Has General Aviation Missed the Potential of Basic Ultralights?

[malexander]

I like this.

When they build and sell a complete "hand held instrument panel", maybe then I will convert to glass panel. Something for $500 that can kept dry at home.

Count me in on this too.

[Flyfalcons]

Well here you go then. Not $500 but not very expensive.

http://www.dynonavionics.com/docs/D1_intro.html

[taylorcraftbc65]

Where are they? I live in an area with a population of over 1 million and I haven't seen an ultralight actually flying for at least the last year. Several years ago, there was one that made occasional evening flights. In the same time, I've seen thousands of GA and LSA aircraft flying.

At Oshkosh, through I've never counted carefully, there are 100's of GA aircraft for every ultralight.

Within 20 miles of me, there are forty one that I know of, not counting my five. Why don't you see them at Oskosh? Because the overwhelming number DON'T trust the Government, and Hate / Fear the FAA, so they won't come anywhere NEAR an Air Show. The year that the director of the FAA came to give his little speech at Sun-N-Fun, there were about forty Ultralights in attendance, while at the Ultralight flightpark about twenty miles west of my private strip, there were over SIXTY tied down, with their owners making the short drive to Lindner Regional Airport, rather than being willing to run the risk of getting a 10,000 dollar fine per infraction, PLUS losing their Heavy, Fast, ultralight. In addition to THAT flightpark, I knew of three others within fifty miles of Lakeland, I knew most of the pilots at THOSE airparks, and while THEY were there, their ultralights were NOT. That does not count the twelve people that had 20 acre homesites in rural Polk County, who, like me, had their own private strips.
Yesterday, we had one of our once a month Fly-in cookouts here at our place, in the least populated county in the State of Texas, our population density is about on person per every four miles, this is BEEF COUNTRY. THIRTY SEVEN ultralights flew in for my "killer" Mesquite cooked sirloin Tip steaks, with spot landing, bomb drop, and torpedo run contests after the meal. 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. We are out here, and there are THOUSANDS of us. Next weekend, I will be at a fellow pilots ranch strip about sixty miles away, enjoying HIS BBQ'd Chicken, along with the pilots that were at my place yesterday,
Sabrina

[taylorcraftbc65]

By the way folks, if you notice my screen name, you should notice that I own a 1940 Taylorcraft BC-65. I am not an ultralight only pilot, but then my no electrical system, built in the United States, Classic LSA that I love wowing the folks at Airports by one hand propping the A-65 only makes it to small municipal airports, I guess I just don't like crowds.
Brie

[taylorcraftbc65]

Monetary case in point. I have a TOTAL of 2,200 dollars in this plane to build it, and in the 14 years that I have owned it, I have spent a TOTAL of about 900 in maintenance on it, and it flies just fine. NO FAA inspectors looking over my shoulder, NO mandatory AD's, no BFR's, that sort of thing. I would rather fly one of my ultralights, or classic American built LSA than ANY plastic plane built in China.

[Flyfalcons]

We are out here, and there are THOUSANDS of us.

That's fantastic. More than 43,000 Cessna 172s alone have been built.

[Bill Berson]

I love Brie's enthusiasm. Just to clarify the rules- legal ultralights CAN enter controlled airspace. Ultralights can fly over sparsely populated areas. Ultralights can even land at a towered airport, with permission. Amazingly, ultralights have NO altitude restrictions or distance from houses or people (no 500 foot rule).
Of course, these rules apply to LEGAL ultralights. I suppose non-compliant "ultralights" normally avoid controlled or populated areas, as mentioned.

$1425 for the portable Dynon... getting closer to my price.

[taylorcraftbc65]

The rules say that we CAN land at tower controlled Airports with permission, true, but there are MANY airports in this country, two that I PERSONALLY know of in Arizona, that when you contact the tower on your handheld, and you are in an Ultralight, you are Always told that the pattern is full, (Goodyear LOVES to use THAT one, even when there is ONLY one aircraft in the pattern). That was no big deal, Glendale WELCOMED ultralights, and they had a really good place to eat.
In all fairness though, There ARE a fair number of airports that WILL allow ultralights in the pattern, and a TON of non-towered, unicom only airports, Horizon, on the south east edge of El Paso, and Fabens, in Fabens, Texas, where they will roll out the welcome mat for visiting Ultralight pilots who act like pilots in the pattern.
The "non compliant" Ultralights, are, in my experience, usually 20 to 30 pounds heavy because they have beefed up airframes, and sometimes 10 to 15 MPH too fast. In violation of the letter of the law, yes, but no one is trying to sneak an RV-3 in as an ultralight, these mods are mostly to make the planes safer on 80 to 100 mile cross country flights.
The Weedhopper IS absolutely legal, though not stock, I took the original engine off, and replaced it with a Kawasaki 440, that I believe is the most reliable two stroke available, though they are getting harder to find.

This is a shot of me on rollout in my slightly heavy, slightly fast Spitfire clone, (total cost, 3,000 dollars).

[Bill]

That's fantastic. More than 43,000 Cessna 172s alone have been built.

As of 2010, there were 176 thousand GA aircraft registered in the U.S. Of those, 155 thousand were piston-engine powered and 139 thousand were single-engine aircraft. I don't see much in the way of ultralights compared to the multitudes of GA aircraft in my rural, unencumbered by restricted airspace of any type, skies because there aren't very many of them in comparison.

[Eric Page]

...Glendale [...] had a really good place to eat.

Still does. I had lunch at Left Seat West about two weeks ago with a pilot friend. Sadly, their lease at the East location (N side of KPHX, on Air Lane) wasn't renewed and that location is now closed. Good news is that all the pictures and models from KPHX were moved to KGEU, so the place is packed with cool stuff to look at!