| Are you afraid to achieve your dream to fly? | | | | mistakes. I know you don't want to be one of |
| Most of us are prevented of flying on their | | | | them. There are many things that YOU can do |
| own for various reasons - lack of time, bad | | | | if you want to fly safer: |
| weather conditions etc or most often the | | | | |
| reason is money. The financial problem is now | | | | Get better training. It makes sense to spend |
| solved to some extent by the ultralight | | | | more money on instructed flights than risking |
| airplanes, but a new concern might be | | | | your life. Don't hurry to make your first |
| stopping you from flying - their safety. | | | | solo flight and even on it, have your |
| | | | instructor presented in the airplane. |
| How safe are the ultralight airplanes? The | | | | |
| short answer is safe enough. The long answer | | | | Ensure your aircraft is safe. This is a |
| requires you to consider some important | | | | common sense, but still needs to be |
| factors. | | | | emphasized on. Check the wings, the |
| | | | propeller, the fuel, everything. Then double |
| Nowadays the safety of the ultralight, | | | | check. |
| microlight and homebuilt/experimental | | | | |
| aircrafts really equals that of the certified | | | | Don't fly in bad weather conditions. Makes |
| light airplanes. Then why asking about safety | | | | sense, doesn't it? Better to miss a planned |
| at all?Mostly people are afraid to fly | | | | fly rather than killing yourself or breaking |
| ultralight aircrafts because in the past they | | | | your aircraft in the storm. |
| used to have very poor reputation (which | | | | |
| actually came mostly from rumor). The | | | | Get an emergency parashute system. It costs |
| ultralight aviation was not regulated at all | | | | about $2,000 and I know sometimes that could |
| which was allowing many unexperienced pilots | | | | be 50% of the price of your ultralight |
| to fly on aircrafts with questionable safety. | | | | airplane. But these $2,000 are not even 1% of |
| | | | the cost of your life, so just spend them |
| Today most countries regulate the ultralight | | | | without postponing. |
| aircrafts to some extent and the pilots have | | | | |
| either get a license or agree with some | | | | Use a helmet. You can get a motorcycle one, |
| restrictions like avoiding populated urban | | | | it won't cost you a lot. The helmet saves you |
| areas, night or bad weather conditions. This | | | | not only in case of accident, but also from |
| really improved the safety of ultralight | | | | hitting a bird or a bee in case you fly |
| flying a lot. | | | | open-air vehicle. |
| | | | |
| Today only the Experimental Aircraft | | | | Use common sense. Leave the great cascades to |
| Association keeps some statistics on the | | | | the professionals, don't fly close to |
| ultralight accidents. It reports 101 | | | | buildings or rocks... just don't do anything |
| accidents with 20 fatalities over a 3. | | | | that does not make sense. |
| | | | |
| 5-year period - considering there are | | | | The pilot is by far the most important factor |
| thousands of ultralight flights with | | | | in most ultralight aircraft accidents. Follow |
| thousands of planes, the figures are not so | | | | the steps above, fly reasonable and you'll |
| scary at all. | | | | have no problems at all. Then you'll be able |
| | | | stop reading articles like this one and enjoy |
| And most accidents are results of human | | | | your ultralight flights. |