Re: Which Ultralight to build.....

On Jun 6, 3:33 pm, Richard Riley <Rich...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 08:29:36 -0600, "Wayne Paul" <w...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>
> >While wading into the technical requirements required to certify an
aircraft
> >as motorglider, the basic definition a glider should not be overlooked.
>
> >The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) defines a glider as a
> >heavier-than-air aircraft that is sup****ted in flight by the dynamic
> >reaction of the air against its lifting surfaces, and whose free flight
does
> >not depend on an engine.
>
> >As has been stated, gliders are launched by three methods, ground
launch
> >(winch/auto-tow), aero-tow and self-launch (motor.)
>
> >It may be hard to convince FAA your homebuilt is a self-launch glider
if it
> >can not maintain flight with the engine(s) turned off.
>
> All aircraft can maintain flight with the engine(s) turned off.  The
> question is how for how long, and how far.
>

The Sky Pup ultralight is re****ted to have a glide ratio of 14 to 1,
almost as good as a Schweitzer glider.
....
>
> The weight/span squared is a reasonable stab at L/D that you can do
> with simple tools (scale, tape measure) and without having to estimate
> drag.  If a few people figure out how to game the system, I think FAA
> is OK with that.  So, you get a few heavy ULs.  They're not going to
> be THAT heavy, and even though the pilot doesn't have to have a
> medical he DOES have to have a pilot's certificate.  With the
> comparitively light weight and long wing, he's going to have a pretty
> low stall speed.  If he crashes into a house he's going to do MUCH
> more damage to himself and his machine than the house.

I think that's the key, to legally pilot a motorglider one must
have a glider license with a self-launch endorsement.  So even
if the motorglider itself is just a glorified 'fat' ultralight, the
pilot at
least has some minimum required level of competency.

--

FF