Arty's Ultimate Ultralight Adventure

In the introduction to this blog, I explained that my Maxair Drifter is "an ultralight-type E-LSA" (Experimental Light Sport Aircraft, registered as such with the Federal Aviation Administration.) Then, since that was pretty cumbersome language, and since my Drifter looks like the stereotypical ultralight, I've been referring to my Maxair Drifter as an "ultralight". A conscientious pilot wrote me today, asking "Please do not call it an Ultralight - We have too much confusion about ultralight requirements without sophisticated people adding to the confusion by calling airplanes over 300 pounds ultralights."

He is absolutely right. It may not be of any concern to those of you who are not pilots, who are just interested in reading about my flight. And some of you may say "Well, it looks like an ultralight - and it's at the very low end of the Light Sport Aircraft category. So why get so technical - if it looks like an ultralight and flies like an ultralight..." Yet it's NOT an ultralight and from now on I'll start referring to it as "an ultralight-type E-LSA" even though that's more cumbersome.

The FAA defines a powered "ultralight" as a single seat vehicle (an air vehicle, not an aircraft!) of less than 5 US gallons (19 L) fuel capacity, empty weight of less than 254 pounds (115 kg), a top speed of 55 knots (64 mph), and a maximum stall speed not exceeding 24 knots ( 27.6 mph). Restrictions include flying only during daylight hours and over unpopulated areas. (The only exception was for ultralight trainers - two seat ultralights which are meant to be used only for training purposes.) In the United States no license or training is required by law for ultralight pilots.

As ultralight pilots began adding more weight to support larger engines and more gas to be able to fly faster and farther, and as they started buying more and more two-seat "ultralights" so they could take their friends and families on flights, they moved out of the legal category of ultralight...and were actually unregistered experimental aircraft being flown by unlicensed pilots. The FAA, after years of deliberations with the major pilot and ultralight organizations and manufacturers, created a new category of aircraft - the Light Sport Aircraft and a new category of pilots' license - the Light Sport License. There's lots more information available through the USUA (United States Ultralight Organization) and the EAA (the Experimental Aircraft Association) if you want to know more.

As for me, as I see the newly manufactured Light Sport Aircraft -sleek composites weighing up to a gross of 1320 lbs, flying at well over 100 mph, - even though my Maxair Drifter falls in the same FAA classification, in my heart I still think of her as an ultralight. Even though she's not.

This is probably more than many of you non-pilots wanted to know - and a "ho-hum, I knew that" for most of you pilots.