Is norman nuts?

[Bill Greenwood]

Norman has done what most people never do, he has built a plane by himself, and ultralight seaplane of his own design.
Now he wants to fly it himself.
Now that is not the way most people would do it, or even that I would do it. When I was a minor partner in building a homebuilt we chose a kit plane, a Starlite, a standard land plane. It was very light, only 254 lbs. and unusual in that it had a 2 stroke Rotax engine, and a side stick. By the way the engine ran ok once you got over the sound, and the side stick flew ok, but if I did acro in it I would prefer a normal stick.

It was a small single seat plane, and when it came time for the test flight, I did it. There was no chance to have any dual in it. Now there is the big brother of it, the 2 seat Pulsar but not then. I taxied the plane to get used to it, planned what I would do, and flew it ok. The really hard part was finding a parachute small enough to fit in.
Ok, I was already a pilot, but still there had to be a first time.

Nobody gave me dual when I learned to fly a hang glider. Sure, there is an instructor and he gives you some pre flight intro, but once you start that downhill run you are own your own.
And that is part of the excitement of the experience.

Norman is biting off a bigger chew, but in a way I admire him for that. Nobody gave the Wrights or Bleriot any dual. They read and talked to a few people, none of which really had the best info, but in the end as they said, One must mount the machine and take it in the air to learn it's tricks.

If I was doing it, I would get some dual in some other ultralight if I could, or a few hours in a Cub, but really that is not a close simulator. And it might be very useful for him to go watch some other ultralights fly, notice the nose pitch angles on takeoff, climb, and landing.

I am all for safety, but it is his right to take a risk if he wants, BUT NO PASSENGERS. I'll bet he does ok.