sutter@osu-eddie.UUCP (Bob Sutterfield) (11/18/85)
> Does anyone out there know anything about ultra-light "airplanes"? > I would like info on like: cost, safety, ease of use (like do you > need a big place for a runway), regulations, etc. > Thanks. > > jsl@ciprnet.princeton or > ...allegra!princeton!ivy!jsl Before any other considerations, don't go anywhere near one without three-axis control. Be @b(very) leery of any weight-shift "control system". I have seen an ultralight bent by pilot-induced oscillations and overcontrol on takeoff. The craft was not a pretty sight, nor was the person on board. I don't know how long he was in the hospital. Even with three-axis control, I'm not so sure... -- Human: Bob Sutterfield Facilities Management Division The Ohio State University Instruction & Research Computer Center Workplace: Ohio Cooperative Extension Service, Computer Management Group OCES VAX System Manager/Programmer (VMS) Mail: ...cbosgd!osu-eddie!sutter.UUCP or: sutter@ohio-state.CSNET or: 2120 Fyffe Rd rm 109, Columbus OH 43210 MaBell: (614) 422 - 9034
bryan@fluke.UUCP (Bryan Sparrowhawk) (11/23/85)
In article <825@osu-eddie.UUCP> sutter@osu-eddie.UUCP (Bob Sutterfield) writes: >> Does anyone out there know anything about ultra-light "airplanes"? >> cost, safety, ease, runway, regulations, etc. >> >> jsl@ciprnet.princeton or >> ...allegra!princeton!ivy!jsl > >... don't go anywhere near one without three-axis control. Be >@b(very) leery of any weight-shift "control system". I have seen an >ultralight bent by pilot-induced oscillations and overcontrol on >takeoff.... > >Even with three-axis control, I'm not so sure... > >-- > Bob Sutterfield > Ohio Cooperative Extension Service, Computer Management Group > ...cbosgd!osu-eddie!sutter.UUCP Maybe it would help if a person that has actually done some of it all, puts in his two cents ... like me. I began my "formal" flying about 3.5 years ago by approximately simultaneously "soloing" in the usual C-150, and also in a Kasperwing ultralight ... where the yoke is "elevator-fixed" and you move your body toward/away from it for pitch control. Cost: You can find them for $1000 used to $13,000 new. Do at least a partial teardown before buying a used one, if you can. I would never spend $13,000 on an ultralight! I share an ultralight with three other people. With that arrangement, we have the craft, a formal set of bylaws and operating rules, a minimal hangar, a parachute, and a private place to fly, ... all for a total investment of about $1400 each. The purchase price of the used machine (60 hours) was $4200, three+ years ago. Running expenses are gasoline/oil, maintenance, etc and are very minimal. You will find the total cost per hour varies radically, depending upon how much fly time you put in the ultralight. Most people, including me and my comrades, have a rather poor $/hr rate; $35-$70/hour due to those few hours a year that we actually fly. The thrill per dollar per hour rate exceeds anything reasonable that I can think of ... even at that rate! Have you considered the cost in TIME you will spend on your ultralight?? It will probably cost you your marriage, too (seriously)! Safety: It ALL depends on you. If you are a self-confident conservative coward, like me, you will be able to buzz around for a long time without a hitch. I compare it to riding a horse. If you know what you are doing, know your animal, tighten the cinch, look out for low limbs, know where the gopher holes are, snakes etc., and don't ride in the center of roads, rodeos or electrical storms, you will probably only fall off a few times (none for me .. so far ... but I'm planning on it!). Engine failures? I keep changing the plug 'needlessly' and monitor engine temperature religiously. All I really fear is a pissed-off farmer! Fly a craft design that has a good blood line ... and then don't blame anyone or anything else for your mishaps. Become competent. Know/follow the FARs. Know what makes things fly (start by making paper airplanes and by throwing cats off of roofs :-) etc). Maybe solo in a 'real' airplane first. Take a ground school class so that you know enough to stay away from cumulonimbi, TCAs, active MTRs and ILS approaches etc. Read ALL of the accident/mishap reports that are available ... that is a real key! I have witnessed a beginner that I was coaching, do a 50 ft AGL departure 'stall' in the Kasperwing ultralight. This particular machine (a highly reflexed flying wing design) turned what would have been a death dive with an ordinary machine .. into a forward mush ... no abrupt roll, no altitude loss ... nothing. Dual instruction is the only way to go, especially in less forgiving three-axis craft ... including Cessnas, 707s etc. It isn't even slightly as gloomy as the media and the safety sermons paint ... but go ahead and take it all to heart ... it will do you good. I know a lot of people that fly ultralights with various degrees of caution. Some of them I consider to be crazy and yet, I only rarely hear of serious and fatal injury accidents in other parts of the world. Those people must really fly crazy! The only accidents I have been close to are minor and usually happen to raw beginners and to the overly confident. Get dual instruction, especially if you haven't 'grown up' with aviation. For me, a weekend of ultralighting in reasonable weather is the risk-equivalent to a weekend ski trip. Read the accident reports and judge for yourself what risk category you are in. Use a parachute. Balistic chutes have VERY fast deployment ($1000+). Hand throw chutes are more reliable IF you keep your head ($500). Fly high (1000+ ft). Ease: In my opinion, all of the ultralights that I have flown are easier/simpler to handle than the general aviation vehicles with the exception of the power plants. Maintenance is a chore that you must do yourself. Be good at it. I highly recommend that you not plan on keeping your "rag and tube" ultralight folded up in your garage, haul it out to the patch, assemble it, and then fly it. First of all, that gets old FAST. More important, I consider that to be one of the most unsafe practices in ultralighting (... followed closely by letting your machine sit outside, subject to the elements .. hidden corrosion .. ultraviolet decomposition of the dacron sail .. theft/vandalism .. etc). Sure, a perfect preflight check will turn up all of the missing parts and miscellaneous transit damage... but nobody does a perfect preflight. There is too much risk of causing fresh undetected faults by constant vehicle disruption .. ordinary reliability theory will tell you that. Occasional tear-down for fatigue/wear inspection is a must! Runway: We use a 1000 ft mowed strip in the middle of a grass mix field that is harvested for cattle feed. I like to mow the strip as narrow as I can stand it ... it is more fun to try to land that way. There is plenty of tall-grass margin on both sides of the strip (>200 ft) that will bring us to a quick stop if we goof! Worming in and out of a little 300 ft. strip with obstacles, will get to you eventually. It is very important to have no obstacles in/near your departure path that you will hit if your engine quits at any point during takeoff. Your two-cycle engine will quit on you ... bet on it! It's no big deal if you have already planned on it. You can make the world's tightest loop around a power line, just before your spars vaporize! The only dangerous obstacle that we have to deal with on our patch is a lawsuit-happy horse owner that will certainly kill us if we get near his property. You haven't appreciated wind gradients until you have flown an ultralight. Approach slopes vary widely, even on gentle days! If you get caught in some air that is merely light turbulence for a C-150, you will appreciate every foot in every direction down there that you can find (however you will do better than you think)! Watch out for environmental features that can create rotors. One that will make your 172 twist a bit will set you on your ear in an ultralight. You don't want that to happen when you are near the ground. Regulations: Ordinary aviation and ultralights (Air Recreational Vehicles (ARVs) in the regs.) are respectively, analogous to automobiles and bicycles. Bicycles are not allowed on freeways. Ultralights are not allowed in TCAs etc. Every now and then you hear of some ignorant child causing someone to swerve to avoid collision. There are many fatalities and skinned knees. Bicycle riders have been known to get ticketed. Automobile drivers get nailed more often, though. The big flaw in the bicycle analogy is that, somehow, bicycles get more respect than ultralights. I think it is due to the newness of ultralights that the snobbery has been generated; bicycles have been grandfathered into society. A brief rundown of FAR part 103 ... An ARV is: * under 254 pounds empty excluding floats and safety equipment (* under 150 pound if a hang glider) * 25 Kts max stall speed (by formula or demonstrated) * Max speed, full throttle level flight: 55 Kts (by formula or demonstrated) * 5 gallons max fuel capacity * not permitted to have an airworthiness certificate (for some legal reason that is important, I guess) You may NOT: * fly over populated areas (which could be one complaining person) * fly over Ronald Reagan or near Cape Canaveral near launch time! (a loophole that was recently fixed, silently and quickly) * be VFR "on top" (constant ground reference required) * fly at night * fly in controlled airspace (no IFR, TCAs, ATAs, >18K altitude etc) * have any right of way over any other air vehicle I am sure I forgot something ... I didn't repeat the entire set of regs here. In response to Bob Sutterfields comment: The differences in control are definite but not extreme FOR ME. I exaggerate "FOR ME" because I had the opportunity to 'first-learn' two different control methods, full three-axis ... and the weight shift hybrid. In contrast, I have (still) a friend who has had the standard three-axis reflexes for several years, and now 'flys' the weight-shift hybrid Kasperwing. He has had more difficulty with the 'wing' than any other of the five people who have flown it ... and he is the only seasoned pilot in the group! The problem exists when situations arise that cause his adrenaline to flow, and the 'first-learned' reflexes take over, resulting in reversal of intended pitch control. (Keep in mind that as you fold your elbows in a C-150, you head up, in a Kasperwing, the opposite will happen.) This is the primary reason why you should stick with the system that you first learned ... and that is yet another reason why three-axis is so popular. I have seen another "experienced" pilot attempt to fly a totally weight shift 'Wizard' ultralight. His problem was primarily that of first learned reflexes and a considerable amount of overconfidence that discouraged any INSTRUCTION. I mean ... after all ... :-) "After 2000 hours, with an IFR multi-engine airline transport rated commercial whizbang triple kamakaze endorsement and a whole pile of engine failures to his record, he ought to be teaching people to fly the "simple little thing"!! I saw the first two-in-a-row of his self-induced mishaps. I wonder if he is still alive. All in all, I would advise medium to high-time pilots to stay away from weight shift ultralights. They have difficulty handling them for the reasons stated above. This is not meant as a gouge. Ultralights are different enough to catch you by suprise, unless you take the time to 'sneak up' on them. It is nice to have the versatility of three axis control but it is not necessary. Miscellaneous: If you expect something useful from an ultralight, forget it. If you like cats, you probably have the right frame of mind! :-) If you don't have a knack for those damn two cycle engines, then wait until a more reliable power plant (that you can afford) becomes available, with the same power to weight ratio as 2-strokes. If you don't have mechanical sense and don't like to tinker lots and lots, don't bother. There are NO reliable ultralight A&Ps to "take care of it" for you. You must be "one" with your machine. If you have a "show-off" tendency ... definitely don't get into an ultralight, the news media will enjoy your death at the expense of a perfectly reasonable sport. Thoroughbred horse owners/trainers are deathly afraid of ultralights. The horses couldn't care less! (Truth and sarcasm from a semi-private delemma that I am involved with!) Carry liability insurance for protection from societal leaches and bleeding-heart juries. I fly the ultralight for the joy of experiencing flight! (hang gliding ... even more so!) I fly the spam-can if I want to impress someone! I drive, if I want to get there! Disclaimer: My views do not reflect those of the Boeing Company ... ... especially due to the fact that I have never been employed there.
brad@gcc-milo.ARPA (Brad Parker) (11/27/85)
In article <1026@vax2.fluke.UUCP> bryan@fluke.UUCP (Bryan Sparrowhawk) writes: >I have witnessed a beginner that I was coaching, do a 50 ft AGL >departure 'stall' in the Kasperwing ultralight. This particular >machine (a highly reflexed flying wing design) turned what would have >been a death dive with an ordinary machine .. into a forward mush ... >no abrupt roll, no altitude loss ... nothing. Dual instruction is the >only way to go, especially in less forgiving three-axis craft ... >including Cessnas, 707s etc. If a Cessna is "less forgiving", you must be able to fly these things blind folded. Most cessnas (150-172's) will take off and land with no hands given correct trim. Personally, I wouldn't fly anything which had an uncertified airframe. The damn thing could fold up when you least expect it. (those 4 g barrel rolls can play hell on the aluminum struts ;-) Whether or not to fly ultralights seems to be based more on "religion" than on fact. I'll fly one when it can accend at more than 1000 fpm. -- J Bradford Parker seismo!harvard!gcc-bill!brad "Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon." - Alan Perlis