Ultralight Planes In General Aviation

[baronbernie]

Now that Flite Test has made its way into full scale general aviation why not also look into another section of aviation, namely the ultralights. When they (the ultralight) first made there presence known, ultralights were powered by large 10 horsepower engines and required no regulation by the F.A.A. But as time went by ultralights became bigger, faster and more complicated causing the F.A.A. to step in and provide restrictions and tougher guidelines for safety of the pilot and rider. A look into the world of ultralights and how they are used in todays world would be fun, informational and educational.

 

[DharanFlyer]

I love the T-Bird. Got to work at where they were made during high school and some of my favorite memories.

 

[JimCR120]

I have an uncle who used to assemble and sell kits. He had a two seater he showed me but we didn't take it up. I never had the opportunity after that. Bummer!

 

[Tench745]

I think hang gliders (essentially early unpowered ultralights) would also be a good area for FT to explore.

 

[frogman]

When I first got married in the early 80s I worked in an ultralight factory down in Miami. It was basically a knockoff of the Eipper Quicksilver. Was a fun job. We even got to build a shop plane from parts that were not quite perfect but still safe. I learned to fly it and logged about 10 hours in it. What a blast that job was...till the test pilot crashed a prototype and essentially bankrupted them. This picture I found online was on the road around the factory. It looks like our trainer 2 seater. There is a good chance I actually helped with that plane. I do remember the sail design well.

http://www.ultralightnews.com/antulbg/images/Condor/condor2place.jpg

 

[FoamyDM]

I used to watch Hang Gliders launch themselves off the cliff just down from Hueblien Tower in Simsbury CT. when we would hike up to the Tower. It still makes my stomach turn over thinking of how close those guys got to the edge prepping for launch. making sure the glider didn't accidentally blow away. (or so I imaged.)

This is what it looked like:

This is why they did it:

Hang gliding and ultralights have been an interest to me since seeing that.