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hi all,

I have recently been considering Ultralight (or possibly sport pilot if it
comes about) flying.

So, i went to the NTSB, typed in "ultralight" and read about 10 of god
knows how many pages of accidents.

Now, i am guessing that the serious, fatal and collisions are the only
ones that get reported by 90% of ultralight flyers (isnt there a law that
all accidents have to be reported?)

But it lead me to wonder... Really it looked like a large majority of them
were caused by pure and simple lack of training (seemed most fatal
accidents were overbanking too low, engine failed on takeoff high AOA low
altitude stalls, aerobatics breaking spars, or just basically lack of
training leading someone to do something bone ass stupid.)

But, many were equipment failures (spar failures, control mechanism
failures, engine failures) weather breaking a plane by exceeding its g
loading capabilities, etc.

I am torn between a wood plans built UL (cub coppy, high max something
like that) and a trike style. I tend to think the wood and glue structure
will be more durable (wood doesnt fatigue like thin aluminum can...) Also
a LOT of the serious and fatal accidents the BRS got tangled in the pusher
prop... making it somewhat useless & making me think a tractor style would
be safer with a BRS.

anyway, I am leaning toward waiting to see if sport pilot makes it as that
way i can have a little more weight to "spend" making the plane sturdy &
reliable engine wise.

any thoughts appreciated.

thanks,

Steve

p.s. given the statistics i guess what i really have to decide is if i am
an idiot or not... and if i can make the right decision in a split second
if need be. I dont think everyone can say they meet that description...

--
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You move like a pregnant yak
http://zarf.org/~jester
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