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PUFA NEWSLETTER
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February 22, 1998
Beverley Lawrence, President
Tobias Kreisz, Vice-President
Mario LeBel, Treasurer
Debbie Major, Secretary
Mail to: Pacific Ultralight Flying Association
102-16071 82 Avenue
Surrey, B.C. V3S 2L6
PUFA Newsletter published by Glenn Ursel
From The President
by Beverley Lawrence
I did not think I would get much inspiration looking out of my window
today, it's grey and wet; but then I noticed that the willow tree
has buds on it, also the flowering Cherry. So Spring is around the
corner and, as soon as the sun is shining, we will be out at our planes
giving them a hasty check over to fit in a flight between the Spring gardening
and
house chores.
This is the time of year, when it's not suitable for flying, to give the ultralights a thorough check over and overhaul instead of waiting until it's good to fly. Do it now while you don't feel so pressured. If your plane has not flown for a while, remember to check the gas for water and, with a two stroke, change the gas because the oil turns to varnish. When the ground is wet and soft from the rain, tiedowns work loose very easily in the wind and March winds are with us already.
Plans for summer flying are already under way. Dave and Gail O'Hara have offered their place on Thetis Island for a float flyin and a couple in Edmonton, Alberta have offered their home and vehicle to pilots wishing to attend the COPA convention.
Qualicum Beach have a flyin with static displays on May 2nd and 3rd.
Fred Glasbergen has received notice that the Savary Island runway is finally being closed to aircraft
Editorial Note
by Glenn Ursel
I am very late in getting this newsletter out this month and, for that, I apologize. I have been preoccupied with getting my Spectrum Beaver Floatplane operational once more since I broke the front spreader bar when I returned to Glen Valley a couple of weeks ago from a visit to the King George Airpark. Fred Glasbergen had just reminded me about soft ground and puddle jumper floats when I was at King George. Despite the warning, when I returned to Glen Valley, I came in low over the runway and, of course, the low height emphasizes your ground speed and I let the plane down too soon. There is only 300 feet of usable runway right now and I dropped the plane into the soft stuff before I reached the firmer ground. The front wheel bogged down and that broke the spreader bar.
At last month’s inaugural meeting, President Beverly Lawrence read out COPA’s latest draft of the Ultralight Passenger Carrying Endorsement proposal. As the draft was developed in cooperation with Kathy Lubitz of UPAC, Beverly had asked for a motion to send a PUFA approval to COPA. The motion was carried by the members attending the January meeting. The text of the final draft sent to CARAC on February 11, 1998 is included in this newsletter.
Also included is a story emailed to me by Patrick Simpson about what flying means to Mike Marron who hails from Largo, Florida. Well done, Mike!
PASSENGER CARRYING ENDORSEMENT
PILOT PERMIT - ULTRALIGHT AEROPLANE
(Sentences in brackets are explanations of the proposal.)
This passenger carrying endorsement will permit an ultralight pilot to carry a passenger in any approved aeroplane with a maximum takeoff weight of not more than 1200 pounds and with a stall speed of not more than 45 miles per hour.
For this proposal, PPUL means Pilot Permit – Ultralight Aeroplane. PPR means Pilot Permit - Recreational Aeroplane and DFTE means Designated Flight Test Examiner for passenger carrying in ultralight aeroplanes.
(1) Prerequisite
An applicant shall qualify for or hold a Pilot Permit - Ultralight Aeroplane (PPUL).
(This will permit the endorsement training and qualification to be given as part of the training for PPUL or as an addition to an existing permit.)
(2) Medical Fitness and Validity
(a) An applicant shall hold a Category 4 Medical Certificate valid for a Pilot Permit - Ultra-light Aeroplane.
(b) An applicant who meets the medical conditions specified on the Civil
Aviation Medical Declaration and has signed it
shall be deemed to have met the Category
4 Medical Standards, providing a physician licensed to practice
medicine in Canada has signed Part C
of the declaration.
(c) The medical validity period for the permit holder is 60 months.
(d) A valid Category 1, 3, or 4 Medical Certificate maintains the permit.
(This is the same as the requirements for the PPUL (CAR 421.21 (2)) except that subparagraph (b) is from the PPR requirements (i.e. a physician’s signature will be required). It may be necessary to change the medical declaration form to include passenger carrying as one of the reasons for a doctor’s signature.)
(3) Knowledge
An applicant shall have successfully completed an exam covering the following four mandatory areas:
(a) Air Law - regulations, rules and orders, air traffic services, practices
and procedures, and licensing requirements
relevant to the permit;
(b) Navigation - navigation, radio aids and electronic theory;
(c) Meteorology; and
(d) Aeronautics - General Knowledge relevant to the permit- airframes,
engines and systems, theory of flight, flight
instruments, flight operations and human
factors.
(These are the four areas covered in the PPR exam. It is proposed that the ULTRA exam be modified to incorporate all of these areas, relevant to the ultralight environment. The new ULTRA exam would be used for both the PPUL requirement and passenger carrying endorsement. Written as part of the PPUL, it would not have to be re-written for the passenger carrying endorsement.)
(4) Experience
An applicant shall have completed a minimum of 25 hours of flight time aboard ultralight aeroplanes. The flight time shall include a minimum of:
(a) 15 hours dual instruction flight time, including a minimum of at
least two cross country legs consisting of a minimum
of 30 minutes each; and
(b) 5 hours solo, flight time.
(5) Skill
An applicant shall complete a flight test in an ultralight aeroplane to the standard outlined in the Flight Test Standard - Recreational Pilot Permit - Aeroplane (TP12475E), as applicable to ultralights.
(6) Credits
(a) The Knowledge credits for holders of higher Licences and Permits
(CAR 421.21(6)) apply to applicants for a
PPUL who intend to carry passengers.
(b) The Knowledge requirement shall be deemed to have been met if the
applicant has within the preceding five years
passed a written examination for a PPR
or Pilot Licence in the aeroplane category.
(c) The Knowledge, Experience and Skill requirements shall be deemed
to have been met for those ultralight pilots who
hold a Flight Instructor rating – Ultralight
Aeroplane. This grandfathering provision shall bein force for a period
of
two years from the introduction of the
passenger carrying endorsement.
DESIGNATED FLIGHT TEST EXAMINER - ULTRALIGHT AEROPLANE -AUTHORIZATION TO CONDUCT FLIGHT TEST FOR PASSENGER CARRYING ENDORSEMENT
Training for the passenger carrying endorsement can be performed by any current ultralight flying instructor. However, a Designated Flight Test Examiner (DFTE) who sets the following qualifications must perform the flight test.
(1) Prerequisite
An applicant shall hold a valid Flight Instructor Rating.
(2) Medical Fitness
An applicant shall hold at least a Category 3 Medical Certificate.
(3) Knowledge
If the applicant has not already done so, he/she shall have attended an approved DFTE course.
(4) Experience
The applicant shall meet the applicable requirements of CAR 421.15 (1). That is:
A person shall be considered to be designated by the Minister to conduct a flight test where…
(a) the person is designated by the Minister as being competent to conduct that particular flight test.
(This existing provision lends flexibility to the selection process. The need for a DFTE in a particular region and the experience of the applicant on ultralights will be taken into consideration.)
(5) Skill
No additional skill requirements are necessary.
(6) Period of Validity
The DFTE privilege is revalidated by attending a refresher course every (to be determined).
What Flying Trikes Has Come To Mean To Me
Triking, for me, is not about making money. As far as I'm concerned, triking has nothing to do with making BIG BUCKS whether it's in Mexico, Europe, the U.S., or Timbuktu. Triking is being able to afford watching a green island passing below, orange groves at the end of a field, grass skimming by in your own marvelous flying machine.
To me, triking ain't about winning world championships, setting records for endurance or altitude in some distant country. Triking is local roofs and tree tops, and beyond that distance and more distance, blue-hazy and flat and empty stretching away to the indistinct, remote horizon.
Triking isn't about how successful you are as a marketing rep for XYZ brand of trikes, or neither is triking about having an N-number or being Part 103 legal. Triking is about viewing how enormous the world is from several thousand feet up on a sultry hot summer afternoon, literally sticking out your tongue and licking the cool moisture off a cloud like an ice cream cone.
Triking, in my view, isn't constantly sitting around tinkering with the nuts and bolts, or bagging the wing away for the winter waiting for spring. Triking is being a frequent flyer; knowing that for every hour you pay for in a Cessna, you can fly 10 hours in your trike.
Triking isn't about endless hours shooting the breeze with other flyers in the hanger or over the computer. Triking, to me, means flying like the wind over the hanger while others do nothing but talk about flying like the wind in the hanger or on their computers.
To me, triking isn't about what the going rate for instruction is. Triking is learning how to experience the same cow pasture, the same ocean shoreline, the same familiar forest from a vastly different perspective each and every time you fly over.
Triking isn't about adhering to checklists, CRM or stoic procedural
mandates prescribed by your superiors. Triking is about having the freedom
to be a real pilot, to hang out with the birds and become intimately acquainted
with the inner workings of the ocean of air surrounding our beautiful earth.
Triking is about being a triker. Triking is about flying.
Triking is about having fun.
Finally, as I glance as my watch, I now sign off with triking isn't about staying up all night hooting with the owls. Triking is about soaring with the eagles at dawn...
Mike Marron
Largo, Florida