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#1
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Ultralight rotorcraft
I just learned about this littel ultralight rotor
craft: http://www.airscooter.com/ My question ia about the rules of where you can fly such a thing. On the radio program I was listening to the inventer and host talked about flying it around town. However, on their website where they quote the FAR 103 rules, "Sec. 103.15 Operations over congested areas. No person may operate an ultralight vehicle over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons." So am I right in that this precludes me flying one of these things from my home driveway to my work parking lot in the suburbs of LA where I live? Yet in the program they kept talking about bypassing all the traffic on the roads. Brian -- http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism Home of the Seismic FAQ http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes? |
#2
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I've seen ultralights operate out of SMO (Santa Monica), which is
surrounded by congestion. Specifically, I should say, I've seen ONE ultralight there. He had a beacon, and Mode C I assume (LAX is right next door), but I wasn't in the tower at the time, just the pilots lounge. I think there's a procedure involved in getting to that level, and but I don't know what it is. I read somewhere recently about a group of ultralights that had received N-numbers and other whatnots to allow them certain privileges, but I can't recall the text. Does anyone else remember reading about this? It might involve having the planes reclassified as experimental and then vetted by an A&P, but this is all guesswork on my part. Are the two related? |
#3
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That Airscooter looks like a lot of fun, but it has no provisions to
land safely when the engine quits. That could hurt. Bryan |
#4
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(snips a lot)
Skywise wrote: "Sec. 103.15 Operations over congested areas. No person may operate an ultralight vehicle over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons." ..com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes? y'know, i have not really heard or read any kind of usable guidlines of what "congested" and "over" mean. people can tell you like, "not over a stadium" or something; anecdotal kinda stuff but nothing very useful in finding the limits and exceptions. that citation does not seem to have the 500 and 1000ft limits in it so i suppose you can fly the thing 100ft over the streets of new york all you want as long as you're careful to observe pedestrian crossings and not exceed the undefined "congestion-limit". i'm pretty sure that one small person alone in times square would not be "congested" but where do you do from there? huh? dan |
#5
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y'know, i have not really heard or read any kind of usable guidlines of
what "congested" and "over" mean. people can tell you like, "not over a stadium" or something; anecdotal kinda stuff but nothing very useful in finding the limits and exceptions. that citation does not seem to have the 500 and 1000ft limits in it so i suppose you can fly the thing 100ft over the streets of new york all you want as long as you're careful to observe pedestrian crossings and not exceed the undefined "congestion-limit". At a recent safety seminar, it was held that "congested" could easily be construed to mean "over a freeway in the middle of nowhere", and it was stated by the person doing the seminar that flying the Hudson Corridor is technically illegal because you can't apply the "500 feet away" rule since NY is congested (never mind that we're over the Hudson River, which is a mile wide). He also stated that the FAA has a "look the other way" policy on that particular corridor. I don't buy this, but I'm just a private pilot and they are the FAA. Jose -- I used to make money in the stock market, now I make money in the basement. for Email, make the obvious change in the address. |
#6
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Jose wrote in news:gATje.3808$VS6.969
@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com: y'know, i have not really heard or read any kind of usable guidlines of what "congested" and "over" mean. people can tell you like, "not over a stadium" or something; anecdotal kinda stuff but nothing very useful in finding the limits and exceptions. that citation does not seem to have the 500 and 1000ft limits in it so i suppose you can fly the thing 100ft over the streets of new york all you want as long as you're careful to observe pedestrian crossings and not exceed the undefined "congestion-limit". At a recent safety seminar, it was held that "congested" could easily be construed to mean "over a freeway in the middle of nowhere", and it was stated by the person doing the seminar that flying the Hudson Corridor is technically illegal because you can't apply the "500 feet away" rule since NY is congested (never mind that we're over the Hudson River, which is a mile wide). He also stated that the FAA has a "look the other way" policy on that particular corridor. I don't buy this, but I'm just a private pilot and they are the FAA. Jose Some very good points. Thanks. From my point of view in the city, I don't see how flying one of these things over the town would be any more or less a danger to those below than any other aircraft. But I fully realize that the rules don't always conform to logic and/or reason. If I had the bucks, I'd snag one. But I'd hate to have to drive 50 miles out of town just to be allowed to fly it. I have a feeling the definition of congested has a lot to do with citizen complaints. If no one complains, it's ok. But somehow I don't think flying a hundred feet over peoples houses in Anaheim in a dinky little ultralight is going to go unnoticed and unaddressed for very long. Hell, the media would probably twist it into a terrorist threat for the evening news. As an aside, I recall many years ago, way back in the 80's, that the city of Long Beach CA tested the use of ultralights for police work. If my memory hasn't gone wacky I recall a picture of this in a National Geographic. Brian -- http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism Home of the Seismic FAQ http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes? |
#7
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Jose wrote: At a recent safety seminar, it was held that "congested" could easily be construed to mean "over a freeway in the middle of nowhere", and it was stated by the person doing the seminar that flying the Hudson Corridor is technically illegal because you can't apply the "500 feet away" rule since NY is congested (never mind that we're over the Hudson River, which is a mile wide). He also stated that the FAA has a "look the other way" policy on that particular corridor. This is an excellent example of why the FSDO system is broken. Every inspector can have his own goofy interpretation of the regs and the FAA will usually back them on it. Even if it's diametrically opposed to some other FSDO inspector that has a different take on the regs (and is also backed by the FAA). Personally, I think the guy you're talking about above is full of crap. Unfortunately, that doesn't make him less likely to try and tag some pilot not flying within his personal interpretation of the regs. John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180) |
#8
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No autorotation?
mike regish "Flyingmonk" wrote in message oups.com... That Airscooter looks like a lot of fun, but it has no provisions to land safely when the engine quits. That could hurt. Bryan |
#9
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No collective, it uses throttle instead. Engine dies, you die. Cyclic
shifts weight of pilot forward and aft I believe. |
#10
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That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. FAA should ban the thing
immediatly. It's not a question of if people are going to die its a question of how many. My bet is the ratio of aircrafts sold to deaths will be something approaching 1:1. "Flyingmonk" wrote in message oups.com... No collective, it uses throttle instead. Engine dies, you die. Cyclic shifts weight of pilot forward and aft I believe. |
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