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Hausse

Thinking about getting an Ultralight

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Are there any Ultralight pilots here? I'm thinking about getting one and would like to hear if you guys like them or not.

Worth buying? If so, what kind?

Are they pure fun vehicles or are they actually useful for transportation to some extent? So could I fly it to the DZ and back or is it not very practical to stray too far from a good LZ?

Thanks!

Edited to add: I have Zero piloting experience and will prob be flying it mostly in CA.

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hahhaha i could only imagine driving from san diego to perris and seeing an ultralight flying over head at 60-75mph on his way to the DZ :). that would be awesome! =P.....other than that i have no useful information :)
IHYD

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hahhaha i could only imagine driving from san diego to perris and seeing an ultralight flying over head at 60-75mph on his way to the DZ :). that would be awesome! =P.....other than that i have no useful information :)



Haha lol well in that case thanks for the very funny but not too informative answer :D

One thing is sure though, I'd laugh and point ;)

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>Worth buying?

If you like flying them around, sure. They are pretty useless for transportation since you cannot fly them into most controlled airspaces or over "congested areas." (IOW you can't fly them from San Diego to Perris.) There's a small contingent of them at Perris; they generally buzz around the southwest corner of the DZ for part of the day.

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I really doubt you'd want to leave one outside in the wind and UV. Best stored at home or in a hangar.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

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The term ultralight is not what is used to be. You may want to look into sportpilot which is basically what ultralights used to be and more. It doesnt have all the privleges as a regular private pilot but it also has less restrictions and takes less time and money to get. One of the best parts is that you don't have to get a third class medical for sport pilot.

Aircraft like the challenger II and titans are very common and can run with fully enclosed cabins and travel faster more comfortably. These are two very common old school ultralights but are now classified as LSA or light sport aricraft.

Do a search on sport pilot and you will come up with a lot of information.

As far as performance figures go to the aircraft website and it will give you cruise speeds, takeoff and landing distances. You can get aircraft with folding wings and store them in a trailer. Renting hanger space or even a tiedown space at the airport gets very costly.

Chuck

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Are there any Ultralight pilots here? I'm thinking about getting one and would like to hear if you guys like them or not.



I built one. I flew it for a couple of years. I crashed it 5-6 times. Other pilot friends flew it and crashed it.

I was a DZO, J/M, I-rating, 2000 hours flying jumpers, hot air ballooning and...nothing scared me as much as flying my ultra-light. Nothing.

Why? Take a look: http://www.aicommand.com/ultralite.htm

Notice that it has two engines of 5.5 HP each. What you can't notice is that it will not fly with only one. That's a poor design. In fairness to the guy who designed the machine, after 30 units with the 5.5 HP engines they increased the horsepower.

With more HP--which I never upgraded to--my machine would be a very fun experience. Without enough HP I was victim of every little downdraft or crosswind. Not enough power and with a reverse-ruddervator not enough control.

Bottom line: Learn to fly first, at a minimum solo. I had 1000 hours flying jumpers when I started flying mine.

LOTS of heart-pumping, adrenaline flow and fear---if that's what you like. Spend a few hours using google; you'll learn everything you need to know.

Be warned: They will scare you more than anything you've ever done.
Guru312

I am not DB Cooper

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Are there any Ultralight pilots here? I'm thinking about getting one and would like to hear if you guys like them or not.



I built one. I flew it for a couple of years. I crashed it 5-6 times. Other pilot friends flew it and crashed it.

I was a DZO, J/M, I-rating, 2000 hours flying jumpers, hot air ballooning and...nothing scared me as much as flying my ultra-light. Nothing.

Why? Take a look: http://www.aicommand.com/ultralite.htm

Notice that it has two engines of 5.5 HP each. What you can't notice is that it will not fly with only one. That's a poor design. In fairness to the guy who designed the machine, after 30 units with the 5.5 HP engines they increased the horsepower.

With more HP--which I never upgraded to--my machine would be a very fun experience. Without enough HP I was victim of every little downdraft or crosswind. Not enough power and with a reverse-ruddervator not enough control.

Bottom line: Learn to fly first, at a minimum solo. I had 1000 hours flying jumpers when I started flying mine.

LOTS of heart-pumping, adrenaline flow and fear---if that's what you like. Spend a few hours using google; you'll learn everything you need to know.

Be warned: They will scare you more than anything you've ever done.



Sweet thanks for the input!

So basically:

1. Don't build one but buy a good one with as much HP as possible

2. Learn how to fly first

3. I'm gonna shit my pants.

Sounds like good times.

How sever were those crashes? 7 in a few years sounds like it will be VERY exciting.

Just found out that there is an Ultralight club in San Diego, so that's where I'll go to get a better idea about this once I move.

Let's hear some stories about your flights guys!

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I built one. I flew it for a couple of years. I crashed it 5-6 times. Other pilot friends flew it and crashed it.

Notice that it has two engines of 5.5 HP each.



That sounds like one of the very earliest ultralights. The link was 404 but it I'm guessing a Lazair, a machine with a highly efficient wing - not much else could fly on that sort of horsepower. They never claimed more than a few hundred feet per minute climb -- and that's with everything perfectly tuned.

Your machine sounds like something that would have appeared about 1979, when the sport was extremely experimental and few engines were available, people were adapting chainsaw-like engines, using direct drive, trying to make their own belt reduction drives, and so on.

In comparison, the smallest Rotax 2-stroke you can get these days is 41 hp. Two strokes are certainly more fiddly to maintain and treat right. It's a whole other world if flying something with am 80 hp Rotax 912 4-stroke these days, much bigger / faster / heavier than those original ultralights. Still, airplanes take enough fiddling and learning about so one wants to be 'really into it' if taking care of one.

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I have a sport pilot license and an ultralight. I went skydiving a few years back, loved the canopy ride and then went into flying ultralights. Now I would much rather jump on someone elses plane and go skydiving...

Let me clarify what I fly.
I fly an ultralight trike (hang glider wing with a pod under it- 3 wheels, Motor on rear). I LOVE this thing. You can glide a LONG way without any power which to me seems MUCH safer than most other aircraft. Cost is cheap to buy one depending on what you want. I store mine at a local hanger (live 2 miles from airport) and that seems to work pretty well.

I personally don't like fixed wing ultralights but thats just me. Go find an instructor and take some lessons in whichever aircraft you think you want, That will tell you quickly if its something that you want to continue in.

Hope this helps you.
***Due to recent cutbacks, The light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off***

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