Ultralight aircraft flying

[Roly Nelson]

I just spent 5 hours with a local ultralight aircraft flying club, watching them compete, dropping sand-filled socks and trying to knock over some bowling pins at the end of the runway. These guys were having a ball and were as friendly as teardropers. This "off topic" section doesn't get much action, and I was wondering if any of you camping folks fly ultralights or are somehow involved with them. I am a licensed private pilot and this kind of low and slow flying looks like a lot of fun and one wouldn't have to sell the farm to afford it. Flying has been in my blood for over 50 years and I miss it. Just askin'.
Roly

[48Rob]

Roly,

No...but been dreaming about it for years...

Rob

[Redneck Teepee]

Don't own one, but have been around people that do, I have observed and asked questions over the years. They are way safer than they use to be now with the ballistic parachutes on them and 30 plus years of constant air worthy improvement's. I have enough hobbies as it is, plus the wife would call the rubber truck to come get me if I dared bring one home. They say they are like sitting in a flying lawn chair, if you can visualize that........... I can and it sounds like fun!

[Bigwoods]

The farmstead we live on was owned by a adventurous guy that wanted his own ultralight. He was 70 years old. So he made our place into an ultralight dealer and airstrip. We have an airstrip and a 40' X 40' hanger. I keep my canoe in it. He built a shop where he had a guy building and a partner that trained pilots. They trained about 50 of them, I built my tear in the shop.

His personal aircraft was a two seated trainer that had a canvas body and it was red. He flew all over the county and was nicknamed the Red Baron.
He had a great time flying and hanging out with ultralight pilots.

There is an Air Force base about 25 miles away. We were surprised how many pilots came out to train and buy there own machines. Ultralight were zooming all around the place.

[Bigwoods]

Old Bud was a dreamer and entrepreneur. About 20 years ago the nearby town had a very active Lions Club and every summer we had a 2 day festival with food and games and a parade. I was the Lions President. We had a raffle also. Old Bud thought it was boring that we just drew a name for the ATV or Boat raffle winner so we devised a new way to do it using his ultralight.

We sold 1000 tickets and his idea was to make a bombbay door in the passenger seat of the ultralight. The festival was in the city park so we marked off a 25' circle and a smaller 2' circle in the center with a large glass in the very center. Bud flew the ultralight loaded with ping pong balls that were numbered and bombed the park target as he flew over. Dropped the balls from about 30 feet. Ping pong balls were flying all over town and with the ultralight having a pusher propeller, many balls met their demise in the prop. Sounded like a freaking machine gun.

It was so funny to watch and was the talk of the town for a while. He did manage to get one in the glass for the winner and a few in the 2' circle for secondary prizes. The only downside was the kids in town took all the ping pong balls as we planned to reuse them., It was a great time and a great memory. The Red Baron had a blast.

[Wolfpack]

My Father built a kolb Twinstar ultralight kit, after he retired in Britain some years ago. It ended up taking 6 years, as he went back to work for a while. His build was just slightly heavier than the ultralight requirements, so it was registered as a light aircraft. He kept it for a couple of years, and said it didn't go much faster than the ducks.

After almost 50 years of flying professionally and as a hobby, he sold it and gave up flying for good.

This was his ultralight.

[tlsallada]

Years ago in the days of BC (Before Children) I used to own and fly a weight shift Quicksilver ultralight. It was powered by a 15 HP Yamaha two stroke engine. You actually controlled it by shifting your weight - push yourself back to increase altitude - forward to decrease - left or right to turn. I hung from the mast in a seated position in a harness. I flew it for several years while I built my Max-Air Hummer.
The Hummer was much more like a conventional plane where you have a fixed seat and used a stick to control it. The Hummer was built by a company located just several miles away from me in a little town called Glen Rock. Lots of fun!! I had a couple 'engine out' issues with the Quicksilver but luckily always had a cornfield nearby where I could glide into safely.
I had a hand deployed parachute mounted that I luckily never had to use in case of major failure. The theory was it would bring me and the aircraft down safely.

[Roly Nelson]

I've been reading some of the on line ultralight sights, and it seems that this mode of flying by far, has the highest amount of fatalities. Also, it looks like engine maintainance is a constant problem, and repairs that should be made, often aren't, which probably accounts for the high number of pilots killed. Hmmm, I guess I'll stick to teardropping, at least if the engine quits, it can just pull off of the road. In over 800 hours of single engine private pilot flying, I never had a mechanical problem, and when the weather was questionable, I stayed on the ground. Hey, those white billowing clouds, can build up below you and gobble you up so you can't see the wingtips. As they say, there are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots. I guess that is why I'm still around, but I still miss it.
Roly

[Corwin C]

I have wanted my own for years. There's one person locally who flies quite regularly. I would insist upon the full 3 axis control for myself ... I live in a mountainous area and wouldn't want turbulence to cause loss of control due to a low "g" condition.

[tony.latham]

This is my old bird. Built it from a kit. Avid Flyer STOL.


It was close to an ultralight, but was a notch above it. I ran a Rotax 582 out in it and put Subaru EA81 in it after that. Flew it to Oshkosh a couple of years.

Good times. It's moved on and so have I.

T

[sealbeachbum]

I use to have a Quicksilver MXL-11. Like Redneck said, it's a flying beach chair! I sold it years ago. I'm a retired commercial pilot now and really miss flying! I'm going to have to get another ultralight! I have my sites on a N3 PUP. It looks like a miniature Piper J3 Cub.

[Redneck Teepee]

I use to have a Quicksilver MXL-11. Like Redneck said, it's a flying beach chair! I sold it years ago. I'm a retired commercial pilot now and really miss flying! I'm going to have to get another ultralight! I have my sites on a N3 PUP. It looks like a miniature Piper J3 Cub.

Get the "Maserati" Version Bill...This belongs to a friend of mine:





Harmon Rocket

[sealbeachbum]

That's a beautiful airplane, but unfortunately I can't pass the FAA medical anymore, so ultralight are my only option now.

[mrsteve]

That's a beautiful airplane, but unfortunately I can't pass the FAA medical anymore, so ultralight are my only option now.

Fly SLA, no medical- just a drivers license

[lrrowe]

Does SLA mean, Sport Light Aircraft?