What are your toy luxuries?
- Thread starter JTE83
- Start date
I treasure my Mr2 Turbo. It's in mint condition and goes pretty fast with a upgraded turbo, my Trek 1.1 C racing bike, my very big video game collection, as well as my 2,000$ dollar Gaming/Workstation PC Setup.
I have lots of toys,
I have a small 5 car collection worth a total of 120k, some of you have one car worth more than my classics!
A small 8 bicycle collection (counting just the road bikes) which is probably only worth maybe 7K, some of you have one bike worth more than all of those.
I also have stereo system consisting of one tube amp and one electronic amp, preamp/tuner, cassette, CD, turntable, just 2 speakers maybe worth used maybe 5K, and it's a hodgepodge of stuff from the early 70's to the mid 2000s, some of you have more expensive car stereos then my home system. But it does sound very good for the "little" amount of money that was spent on it.
I go camping so I have a camper I got used for 5K, nothing fancy but it works for us, heck some of you probably have RV's worth more than my house!
And I fish both fly and open reel but again I don't spend a lot on stuff so all of it used may be worth $300.
I use to be into cameras but digital took over and I lost interest.
I was into ultralight flying but I moved from away from the house that supported my runway for it.
So I have toys, I just don't go crazy with them.
I have a small 5 car collection worth a total of 120k, some of you have one car worth more than my classics!
A small 8 bicycle collection (counting just the road bikes) which is probably only worth maybe 7K, some of you have one bike worth more than all of those.
I also have stereo system consisting of one tube amp and one electronic amp, preamp/tuner, cassette, CD, turntable, just 2 speakers maybe worth used maybe 5K, and it's a hodgepodge of stuff from the early 70's to the mid 2000s, some of you have more expensive car stereos then my home system. But it does sound very good for the "little" amount of money that was spent on it.
I go camping so I have a camper I got used for 5K, nothing fancy but it works for us, heck some of you probably have RV's worth more than my house!
And I fish both fly and open reel but again I don't spend a lot on stuff so all of it used may be worth $300.
I use to be into cameras but digital took over and I lost interest.
I was into ultralight flying but I moved from away from the house that supported my runway for it.
So I have toys, I just don't go crazy with them.
A microlight is actually different from an ultralight that I had. A true microlight looks like a very small version of a small airplane, the microlite will have a enclosed cockpit whereas the Ultralight will be open much like a hang glider. There are some that look like a combination of a microlite and an ultralight, but mine looked a lot like a hang glider. Mine also had two person capability but I could use the extra seat to hold an extra fuel tank. Mine looked very much like this:Susimi said:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Quicksilver_Ultralight.jpg
Microlites look like this: http://www.veoelmundo.com/sites/default/files/styles/960wide/public/images/Usedom-insel-safari-flight-ultralight-aircraft-7866.jpg?itok=iRcAleqa
The Microlite ultralight hybrids look more like this: http://www.ultralightnews.com/plansbuyerguide/images/poorboy-aviationplans.JPG
I had a house setting on 5 acres that overlooked nothing but desert behind that, the runway, which was dirt, ran on the far side of my property and extended a bit into the area of the desert that wasn't my property it was just unused, that portion of the runway was just extra, I didn't really need it, it was for in case of wind and needed a longer approach, the runway was 1200 feet long but I only needed 600 feet, this runway was spec'd this way by the seller in case of wind that may require a longer landing area. So I could go out my backdoor and walk to the aircraft and take off, so I guess that's close to the house.
There were laws forbidding non FAA certified ultralights, like mine, from flying over houses back then, not sure if the law has changed since then or not; I never could understand that law, their claim was that they're not reliable and could fall out of the sky...ok except the aircraft is so light it wouldn't damage a house, maybe tear off a few shingles! No problem flying a huge passenger jet that's capable of taking out an entire neighborhood over highly populated areas. My craft had a ballistic parachute device that would blast a parachute out instead of the cheap way of hand tossing it out, I never used it but I heard they worked extremely well and made it all but impossible to crash hard enough to die.
As I hinted too earlier I got mine used from another ultralight enthusiast that built the one I bought and had built a microlight and didn't need the ultralight anymore. I flew it for about 7 years before I moved to Bakersfield.
That all sounds seriously entertaining, just being able to walk out your back door and take to the skies whenever you wanted.
Probably asking a very stupidly obvious question here but do you have a pilots licence and do you need one for ultralights?
Probably asking a very stupidly obvious question here but do you have a pilots licence and do you need one for ultralights?
No special license is required for a single seat ultralight, a driver's license is all that is required as long as the aircraft falls under certain conditions, the craft must weigh less than 254 pounds unless you have a ballistic parachute like mine did then there is an exception to allow that additional weight as there is for floatation devices if you want the ability to land and take off on water which mine did not have; maximum speed during flight is 63 mph but mine was slower, not sure since I didn't have an airspeed indicator but I would say it was about 50 (the airframe wasn't designed to do over 75 anyways). Can only be a one seater. There are some stall speed requirements but I didn't have to worry about that stuff. There are certifications that must be applied to the aircraft before it's deemed to be air worthy which again I didn't have to worry about just the builder I bought it from had to worry about it, and there is no registration or registration markings. Not allowed to fly before or after sunset for obvious reasons, no training is required BUT the guy I bought the craft from trained me on a 2 seater version extensively but since I was trained to fly a regular plane unofficially by a friend years prior I quickly learned. It's been about 20 years ago since I last flew this thing so some of my information may be incorrect.Susimi said:
Of course it was fun, more fun than larger aircraft because you feel every air current, and in the desert I could circle dry lake beds which are white and the heat rises off those beds, so I would circle the lake beds like a buzzard and gain attitude without having to use up as much precious fuel to climb, (by precious I mean I can't carry a lot just 5 gallons per law. Those things are as close as you can get to feeling like a bird, unpowered flight is close too but you're limited to how you can take off and have no power to stay aloft longer.
These things are not dangerous, the glide ratio should the engine fail is like a hang glider plus I had the parachute device, the parachute was designed for catastrophic damage to the airframe and you're just falling, otherwise you could simply just land it almost anywhere with very little space needed. Danger comes from people pushing the air frames past their intended design by taking unnecessary risks like trying to do rolls etc; and the other danger is people who have never flown just attempting such a feat for the first time and will naturally make mistakes. I think there should be at least a 4 hour requirement of flying time with a trainer, no ground or paper nonsense just real flying time, but I know people in this sport would not accept that. I also think they should allow these things to fly over congested areas because these things just don't drop out of the sky like dead flies, as long as they are out of airport traffic lanes they should be good to go. I did have a friend who's engine failed and he glided it into a restricted air space by the military and landed it on a flat piece of land at the far edge of Edwards Air Force Base and was promptly taken into custody but released once they verified he did indeed have engine failure, they allowed him to fix the engine and take off again, it was some sort of simple fix I don't recall now but couldn't do it while flying.
Sorry I'm rambling, I loved the sport but I just don't have the logistics to do it again.
It wasn't rambling, I found that very, very interesting to read.
I'll be honest your making me want to try and look into this further as I do love aircraft and would love to fly an aircraft, and an ultralight seems like a good cost effective solution.
Many thanks for the read
I'll be honest your making me want to try and look into this further as I do love aircraft and would love to fly an aircraft, and an ultralight seems like a good cost effective solution.
Many thanks for the read
Obviously do a lot of research first before you fly off...pun intended, anyway, if you get one buy one used from a person that also trains people how to fly one. You can build one yourself, if you go that route again I highly recommend you find someone who can train you, these trainers will have ultralights or even microlights that will have a dual seat configuration. I wouldn't go with a microlight, they are more expensive and faster but in the hands of a unskilled pilot they can become a handful.Susimi said:It wasn't rambling, I found that very, very interesting to read.
I'll be honest your making me want to try and look into this further as I do love aircraft and would love to fly an aircraft, and an ultralight seems like a good cost effective solution.
Many thanks for the read
Also NEVER EVER try to become a super pilot and start doing stunts, stunts can be done in these but if things aren't just right you could die or become a para or quadriplegic! Also do not buy or build one without the ballistic parachute device DO NOT go with the cheap way out with a throw out parachute. If the craft for some odd reason breaks apart in flight or starts to tumble and hand tossed parachute will more than likely get tangled in the aircraft debris and never deploy or deploy fully, the ballistics device will actually penetrate any debris in it's way and deploy. There is con to the ballistic device besides price, if the craft is not damaged but falling it will damage the craft because it will punch through a wing (depending on where the wings are located) however the damage is a very acceptable loss when you figure the price of a life, and the damage is usually moderate but easily repairable but you're not. There is also maintenance involved with the ballistic system, the parachute needs to be repacked every 5 years and the rocket replaced every 12 years, don't neglect this stuff. These craft can reach a height of 10,000 feet so falling is not a survivable event unless you can glide in, but if for any reason you're not sure you can glide it safely don't force the issue and stubbornly try to glide it, just deploy the chute. A lot of pilots have died by trying to stubbornly land a craft but couldn't; look most aircraft crashes are a series of events, one small thing goes wrong and is then either overlooked or not correctly corrected and then a domino effect occurs from there.
Here is an amazing video of a ballistic parachute device in action saving a higher speed aerobatic pilots life while doing stunts, note the condition of the aircraft at point of destruction, note the position and angle of the craft when the destruction happen and note how fast the unit deploys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgfG2DfPB6I You can watch the whole video and watch the stunts this guy was doing but the fun begins at 2:15. The pilot had quick reflexes and presence of mind to activate his device and it saves his life. This video should sell you on this ballistics device.
Speaking of neglect, ALWAYS ALWAYS do a pre and post flight inspection of the aircraft, your trainer should teach you how to do this. This isn't a car, in a car no one ever does a pre or a post trip inspection but if the car fails you just pull over and stop, if your plane fails you fall from whatever height you were at and it's going to hurt. This inspection process is something all aircraft owners do whether its a ultralight or a regular certified and license aircraft, so don't neglect the time to take those precautions. Safety must be front and foremost at all times when flying, do a detailed weather search for the 3 hours or so you'll be up before you leave the house and again if possible before you go up. While these craft can handle wind turbulence the real problem with wind is on approach for landing, these things are light and they will move side to side tilt back and forth etc. Several times as I was approaching my runway I had to take several close to the ground landing approaches but bailed out on landing until the craft for a brief instant was stable enough to touch down, this is where a windsock is important because you not only have to feel your craft but visually see a marker (a windsock) to get an idea of wind direction and speed.
If you do get one come back to this post and let us know. These things are a lot of fun and highly addictive.
My god, that video has pretty much sold me on the ballistic parachute device!Froze said:
I've always had an interest for aircraft and flying since I was a young kids and I really intend to look into this further and get some advice from some local airfields. You posts have given me some good pointers and a lot of things to think about, so I extend my many tanks to you Froze
I'll certainly report back if I do get this off the ground (ba-dum-tssh)!
