Any pilots around here?

[thayne]

Check out my new hobby 8)

http://www.thayne.us/uc

[g_shocker182]

dont be crop dusting our cities, now ya hear?

[racer-x]

That sounds like a lot of fun!

How much is it going to cost?

Does it have to get a full Aviation Inspection Certification before they'll let you fly it?

How much to register it?

Maybe a possible future hobby me. It may have to have speed governer, but you should be able to hide a nice bottle of Nitrous Oxide in there. Just in case you have a need for speed!

Good luck.

[thayne]

How much is it going to cost?
I have calculated about $8000, maybe a little more for accessories and stuff.

Does it have to get a full Aviation Inspection Certification before they'll let you fly it?
Nope, Ultralights are not regulated in the US

How much to register it?
Nothing Well, actually you need to register it with one of the national Ultralight organizations or airports won't allow you to land it or buy fuel, but it's cheap, like $25 or $35 bucks

If you have your own landing strip and don't plan on going anywhere you don't have to do anything.

No license is required either, but you'd be nuts to try and teach yourself! I'm taking lessons right now and it will cost about $1000 for all the training and a flight certificate (which is required to land at public airports)

Really the only restriction are you have to fly only durning daylight hours in good weather condition, which means you have to be able to see the ground at all times. I'm not sure, but I think you have to stay under 12,000 feet too, but you really can't go any higher than that without onboard oxygen. Most Ultralight flyers stay under 5000 feet. You also cannot land at controled airports, which is all of the international airports, but small public and private airports are fine and they are located everywhere.

My home airport will be a very small private strip located only two miles from my house. Even though it's privatly owned they allow anyone to land there. They will charge me $35 a month for a tie down space. They don't have fuel service there, but there is another airport 18 miles north of there that does. I can also run auto gas in it if I like, but I'm thinking that would be more trouble than just going to an airport to fuel up, also aviation fuel runs better and you get better fuel economy which means you can go further on a fill up

[rallynavvie]

I would highly recommend getting your private or recreational pilot's license in order to fly any sort of ultralight aircraft. In fact I was pretty sure a rec license was required for ultralight flying, even in class G airspace. The reason being is that I've had more than one encounter with an UL pilot without a radio getting in my way when doing touch-and-go at smaller airports. The worst are some of the arrogant duster pilots that like to try to roar onto the active runway when I'm turning short final

As neat as that looks the only kit plane I would ever consider owning was the Sherpa. Man could that thing haul. Dunno if they're even made anymore, just remember seeing an article about them way back when I was doing my private pilot training. I've got a seaplane cert so I'd get it with floats. Unfortunately I just don't have the time and money to own. Maybe someday I'll go half on a Cirrus, but my real dream would be an Otter with the radial still in it 8)

[pacmania_2001]

Those things are fun as, I remember going in one as a kid and thinking it was the closest thing to actually flying.

[thayne]

rallynavvie,
I am 100% sure there are no license requirements to fly Ultralights in the US. That said, I would never concider flying without a radio, that's just nuts, especially in active airspace and airports.

I can also say you'd be nuts to try and teach yorself to fly. Today for example I know I would have crashed if my instructor wasn't there! It was windy and rough as hell! I kept pretty good control of the plane at 2000 feet, but coming in on our final approach it got real hairy and I know I would have lost it if on my own.

[Solarjetman]

I am a pilot, I have had my license for just under 2 years, and flying for a little over 2. You are correct that SOME planes do not need a license to fly. I am not sure that includes all ultra-lights though. I do not know about this one either. I never really committed it to memory, but the requirements are something like max flight time of 30 minutes and no more than 5 gallons of fuel. Check a copy of the FAR/AIM to be sure, your instructor should have one if you don't. Also there is a limit to the distance you can fly away from your takeoff point.

Another thing to consider is if you are operating within 30 nautical miles of a class B airport (like I do). If so it is required to have a altitude encoding transponder on board.

I'm sure your instructor wil bring all this up with you if they have not already.

Good for you for taking up this hobby. I still remember my first few lessons. And I can related about those crosswinds. They are very difficult until you get some practice. Just wait til your first solo!!!! Now THAT is a rush.

[thayne]

I can't wait til my first solo!

There is no flight time limit, you're only limited by how far you can go without filling up. My plane for example burns approx 1.5 GPH at 75%, so I can fly 3.5 to 4 hours without landing.

Also the distance restriction for a controled airport is 5 Statute miles, not 30 NM. I know the trainer plane I flew has no transponder and the airport we flew out of is about 10-15 miles from Fresno International.

Here is a copy of the regulations related to ultralights if you want to check them out:
http://www.eaa.org/ultralights/far_part103.html

[devinemi83]

I really wanna fly. The first and only time I have ever flown was when I got to control a cessna over pittsburgh. I got to fly over three rivers stadium and take us to about within 1.5 miles outside the airport where the real pilot took back over(thank god LOL). But I like the idea of an ultralight, cheap and get the job done. I wanna look into getting once maybe once I get out of college and have a good enough job to pay to fly it alot on the weekends


Then again, I also am dying to skydive and HALO jump. So I guess I just have that flying(or falling) gene in me.

[Solarjetman]

Also the distance restriction for a controled airport is 5 Statute miles, not 30 NM. I know the trainer plane I flew has no transponder and the airport we flew out of is about 10-15 miles from Fresno International.

I think you mis-understood me. I am not speaking of the controlled airspace around the airport. Even if you are not flying inside the contolled airspace of a class B airport, but are still within 30 NM, you have to have a transponder. Fresno International is a class C airport so you do not have that restriction. You would only need it if you were flying inside their airspace.

The only airports this applies to in California are Los Angeles International, San Diego International, and San Fransisco International.

Here is the legaleze of it. Its FAR 91.215(b)(2)

[thayne]

ah, okay. That's good to know I plan on avoiding any controled airport anyway I'll mainly fly around central cali and over to the coast near monterey.

[rallynavvie]

Ah, VFR flying... It's been a while since I went up and actually took the time to look out the window when flying. I remember my first solo x-country over North Dakota. Man was that the most boring flight I had ever taken in my life! The only cool part about it was my run-in with the Happy Hooligans from the Fargo ANG on a MIR. One peeled off and circled me before joining his group again knowing where I was out of (the unique ND tail number sorta gives it away). I don't think he was close enough to see me giving him the finger

[Solarjetman]

Those wacky Dakotians!

The closest thing I had was doing an "unofficial" LAHSO with a C130. I felt somewhat inadequate in my cessna 152

I call it unofficial because it was never arranged, but I was still on the runway when the big boy landed.

[rallynavvie]

Yeah, my first solo x-country was one of the most interesting flights I've ever taken. Right away I got lined up behind a NWA DC9 in a Piper Cadet so I panicked about wake turbulence from him, not helped much by him doing an engine runup on the taxiway with me a scant hundred yards behind. Took off just fine and headed out to my first airport which I overflew to see a windsock showing wind out of the north yet there was traffic taking off on a southbound runway. I looked at the windsock and back at the Cub taking off and by that time nothing was making sense. I didn't want to be landing reciprocal to the direction he took off, but he was taking off with the wind! I circled a few more times until he was well away and with the wind still out of the north I landed on the northbound runway making radio calls every step of the way. I just did a stop and go so as to get the hell out of there before that nutcase showed up again. Taking off with the wind with conventional gear? Oi.

It was on my trip between that airport and the next one that I had the run-in with the 16s. That was plenty exciting. Then I landed at the next airport no problems. I tried calling in my position to the FSS but couldn't get ahold of them. I forgot that when I'm receiving through a VOR that it's line of sight and I was on the ground well away from the beacon. They could hear me but couldn't get to me. They called the FBO and had the attendant come out and check on me and I went in to have a little brush-up on radio traffic from the FSS guy. I stuck around the FBO for a little while to talk to some of the pilots there. I then fueled up and headed for home which was pretty uneventful until I got close to GFK where a Seminole decided to cut me off in order to get ahead of me in line for final. He did get yelled at by ATC on the approach channel for it though, and I'm sure he got it from one of the leads once on the ground. It rattled me a little seeing a twin trianer only a half mile or less ahead of me but I backed off and got a long final so the landing was easy (I was always pretty good with landing). What a flight that was. My instructor was waiting for me on the ground with congratulations. Boy was he laughing so hard after hearing my tale.

Sorry, just another pilot story I had to share. It's probably my most memorable one and I've got a lot of horror stories from flying

[SLK001]

Your plane looks like the old "Jeannie Teenie" (or somethink like that), an all metal, VW powered self-built plane from Popular Mechanics (May, 1968, IIRC). I always wanted to build that thing! The 1968 cost was only $600.

And Adobe, this is NOT an aircraft pilots site, so you should probably spell out what your abbreviations mean so that your story can make sense.

[Solarjetman]

And Adobe, this is NOT an aircraft pilots site, so you should probably spell out what your abbreviations mean so that your story can make sense.

Not to step on your toes Adobe

ATC: Air Traffic Control... pretty straight forward
FSS: Flight Service Station... They provide help via the radio in flight with info such as weather and traffic
VOR: VHF Omnidirectional Range... Its a large radio tower used for two purposes, navigation and communicating with some Flight service stations
FBO: Fixed Base Operator... A business located at an airport that sells fuel and other airplane services
GFK: callsign of Grand Forks International Airport
NWA: Northwest Airlines

And to clairfy the story a little bit, the problem at the first airport was the other plane was landing in the opposite direction of the perfered runway. Similar to a car going the wrong way on a one-way street.

And Adobe was having trouble contacting the FSS because he did not have enough altitude. The type of radios airplanes use need a direct line of sight to their target. Being so low, there were trees, building, etc in the way.

[rallynavvie]

Aviation has more acronyms than any other field that I know of, sorry it didn't quite make sense. Most of that drivel would likely only be funny to a pilot without a wee bit longer explanation as to why it was funny

Anyone who wants to learn how to fly should really save up some cash and get enrolled in ground school (and then the flight portion of it). Learning to fly is such a riot. I also recommend getting a copy of MS Flight Simulator. While not especially helpful for private pilot training it is an invaluable asset when/if you move on to instrument flying. I probably would have had to spend many more hours learning instrument flying, and thus a lot more money, had it not been for the practice of tracking instrument references and approach patterns in the sim.

Hey I think we needed a thread for pilots to swap stories

[Solarjetman]

Hey I think we needed a thread for pilots to swap stories

I don't think it would work here though. The number of pilots around here are probably small.

[thayne]

I don't know... This one has been pretty popular...

[thayne]

Can someone recommend a good, not too expensive, hand held aviation GPS

[MOVIEGEEK]

Can someone recommend a good, not too expensive, hand held aviation GPS

Go to Frys, www.outpost.com or checkout this website: http://sportys.com/takeoff/?source=google

BTW...your plane looks cool.

[northcat_8]

Can someone recommend a good, not too expensive, hand held aviation GPS

Hand Held Aviation GPS

What for? How hard could it be? You are in a plane, look down...compare with map in glove box.

Just kidding. I love to fly but I'm too cheap to take flying lessons and most commercial pilots will not let me fly their planes...Delta gets really pissed at you for even asking Cool plane by the way, that will be both a fun and expensive hobby.

[rallynavvie]

Not too expensive? Lowrance AirMap 500. Especially useful for its inclusion of obstructions in the database. Usually run around $500. I've got a Garmin 296 since I don't own a plane and have to tote mine around to whichever aircraft I'm currently renting. It has terrain elevations programmed in so it includes something akin to a radar altimeter in it which is VERY cool (but also not a safe substitute for the real thing). Surprisingly few instrument rental aircraft have really good GPS in them, most are still the old-school text displays. Since I figured I wasn't going to own a plane anytime soon I justified to myself shelling out almost 2Gs for the Garmin. Very good investment if you plan on instrument flying someday.

[Solarjetman]

If you want to shell out another $300 on top of it, Lawrance just released the 1000 model ($800 base price). It has a larger screen than the Airmap 500.