Ultralight ops at small public fields

roncachamp

roncachamp

Final Approach
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Steven P McNicoll
The notice for IOW, "ULTRALIGHT ACTIVITY DISCOURAGED-RDO RQRD", from the "How is this legal?" thread got me wondering, just how much ultralight activity is there at small public airports such as IOW? I can't recall seeing any ultralights at similar fields; small, publicly owned, nontowered airports in Class G airspace.
 
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We used to have some "Six Shooters" parachute type at the airport. They fly early morning before the gliders get started. They don't like winds.. and they really don't like cross winds.. being forced to follow the runway... they decided not to operate here because there was no cross wind runway.
 
Some have a lot of Ultralights Gettysburg PA and several in south jersey.
 
There are a bunch of ppc guys out here that just fly from one of the fields in the park
 
RKD has a few, I think. I know they have at least one or two NORDO gyrocopters.
 
roncachamp said:
The notice for IOW, "ULTRALIGHT ACTIVITY DISCOURAGED-RDO RQRD", from the "How is this legal?" thread got me wondering, just how much ultralight activity if there at small public airports such as IOW? I can't recall seeing any ultralights at similar fields; small, publicly owned, nontowered airports in Class G airspace.
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There are several at our local airport, KLLU. Some have radios and some don't. We often will look to see if their hangar doors are open when we fly into the airport to see if they are out. Some of them are based at local farms and fly into KLLU. Sometimes the pattern gets busy with ultralights and cropdusters with no radios mixing it up with student pilots.
 
We have a bunch of ultra lights that fly out of our feild, Nearly all have radios however not necessarly good radios. However they are getting concerned about their limitation on flying over congested areas. It is getting difficult to fly into the airport without doing so. As a result a large majority of the Ultra light pilots have earned their Sport Pilot Certificates.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
roncachamp said:
The notice for IOW, "ULTRALIGHT ACTIVITY DISCOURAGED-RDO RQRD", from the "How is this legal?" thread got me wondering, just how much ultralight activity if there at small public airports such as IOW? I can't recall seeing any ultralights at similar fields; small, publicly owned, nontowered airports in Class G airspace.
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I was talking about this issue with a fellow pilot yesterday, prompted by the "How is this legal?" thread. Neither of us could actually remember the last time we saw an "ultralight" aircraft flying, anywhere other than at Oshkosh. Even there, with the advent of LSA, the ultralight area has become a mere shadow of what it was a few years ago.

Quite frankly, given the vastly increased utility of an LSA (and the relative ease of obtaining the light sport rating), I can't think of too many reasons to fly an ultralight anymore. LSA provide everything the ultralights used to offer, plus a whole bunch more.
 
Diana said:
There are several at our local airport, KLLU. Some have radios and some don't. We often will look to see if their hangar doors are open when we fly into the airport to see if they are out. Some of them are based at local farms and fly into KLLU. Sometimes the pattern gets busy with ultralights and cropdusters with no radios mixing it up with student pilots.
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The SkyVector entry for LLU includes:

Ultralights Based on Field: 3
ULTRALIGHT ACTIVITY ON & INVOF ARPT.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Quite frankly, given the vastly increased utility of an LSA (and the relative ease of obtaining the light sport rating), I can't think of too many reasons to fly an ultralight anymore.
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Cost comes to mind...


Trapper John
 
The FAA database also says I live adjacent to the airport at 6Y9 - which I never have. It also says that we are 2000' - which we haven't been for over a year now.

It also says extensive parachute activity at the other airport I am based at. (9D9) We haven't had skydivers out there for over a year. It also hasn't updated the airport manager information which is also incorrect.

Counting on the FAA to get anything correct is not a good plan of action.
 
EdFred said:
Counting on the FAA to get anything correct is not a good plan of action.
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So few words, for such a powerful message.
 
dmccormack said:
The few UL in our area fly off private fields -- much cheaper, far fewer hassles.
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Same here. I don't see why an ultralight operator would even want to fly into IOW, so what prompted the airport authority to post the notice?
 
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EdFred said:
The FAA database also says I live adjacent to the airport at 6Y9 - which I never have. It also says that we are 2000' - which we haven't been for over a year now.

It also says extensive parachute activity at the other airport I am based at. (9D9) We haven't had skydivers out there for over a year. It also hasn't updated the airport manager information which is also incorrect.

Counting on the FAA to get anything correct is not a good plan of action.
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I've found it works better if you actually tell them something needs to be corrected.
 
roncachamp said:
I've found it works better if you actually tell them something needs to be corrected.
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Been telling them for 4 years that the lat/long is wrong at 6Y9 and even submitted the correct coordinates exactly how I was instructed, no fewer than 7 times to no avail. I also notified them of the length change, still waiting on that update. I also have been telling them for 4 years that I do not live next to the field, and they still haven't changed it.

Even got the state aviation department involved, and they submitted the info, and the feds STILL haven't updated the info. So, telling them something needs to be corrected doesn't do ****.
 
Jay Honeck said:
I was talking about this issue with a fellow pilot yesterday, prompted by the "How is this legal?" thread. Neither of us could actually remember the last time we saw an "ultralight" aircraft flying, anywhere other than at Oshkosh.
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So it's just "regular" airplanes and gliders flying out of IOW now?

"GLIDER ACTIVITY ON & INVOF ARPT."
 
I'd love to own/operate an Ultralight. Since aviation is so overpriced these days, it would be nice to be able to fly cheaply again.
 
roncachamp said:
Same here. I don't see why an ultralight operator would even want to fly into IOW, so what prompted the airport authority post the notice?
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It was posted in 1997, and has just sat there, unnoticed, for 13 years.

Till now... :rolleyes:
 
EdFred said:
Been telling them for 4 years that the lat/long is wrong at 6Y9 and even submitted the correct coordinates exactly how I was instructed, no fewer than 7 times to no avail. I also notified them of the length change, still waiting on that update. I also have been telling them for 4 years that I do not live next to the field, and they still haven't changed it.

Even got the state aviation department involved, and they submitted the info, and the feds STILL haven't updated the info. So, telling them something needs to be corrected doesn't do ****.
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I told them of a seaplane base that no longer existed. About three months later it was out of the A/FD and about seven months later it was off the sectional.
 
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SkyHog said:
I'd love to own/operate an Ultralight. Since aviation is so overpriced these days, it would be nice to be able to fly cheaply again.
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I have traveled that road myself Nick. As you know I sold the C172 three years ago and went the Experimental Light Sport way. For an airplane to be classified as an Ultralight it must be less than 274 pounds and hold no more than 5 gallons of fuel. You can buy whats referred to as a "Fat Ultralight" for $10K - $15K. These will cruise at 80-90 MPH and burn less than 4 GPH and have a useful load of 500lbs.
Mine tips the scales at 450 lbs empty and has a gross weight of 960 lbs, cruise speed solo is 85MPH and dual is 70-75MPH. It is not a long XC machine, but if you are going to stay within 200 NM of home, its hard to beat. If you want to check a Challenger out, this guy is in Phoenix. The blue Challenger pictured on his home page is mine.

http://www.4airsports.com/
 
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>>
The notice for IOW, "ULTRALIGHT ACTIVITY DISCOURAGED-RDO RQRD", from the "How is this legal?" thread got me wondering, just how much ultralight activity if there at small public airports such as IOW? I can't recall seeing any ultralights at similar fields; small, publicly owned, nontowered airports in Class G airspace.
<<

Come on out to K34 on a nice weekend - there'll be ultralights, an occasional gyrocopter, gliders, RVs, vintage planes of all types, 150s, 172s, Archers, Arrows, Warriors, Warbirds, ...

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Rumor has it that one of the ultralight guys used to fly around at about 500' whenver the clg were too low for everyone else. He use to do that flying south of the airport. There just happens to be an instrument approach segment to a nearby D-airport right at that same location. Just a story I heard, though.
 
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No ultralights around here any more, except for one gyrocopter hangared on the field in a garage-sized storage space. We did our best to chase them away 15 years ago when they were more prevalent, with a refusal to rent aircraft hangar space to anything without an N-number. That seemed to work and our hangars are still full with a waiting list. I'm not aware of anyone flying traditional ultralights anywhere in the area.
 
That just seems douchy.

RickH said:
No ultralights around here any more, except for one gyrocopter hangared on the field in a garage-sized storage space. We did our best to chase them away 15 years ago when they were more prevalent, with a refusal to rent aircraft hangar space to anything without an N-number. That seemed to work and our hangars are still full with a waiting list. I'm not aware of anyone flying traditional ultralights anywhere in the area.
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RickH said:
No ultralights around here any more, except for one gyrocopter hangared on the field in a garage-sized storage space. We did our best to chase them away 15 years ago when they were more prevalent, with a refusal to rent aircraft hangar space to anything without an N-number. That seemed to work and our hangars are still full with a waiting list. I'm not aware of anyone flying traditional ultralights anywhere in the area.
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Why? Fat ultralights have more or less the same performance as your Chief or a J-3.
 
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