Noob questions (please be nice)

[Buzz]

As a long, long time motorcyclist/dirt bike/ATV rider, I'd be interested in the data used to arrive at that conclusion. While dirt bikers have a lot of crashes, in most cases the rider gets up, dusts himself off and goes on his way. Fatalities are rare. ATV's are a different animal. A road bike crash is likely going to involve a trip to the hospital. Absent crash and fatality data on ultralight vehicles, just from the dynamics, I'd expect a crash to compare more with a road bike crash.

Having been around ultralights for almost 40 years now, I think the crash and fatality data is closer to dirt bikes than road bikes.

Yes, like with dirt bikes, their are fatalities flying ultralights. But even so, the vast majority of the "accidents" I'm aware of in ultralights hurt the pilot's pride and the machine more than actually hurt the pilot. And the vast majority of the accidents never make it to the papers.

There is not a lot of mass and a whole lot of "crumple zone" in an ultralight structure. A vertical crash and the quick stop that entails is going to cause a lot of injury or possible a fatality. That's true.

However, most ultralight "accidents" are not of that variety. They are horizontal decelerations because of blown takeoff, blown landing, off field landing, etc. Bending aluminum absorbs a lot of the force in most of the "accidents".

The other thing ultralights have is that there isn't enough mass or speed in an ultralight for the deceleration to be very violent. [I heard some stats years ago on the difference in running off the end of the runway in a Cessna 150 right at rotation vs the average ultralight. The mass of a Cessna 150 decelerating generally will badly damage it and hurt the pilot badly. The mass of the ultralight decelerating generally only bends it a bit and the pilot isn't injured.]

If one gets some training and flies with a proper level of care and caution, I don't believe flying an ultralight is more dangerous than riding a motorcycle.

If one either doesn't get any training or is an adrenaline junkie that constantly pushes the envelope of their skill level, then I think an ultralight will be more dangerous than a motorcycle because of the unforgiving nature of flying in general. You can probably push the envelope too far repeatedly on a motorcycle and get away with it. Not so much with an aircraft [ultralight or other].

My thoughts.

[martymayes]

For the most part I agree with your assessment that flying an ultralight doesn't have to be "dangerous." So much risk is directly under the control of the operator. Training and caution go a long way. The question I would be asking is "How can I make flying an ultralight as safe as possible?" vs. "Is flying an ultralight safe?" The latter suggest safety is out of the operator's control.

Regarding crashing, hard to say one activity is statistically similar, or more, or less safe than another without data. I commented I'd like to see that data. Otherwise, we are just throwing around personal opinions that may or may not be anywhere close to accurate.

[slow biplane]

1. I don't know of any ultralights using a fly by wire system, it might be good for a special crash test of some kind.


2. This question is about the initial flying of a prototype, I assume. Remote control testing of scale models of new planes has been done, but not by any ultralights I know of. It might make some tests safer, but it would be a big effort with little gain for any near conventional machine. Some really radical designs might benefit by detecting some unexpected danger by remote control.


3. Motorized ultralights and Sport Light planes are generally harder to fly than regular airplanes, in my opinon. Some conventional airplane time might be a big help.


4. (I think you are asking about using the aircraft radio, not about using the airport.) I use a Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) on every flight of my ultralight, and since it is required at my airport and advised on the chart, I assume that is okay with the authorities. I made up a call sign based on my airplane's name, but people called back asking,"hey, is that you in the biplane?", so now my radio call sign is "slow biplane". If your question was actually about the airport, I don't see any special problem.


5. I would love to hear more about floats! I know nothing. Do they land upwind or downwind? Is the water state the important thing, or the wind direction?


6. "Ultralights" includes hang gliding, paragliding, and paramotors, all of which are traditionally high risk sports compared to golf. I don't know of any statistics on motorized ultralights (which includes trikes), but crashes happen. In the last half dozen "damage incidents" near my airport no one was seriously injured, as I recall, but those were mostly sport class airplanes pretending to be ultralights (which outnumber the real Part 103 ultralights).

7. I have no ailerions, just rudder and elevator, and I do cross wind landings by flying and landing at a crab angle. At low speeds I get a slight skid and a hop on my wheels, but I usually don't notice it since I'm busy steering down the runway. In stronger but moderate cross winds my ground speed is slower, so there still is no problem. The real issue is rolling on the ground in a cross wind without getting a wing picked up, and that is done by keeping the nose low.

[duster351]

I have a Pterodactyl ascender for sale, great Ultralight , if your interested.

[mrbarry]

Pterodactyl ascender looks nice to me . whats is the location , condition description and asking price .

for the new boy [ Newbie, newb, noob, or n00b ] with questions the eaa link +getting started+ is a good place to browse .
https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/aviation-...ralight-flying

specifically the training guide

https://www.eaa.org/~/media/Files/EA...g_training.pdf

the training guide provides some illumination to +water work+

i have n00b type questions also :

about floats: whats the rule on using public water ways ? local i have a navigable channel and a big TVA impoundment available. Could i just trailer my UL down to the fisherman's launch ramp , put in ,
and fly off?
how about a N numbered LSA , could i just put down on any suitable stretch of water?
there are a number of regulators might be interested, the corp of engineers , they run the impoundments i think , the Coast Guard, they rule on the navigable channels[Coast Guard has ships stationed local] . in tennesee the TWRA has the hammer for boats.
i think it would be a real +gas+ to put a UL in the mix. .
[ i have been searching the regs on this and it is very confusing to me

[duster351]

noob , Pterodactyl be easier for you to call. 208 -660-9396 I'm not much at texting.

[duster351]

noob , Pterodactyl be easier for you to call. 208 -660-9396 I'm not much at texting.

I'm in Athens, tx. Good shape, two sets of canards, two sets of drag rudders, two engines, two redrives. $1800.00

[Buzz]

i have n00b type questions also :

about floats: whats the rule on using public water ways ? local i have a navigable channel and a big TVA impoundment available. Could i just trailer my UL down to the fisherman's launch ramp , put in ,
and fly off?
how about a N numbered LSA , could i just put down on any suitable stretch of water?
there are a number of regulators might be interested, the corp of engineers , they run the impoundments i think , the Coast Guard, they rule on the navigable channels[Coast Guard has ships stationed local] . in tennesee the TWRA has the hammer for boats.
i think it would be a real +gas+ to put a UL in the mix. .
[ i have been searching the regs on this and it is very confusing to me

Have 500 hours in ultralights on floats in the populated area of SE Wisconsin. Probably have landed on 35+ bodies of water in the area.

One of the things I did before operating was I called the local law enforcement agencies around the area and told them I'd be operating on the lake in their area and then gave the my name and phone number and said to call me if there was ever any kind of complaint. That proactive approach showed I didn't want to be a nuisance.

They appreciated the heads up and I never got called. [I was NOT calling to ask permission. They don't have the authority to tell me I can operate. I was only trying to professionally courteous and and make it easy for them to contact me if there was ever a complaint. ]

Have only been stopped once by law enforcement on a lake. They said, "There is a reg against airplanes landing on the lake." I said, "I understand. This is an ultralight, it's not an airplane." They asked me to wait while they called the FAA office. The FAA said, "Yep, he's right. That's not an airplane. Any seaplane reg would not apply to him." So they said, "No problem. Have a nice day."

Most of the seaplane regs have been on the books a long time and have been forgotten by any local law enforcement. No one even knows they are there. [At least in our area.] The seaplane regs locally are not enforced except on that one lake I got stopped on. [And I think that stop was just 2 guys bored on a nice day.]

In the end, it's all about how much noise you make and how long it takes you to take off. Ultralight are up and away so quick they really don't have much impact. If it was a Cessna 172 eating up half the lake on takeoff -- that's a different story. That will draw the ire of some lakeside residents.

The one thing you would need to find out about is any wildlife protected areas. There are stretches of the Mississippi that are protected. Friend got a pretty big fine for landing on the river in one of those areas.

-Buzz