bimmerphile
MCAS Meat Inhibition Logic
no but every ultralight pilot I’ve met has crashed several, which makes sense given the state of most devices I’ve seen operated out of weird little GA fields
Flying
- Thread starter WacoFan
- Start date
Pilot Fighter
Well-Known Member
I’ve owned a few ultralights and currently own one.
I currently own a powered paramotor, it flies like a parachute. Years ago, I owned two other ultralights. One was a trike with a kite wing, it flew like a hang glider. I also owned a TEAM Himax, a single-seat taildragger that looked somewhat like a small Piper Cub. My Himax was overweight and should have been operated in the Experimental-Amateur Built category with an N-Number. Nobody cared, it looked like an ultralight.
Most of the three-axis ultralights fly like larger aircraft at lower speeds. Flying characteristics vary across the spectrum. My Himax flew like a proper little plane.
By definition, Part 103 aircraft must be single-seat. There’s an exception for training that allows two-seat aircraft. Most of these two-seat aircraft are not really be used for training.
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Rosstafari
Likes tacos
General Topics > Shootin’ the S**t
NetworkJC > Drinkin’ Round the Shed
Ask a Flight Surgeon > Hey Man Look at This Thing on My Neck
Ask an Aviation Attorney > (404 Not Found)
The Lav > Empty Gatorade Bottle
Boris Badenov
Fortis Leader
Sign me up. But I'll probably crash it. I haven't actually FLOWN anything for (let's be generous and say that a Falcon 50 is "really flying"...the controls are hydraulic-(ish), but they're at least on paper manually revert-able) for like a decade. I am a Grandpa of the Magenta. "I pressed the Approach button, what's it doing now???" If I'm feeling spicy and well-rested, I hand-fly to maybe 18k and on the way down maybe turn off the autopilot at a couple thousand (not the auto-throttles, though, I'm not a Maniac!). I can sweep the upper deck for fake bombs in like 5 minutes flat, though.
killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
I flew in one of the weight-shift variety (at least I think it was - you handled steering with a trapeze-looking thing) off a beach in Mexico once.
It was awesome. I loved it. I was a passenger but it was still great.
alaskadrifter
Landing gear operator
If you never lost your medical you’re pretty much good to go for LSA flying. I’m not saying I know people flying all over without a medical in Cubs and stuff, but it definitely happens. I don’t know how the FAA would even know unless someone tattled or said pilots had an accident (and even then it’d have to be reported).
Nice looking PA-11. If I can no longer hold a medical my choice would be an 11 (with flaps if I could find one), or a Sport Cub if I was rolling in dough.
inigo88
Composite-lover
There are some really cool LSAs out there too. An old friend owned a one of a kind 80% Scale single-seat J-3 replica called the Parson’s mini-Cub which I got to fly a couple times. Was powered by a “half VW” engine (literally a 4 cylinder air cooled VW cut in half and converted to a 2 cylinder). The thing was an absolute blast to fly and could 3-point land and stop on a single runway stripe.
www.homebuiltairplanes.com
If all else fails, Quicksilver made an ultralight called the MX Super that is fully aerobatic. If I ever lose my medical (and decide I value my life less) I’m 100% buying one and taking it on the airshow circuit.
View: https://youtu.be/Q4yQ8BxQthQ?si=J2B_C_VvvPFqCo0F
Parson Mini-Cub
A while back a photo of a single seat cub was posted. It was a good-looking, very scale, J3 Cub replica with a single seat and a VW engine. I spent a while trying to find the thread but could not. So, to answer the question many had of "what is that?", here you go: Parson Mini-Cub. 80% scale...
www.homebuiltairplanes.com
If all else fails, Quicksilver made an ultralight called the MX Super that is fully aerobatic. If I ever lose my medical (and decide I value my life less) I’m 100% buying one and taking it on the airshow circuit.
View: https://youtu.be/Q4yQ8BxQthQ?si=J2B_C_VvvPFqCo0F
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knot4u
Repeat Offender
The first rule of going "off grid" is to not discuss it anywhere that might be anything other than hearsay. I'd suggest if you need to scratch that itch adjust your requirement to an aircraft with dual seats and controls and become close friends with a CFI, age isn't important, and fly around to your hearts content legally. You can't just buy a piece of land and plant a hangar and an airplane seed and expect them to make you an airfield. Aviation is not and never has been a successful individual pursuit, I may be completely misguided but I'm not aware of anyone that's ever flown without some co-conspirators, someone had to help build it. I'm sure you've heard of Scott Bloomquist, super late model dirt car racer with some wild ideas about aliens and his dad, but he was living exactly what you're wondering about. That dude was sort of a rock star in the dirt racing world, he was not what folks were accustomed to but he was fast and despite everyones protestations he played by the rules and won. Not that his reputation is completely ruined but he regularly flew around his families property in a Cub and one day (he'd been diagnosed with cancer) he flew into one of the barns alongside the runway. I'm not saying he did it on purpose but I doubt his daughter thinks that was a great ending, flying off into the sunset wouldn't have been any better. Stay with your family as long as you can, they need you more than you need them and when the time eventually does come neither of you will be alone. Acting like a 20 year old at 60 is not a good look.
You are certainly consist at making unwarranted assumptions about other peoples’ intentions and motivations.
alaskadrifter
Landing gear operator
Those are certainly words.
drunkenbeagle
Gang Member
If I were “StinsonFan,” I would take a look at motor gliders. They don’t need a medical. And are in many ways awfully similar to airplanes. And a logbook endorsement would be all you need to fly one PIC. Or a certificate to do so with passengers. And the certificate is pretty quick and easy to get as an add on.
WacoFan
Bigly
A lot of them made sense though. And, I know someone who spun his Great Lakes in that was most likely intentional after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis and his family, even with the terminal diagnosis, was still devastated. My grandpa swore to me that it was intentional - the guy was a P-47 pilot in WW2 and a guy he trusted with flying his Wacos. That said, I was hoping for some of the answers here - motorglider, ultralights, LSA, etc. Keep it going if there are more thoughts. These machines look fun and cool.
Boris Badenov
Fortis Leader
What if people could just check out at their own speed? Nah, that would offend the Sky Bully. You can't die until He decides to kill you. Generally painfully and over a long period of time. All part of the Plan.
Wardogg
Meat Popsicle
You started it. Which religion? The flying spaghetti monster? Because last I checked the Bible doesn’t mention it.
Boris Badenov
Fortis Leader
Cool, I can end it, then.
CFI A&P
Exploring the world one toilet at a time.
Didn’t this just happen with a fella and a Cub + a barn?
Wardogg
Meat Popsicle
Fun game.
Autothrust Blue
Welcome aboard the Washington State Ferries
I doubt that this guy made any deliberate choice to go out this way, but, I guess it was a few years ago...a sailplane came to rest, rather gently, in a field out in Texas. The pilot and sole occupant was found dead at the controls—he had a heart attack, and the glider...well, it's a glider, it was trimmed out to do glider things, and there was nothing to hit, and it made a rather gentle return to Earth all by itself and just came to rest in that field, intact.
I found it—and still find it, obviously, as I'm bringing it up here—an odd mix of sad, joyous and incredibly, gracefully poetic. I would only hope the pilot suffered no pain (probably not, but we can hope) in the process.