Dan,
How slowly could you fly in that ultralight? Wondering how much time you had to sightsee?
In calm wind it would fly at about 18 mph, just barely staying airborne.
I flew it when I shouldn't have due to the wind, but my ego said hey, it's safe and I know more than other guys that are afraid to fly, so here goes. Well let me tell you, I've landed going backwards. I had to have people come out and hold down the ultralight so it would not flip over backwards. Flying home one time I was at full throttle and was not moving over the ground. There were also wind shears and I bet I dropped 100' in less than a second. Talk about white knuckles, I had them big time.
The day that the lake pics were taken I about landed in the top of some trees. You can see that Higgins Lake has trees all around it. I was trying to show off for the women and I flew in from the lake and was going to do a wingover right at the shoreline. Well I was flying well until I got above the tree tops and the wind was going in the opposite direction. I lost airspeed quickly and while doing my steep banking turn I dropped about 50' and clipped some tree limbs. Thankfully the guy next door to the right had his sailboat out or I would have hit it on my way back out into the lake. I landed quickly to calm down a bit.
I also had another time when flying from our horse pasture the day after Christmas in '82. It was a nice 60 degree day that was about 40 degrees above normal. I loaded up with 5 gal of spare gas in my seat back pouch and had more clothes on than normal, so I was quite a bit heavier than normal. It was dead calm. I sat in a swing seat with just straps going up to the king post above me. There was no floor, just space between the open aluminium tubing. So I held my feet on the ground and went to full throttle until I couldn't hold back the ultralight. I started up the slight incline in the pasture heading toward the barbed wire fence. Most ultralights have built in down thrust in the propeller drive to keep the nose down while under power, well mine was no exception. So I'm under full power and heading toward the barbed wire fence and I was not leaving the ground. I kept going until I had just enough room to stop with my Flintstone foot brakes. As soon as I let off on the throttle the ultralight left the ground and I was gliding closer to the fence. I hit the fence and pushed it out about 5'. After re-stringing the barbed wire to the poles, like any normal guy would do, I taxied the ultralight back down the pasture to about a 50' further starting position to try it all over again. Albert Einstein once said that “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” He was wrong and this time I cleared the fence and off I flew for a days flying.
I will say that when flying that contraption your mind was focused entirely on flying and your day's issues just went away. Riding motorcycles for me is very close to that feeling, except on my bike it's a bit too automatic and I have to fight to stay alert. Old habits I guess.
If I were to venture into the light aircraft again, I believe that I would be doing a 2-up gyrocopter. Over the years I've research them and they are about as safe as you can get. They are always in glide mode with the motor pushing forward against the glide force. A paraglider is about the same, but they have a lot less maneuverability than a gyrocopter.
Sorry for rambling guys, but this is a "somewhat" sharing info pics etc thread.
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Topic: Ok ..whats everybody look like? (Read 280722 times)