdale Exec's floor was now, and I don't have an old sectional handy. I D.R'd the whole thing, with nothing but a stopwatch, and a lensatic Compass trapped onto the stick with my right thumb. Estimated my drift angle by my track over the Sport fishing boats headed east, I hit the west end of G.B.I, about four miles north of the center line for runway 11. When the line boy at Lantana saw me put the five gallons into my red five gallon can, shake it up to mix the oil, he asked me where I wanted the flowers sent, After telling him that the people at Miami asked the same thing when I called and asked for winds aloft from one to three thousand,between Lantana and West End, and they found out that I was going to do it in an Ultralight, I also told him, "I will be back in a week with the Most Daring Pilot Trophy", for the 2nd Annual Bahamian National Airshow, and I WAS, I beat Bob Sears with his black and gold Pitts, just by flying there. You should have seen the look on their faces, when I showed them the trophy that now keeps the others company in my Living Room. "Barnstormer" Brie

[steveinindy]

I've had no issues so far, maybe because my fellow pilots recognize I fly by accepted GA protocol, use a radio, and give way to GA traffic.

As a former UL pilot, I find that the point about radios is probably the biggest complaint (and often the most valid one) that "regular GA" has about UL pilots. Given the inexpensive nature of handheld radios, there's no excuse for someone to be operating "no radio" in this day and age. I think a lot of the people who insist on doing so are choosing that tact simply out of spite or some short-sighted "don't tread on me" crap. Probably 95% of our problems are caused by 5% of ultralight pilots- mostly the smug arrogant jerkwad variety combined with the "too stupid to live very long" version.

I flew my Spitfire ultralight from Lantana Airport, in Florida, to West End Airport on G.B.I..

So how does that brass pair affect your weight and balance?

[taylorcraftbc65]

As a former UL pilot, I find that the point about radios is probably the biggest complaint (and often the most valid one) that "regular GA" has about UL pilots. Given the inexpensive nature of handheld radios, there's no excuse for someone to be operating "no radio" in this day and age. I think a lot of the people who insist on doing so are choosing that tact simply out of spite or some short-sighted "don't tread on me" crap. Probably 95% of our problems are caused by 5% of ultralight pilots- mostly the smug arrogant jerkwad variety combined with the "too stupid to live very long" version.



So how does that brass pair affect your weight and balance?

I don't know how anyone could fly that way and be able to look at themselves in the morning. There is a certain thing called "Professionalism", and even if you are a lowly Weedhopper pilot, you are STILL a PILOT, and as such, you should have enough pride in your "craft" that you would want to exhibit the professional pride as the Hawker 125 pilot. THAT would mean getting an inexpensive handheld, it doesn't need VOR capability, learning how to use it, and then DOING SO.

As far as your second statement, Their weight is figured into the weight and balance, and offset by the location of the motorcycle battery that runs my strobes, and STS Handheld radio. Brie

[steveinindy]

I don't know how anyone could fly that way and be able to look at themselves in the morning. There is a certain thing called "Professionalism", and even if you are a lowly Weedhopper pilot, you are STILL a PILOT, and as such, you should have enough pride in your "craft" that you would want to exhibit the professional pride as the Hawker 125 pilot. THAT would mean getting an inexpensive handheld, it doesn't need VOR capability, learning how to use it, and then DOING SO.

To answer that, I'll have to mention an article written about ultralight crashes. The researcher went so far as to describe the ultralight corner of the hobby as "“wanting all the thrills of flying with none of the hard work, training, and maturity required to become a professional or military pilot” (Copeland AR. Ultralight aircraft fatalities: report of five cases. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 1987;8:296-8.). It might be harsh but given some of the antics I've witnessed first hand over the years (low altitude intentional stalls, “buzzing” houses and other structures, informal contests to demonstrate who could operate their aircraft into and out of the shortest field or the one with the most obstructed approach (basically trying to see who can come the closest to stalling without actually doing so during climbout or approach), et cetera), I can't say Copeland's attitude is not grounded in some kernel of truth.

In other words, some people treat it like an aerial dirt bike: all the "YEEE-HAW!!!!" and none of the concerns involved with a "real" motorcycle or airplane.

[taylorcraftbc65]

I agree 100 percent Steve, those people need to get a proper attitude about the "face" that they are giving ultralight pilots.
Brie

[martymayes]

No offense but buying a handheld radio does not make one a professional. Kinda hard to play the professionalism card after posting such comments as:
'the weight of my ultralight is slighty heavier than the rules allow' and
'my ultralight is slightly faster than the rules allow'

In those examples you have aready established what you are, the rest is just haggling over the price. None of that is representative of professional behavior.

Oh, BTW, I know pilots that fly NORDO aircraft that are 100x more "professional" than the majority of pilots holding an airman certifcate.

[Buzz]

re: Radio use. Unfortunately, learning to use the radio is one of the most intimidating steps for many during GA training. So I suspect intimidation rather than being "cheap" is what keeps many ultralight pilots from using one.

That said, my experience is that radio use goes a long way toward an ultralight pilot being treated as "peer" by GA pilots. It's like using a blinker on the highway. It's a lot easier to operate around someone that is communicating their intentions.

[taylorcraftbc65]

No offense but buying a handheld radio does not make one a professional. Kinda hard to play the professionalism card after posting such comments as:
'the weight of my ultralight is slighty heavier than the rules allow' and
'my ultralight is slightly faster than the rules allow'

In those examples you have aready established what you are, the rest is just haggling over the price. None of that is representative of professional behavior.

Oh, BTW, I know pilots that fly NORDO aircraft that are 100x more "professional" than the majority of pilots holding an airman certifcate.

Think that YOU can D.R. an ultralight with NO chase planes, NO chase boats, A lensatic compass, which if got get too far from straight and level you "lock" the card, at only 2000 feet MSL after spending hours flying from Gilbert Field in Winterhaven and because of the low cruise altitude to take best advantage of the quartering tail wind, (I believe it was 260 at 9 at that altitude with a wind change at a bit above 3000 MSL), I could not see the island till I was only about six or eight miles out, and hit runway centerline as close as I did? THEN there was the time that I was in an SGS 1-26D soaring the ridgelift on Ka'Ala Ridge by Dillingham Airport at about 7000 MSL, A sudden Squall built almost on top of me, turning the view in the cockpit from sunny, to diffuse light, to grey, to BLACK in UNDER two minutes. As it built, I was sucked up into the cloud at a rate that pinned the vario. Right about THIS point is when a LOT of people that YOU call "Professionals" , a term that you will not even grant me on the LOOSEST of terms, Panic. I just realized that for me to try the nose down, full speed brakes and spoilers game, would only Immediately put me straight through VNE, and tear the wings off, so I looked WHERE the ridge was in relation to the aircraft, glanced at the panel, took a quick glance where the ridge was again, and looked at the horizon for a split second to acquire a 3D picture of my location in the sky, and put my head in the instruments, trusting NOTHING but what I SAW. (So how many of the "Professionals" , by your definition, get vertigo not trusting their instruments)?? I knew how close I was to the ridge, and where it was. I knew where the ocean was, I did NOT try to "fight" my rate of accent, I pointed the nose of the aircraft to the sea, and kept my IAS 25 below VNE. Before long at all, the T-head spit me out RIGHTSIDE UP, BELOW VNE, NOT in a spin, at 15,800 feet. (I had entered the cloud at about 9,000 feet). I just put about eight miles between me and the still building cloud, while loosing altitude as quickly as was safe due to the Hypoxia danger. Once clear of the probability of CAT, I arrested my decent at 12,500, and paralleled the coast to to the point, turned 180 and flew a long final to Dillingham, parked the aircraft like nothing odd had happened, and we all had a laugh about it. It turns out that five people saw me enter the cloud, and the general consensus was that I was in the cloud for two minutes. I have been flying since I learned how in a 7AC over the Virginia farmlands in 1964. I have had my share of "interesting" things happen in 48 years, but NEVER ONCE even scratched the paint. WHY don't I panic when things get "Interesting"? In the presence of Skill and Discipline, panic vanishes.
I have tricks up my sleeve, and in my pocket that a lot of you ultralight haters are not even aware of. If you would take your exclusiveness down a notch or two, one or two of us flying SLIGHTLY heavy and fast ultralights just might share one or two of them with you. Brie