Transitioning to Ultralights - Ultra-Easy? Part 2 Live Q&A Panel

[@Shaolin108]

I'm in the US but I did learn a few things. Thanks for sharing.

[@keithwalker6892]

I learnt to fly with the Canadair Flying Club in a Piper Cub. After you got your licence you would fly heavier aircraft such as the Piper Cruiser a lovely aircraft. The members referred to flying the Cub as like flying a paper bag. Years later when I flew a Chinook it was the paper bag again, had to be flown completely all the time compared to the “in trim” on the heavier aircraft and there was also the non compensation of the ailerons. I did not go for the ultralight.

[@keithwalker6892]

During my training in the Chinook in February 2002 with Capital AirSports they had the undercarriage damaged a few times due to heavy landings which I think was caused by the light weight of the aircraft not being sufficient to keep the glide speed up and then on the round out the increase in drag reduced speed quickly and you had a heavy landing. Since I had a PPL I realized this and brought the plane in on power . I flew in the winter and lovely. .once the aircraft settled on its skis it seemed to even go faster. You had to do your mag test pretty quick when on skis. The aircraft had a Rotax 582 so had bags of power and I never got over take off RPM of up to 6000rpm. The lack of compensated ailerons was surprising so the rudder needed a lot of use during flying .I’m 92 now and hope my memory accurate. I did not continue with the Chinook as I did not like what I called the Paper Bag airplane but maybe it was just a matter of getting used to it. Also I had a Pacemaker and DOT wanted too much to keep my licence.

[@Mike-01234]

One of the problems here in the US the lack of training in ultralights. Most are experimental so they legally can't pay to rent the plane only pay for an instructor. Without much of a return on investment very few people train in an ultralight type aircraft. Now that certified aircraft which used to be somewhat reasonable in price have shot up with inflation that is going to push lot more people to the ultralight types. Challenger, Kolb, Chinook. Realistically most working type people can't afford to shell out 70-120k dollars for an airplane. We can afford 20-35k about the cost of a new car here in the US. I think more fatal accidents are in the future for these types of aircraft where people go out get a PPL in a 172 then build a Kolb find they are having lot of problems.