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PUFA NEWSLETTER
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July 11, 2003
Fred Glasbergen, President
Daryl Hegyi, Vice-President
Sandra Clark, 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
PUFA Website Version edited by Walter Klatt
Editorial Note
by Glenn Ursel
In the May Newsletter, I alluded to the various viral hazards we local
ultralighter types were being subjected to. Well the SARS thing seems
to have gone into remission; so far, the West Nile mosquitoes don’t seem
to have appeared yet and the spectre of bovine spongiform encephalopathy
in our beef seems to have been confined to one lonely cow in Alberta that
was slaughtered last January. My comments about the tropical fungus,
cryptococcus neoformans, also haven’t apparently deterred our President
from organizing the next meeting on the Island at Duncan.
In June I went on another motorcycle adventure down the Coast of Washington/Oregon to California and back with my brother and his wife, travelling some 3,950 kilometres. I mention this because we visited a couple of neat aviation museums. On the way down, we saw the Naval Air Station Museum at Tillamook, Oregon, home of the World War II Blimp Squadrons. The huge hangar, visible from Highway 101 two miles south of Tillamook, is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world. The hangar itself is worth seeing but the Museum also covers the history of lighter-than-air technology and houses the largest collection of flyable warbirds in the Pacific Northwest.
On the way back we stopped in at McMinnville, Oregon to see the new Evergreen Aviation Museum that was built in 2001 to house the famous Spruce Goose flying boat built by Howard Hughes over the period 1942 to 1947. Henry Kaiser (the steel magnate and builder of the Liberty ships) had conceived the idea of massive flying transports for transatlantic shipping of cargo to avoid the German submarines that were sinking Allied ships. Kaiser turned to Howard Hughes for his aviation expertise. Completed after the war, Hughes flew the plane only once at an altitude of 70 feet for about one minute. The plane was then kept in a special hangar for 33 years. About four years after Hughes’ death in 1976, it was moved to a massive domed hangar adjacent to the Queen Mary for eventual public display in 1983 by entrepreneur, Jack Wrather. In 1988, the Walt Disney Company bought the Wrather Corporation. Disney didn’t wish to keep the Spruce Goose so a new home had to be found for the plane. The winning proposal came from Michael King Smith, co-founder of the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. In 1992, the Hughes Flying Boat was disassembed and the fuselage and wings were transported by barge up the West Coast and the Columbia to Portland, Oregon. Smaller portions were hauled by truck up the I-5. After a delay of several months for water levels to drop, it was further transported up the Willamette River under many bridges to the vicinity of McMinnville. In February of 1993, the aircraft was transported by truck the last 7.5 miles to McMinnville.
The plane is truly humongous since its wing span is 319 feet while a US 747-400 wing span is only 211 feet although the 747 is longer with a fuselage length of 231 feet compared to the Spruce Goose length of 219 feet. The gross take off weight of the 747 is also 870,000 lbs compared to the Spruce Goose take off weight of 400,000 lbs. While the press labelled the plane the Spruce Goose, it was actually built mostly of birch due to its lightness, strength and resistance to dry rot. Its capacity was designed to carry the equivalent of 750 troops or two Sherman tanks. Although the plane flew only once, it is still the largest plane in terms of wing span ever to fly. As Hughes perfected his craft, he also added significantly to what is known in areas of large-lift capability and power-boost systems. The Spruce Goose makes the Evergreen Aviation Museum well worth visiting.
For this issue of the PUFA Newsletter, I offer the following article of COPA’s Adam Hunt on flying ultralights in Canada which is, I think, a very good summary of the past and current status of ultralights in Canada.
For all you new members, please note that we are always ready to publish any story or article of interest to ultralighters that you can offer us. Also, if anyone would like to try writing the PUFA Newsletter, please advise me or someone on the PUFA Executive.
Ultralight airplanes remain the quickest growing segment of aviation
in Canada with 174 new ultralights added to the Canadian register between
October 2001 and October 2002. There were a total of 4740 ultralights
in Canada on Oct. 31, 2002.
Basic ultralights continue to grow faster than advanced ultralights with 119 basic and 55 advanced ultralights added in that period. The rapidly growing numbers of basic ultralights is probably being driven by the growing popularity of powered parachutes. In fact ultralights and homebuilts are both growing at a rate that is now greater than the disappearing number of certified aircraft in Canada, keeping the number of recreational aircraft in Canada growing over this past year!
WHY ARE ULTRALIGHTS SO INCREASINGLY POPULAR?
Cost is certainly one reason. With the least expensive new two
seat certified aircraft starting at well over $100,000 compared to some
new two-seat ultralight kits selling for well under $20,000, it isn’t hard
to see that ultralights can be a lot cheaper to purchase. Operating
costs can be a lot lower, too. Flying 100 hours per year on a certified
aircraft like a Cessna 150 will probably cost in the region of $60 per
hour. Many new two-seat ultralights can be flown for around $20 per
hour. Comparing numbers like those it is easy to see that for many people
ultralights don’t just provide the chance to fly more hours for the same
money, they provide the only opportunity to fly affordably.
COST ISN’T THE ONLY FACTOR
There are many ultralight pilots who could afford to fly bigger aircraft
but who fly ultralights because they find them just more fun. Instead
of the “car-like” comfort of most certified aircraft, many ultralights
provide the adventure of flying open cockpit, flying from short, unprepared
fields and flying “low and slow” over the countryside. The ultralight
category covers aircraft from very slow and basic aircraft, like powered
parachutes, to fast cross-country speedsters, so there is something for
almost everyone in the ultralight world. Because all ultralights are “owner-maintenance”
you can do your own work or hire someone to do it for you. The paperwork
requirements are much simpler for ultralights, too.
RULES AND USES
CAR 602.29 and the Transport Canada Ultralight Transition Strategy
currently govern ultralights. Eventually, once incorporated, these rules
will all become part of the CARs and will be found in the CAR 603 series.
Ultralights are only permitted to be used for private recreational flying
and commercially for flight instruction, rental and towing hang gliders.
Other commercial uses such as crop spraying, aerial photography, carrying
freight or passengers for hire is not permitted.
BASIC ULTRALIGHTS
Ultralight flying started in the mid-1970s, not by shrinking conventional
airplanes, but by putting a motor on an Easy Riser biplane hang glider.
Today in Canada the rules have evolved over time and basic ultralights
may currently have one or two seats, weigh up to 1,200 pounds take-off
weight and have a stall speed of 39 knots (45 mph) or less. Basic
ultralights are not permitted to carry passengers, although they may be
flown with two pilots on board or with a student and instructor.
Helmets are required when flying basic ultralights. There are no
specific maintenance requirements for basic ultralights, but protecting
your investment and yourself means taking good care of your basic ultralight.
Basic ultralights are all registered in the series starting with C-I.
In October 2002 there were 4,041 basic ultralights in Canada.
ADVANCED ULTRALIGHTS
Advanced ultralight airplanes (AULAs) started as a new category here
in Canada in 1991. They are single or two-seat airplanes that comply
with a Light Aircraft Manufacturer’s Association of Canada (LAMAC) publication
called Design Standards for Advanced Ultralight Aeroplanes. AULAs
must be purchased as a kit or complete aircraft. For quality control
reasons they cannot be built from plans. Changes were made to the
category in 2001 and, as a result, AULAs can now weigh up to 770 pounds
for single seaters and 1,232 pounds for two-seaters. Under the revisions
to the category in 2001 powered parachutes and hang glider-based trike
ultralight designs may now qualify as AULAs.
Individual AULAs get their status from a Statement of Conformity that the manufacturer issues when the plane is built. This S of C indicates that the plane conforms to the standard for the type. The S of C allows the AULA to be registered with Transport Canada as an advanced ultralight. AULAs cannot be modified without the written authority of the manufacturer and they must be maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. If an AULA is modified without permission from the manufacturer or not maintained as required then it will revert to the basic ultralight category and lose its passenger carrying status. Maintenance records are required. AULAs can carry a passenger, if the pilot is qualified to carry a passenger. This currently requires a Pilot Permit - Recreational or higher airplane licence. A Passenger Carrying Rating for the Pilot Permit - Ultralight Aeroplanes should become available at some point in the future. Helmets are not required to be worn in AULAs.
Starting at their inception in 1991, AULAs were registered in the C-F or C-G series, but since January 1997 they have been registered in the C-I series, like all other ultralights. There are still quite a number around that have C-F or C-G registrations. By October 2002 there were 699 AULAs in Canada.
FLYING TO THE UNITED STATES
Canadian ultralights do not have a Certificate of Airworthiness or
any other flight authority. Because of this they require permission
from the FAA to fly south of the border. Since July 3, 2000 the FAA
has given blanket authority for Canadian basic and advanced ultralights
to fly to the United States. All you need to do is complete and carry
a copy of the FAA Special Flight Authorization, found at http://www1.faa.gov/avr/afs/afs800/tcultra.pdf
and comply with its limitations while in U.S. airspace. The authorization
is valid for 180 days and is renewable. The pilot must hold a Pilot Permit
- Recreational or higher airplane licence or hold a Pilot Permit - Ultralight
Aeroplanes, with instructor rating and two hours cross-country experience.
Pilots who hold just a Pilot Permit - Ultralight Aeroplanes are not permitted
to fly their ultralights in the U.S., at the present time. It is
anticipated that the rules will be amended to allow holders of the Pilot
Permit - Ultralight Aeroplanes with the new passenger carrying rating will
be allowed to fly in the U.S. at some point in the future.
FLYING UNDER FAR PART 103 IN THE U.S.
American ultralight rules are very different than Canadian ones.
U.S. ultralights are limited to one seat, 25-knot stall speed, 55-knot
maximum speed, five gallons of fuel and 254 pounds empty weight.
These “ultralight vehicles” are not required to be registered and the pilot
does not need a licence. Provided the aircraft you are flying in
the U.S. meets this Part 103 definition then it can be flown by Canadians
while in the U.S. with no further permission required. No helmets
are required under FAR Part 103.
ULTRALIGHTS AND COPA
More ultralight pilots belong to COPA than any other organization in
Canada. Data from the COPA membership survey conducted in July 2002
indicates that COPA represents about 75 per cent of the active ultralight
pilots in Canada.
COPA provides lots of services for ultralight fliers, starting with the most effective and affordable aviation insurance program that covers ultralights. The monthly newspaper, COPA Flight contains Canadian Ultralight News – the only monthly publication for ultralights in Canada. Three of Canada’s largest ultralight clubs are COPA Flights – Calgary, St Albert and Kingston. COPA provides many other services for ultralight pilots and owners, ranging from life insurance that includes ultralight flying, to fly-ins and annual cross-Canada spring safety seminars; the COPA Rust Removers! Ultralight owners and pilots also get first class representation in Ottawa from COPA. Whenever new CARs and government ultralight policies are made COPA has a voice at the table. COPA is on all nine Transport Canada CARAC Technical Committees. COPA is also on the Nav Canada Advisory Board, representing you in matters of flight planning, weather and fees.
You’ll find COPA members wherever ultralights are flying in Canada! If you are flying ultralights in Canada you’ll want to belong to COPA, for ultralight news, COPA Flights, insurance, government representation and many other reasons.
By Adam Hunt
Manager, Membership Services
COPA
Originally published on the COPA Website at http://www.copanational.org/non-members/index.htm