I got my ultralight muddy

[MtRainier]

it's awesome that you do this.

As a kid, my dad and I looked over the catalogs advertising ultralight kits and fantasized about building one. He did get a private pilot license, but he died before we ever built one. Now I think about it with my kids. Would be so fun.

[HDNB]

i built on these (and many, many, many parts of them) in the early 80's. in fact i'd say there are parts i built on every one of the original 700 unit production run.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birdman_Chinook" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

was actually fun building them, but i'm not sure i'd have the stones to fly one. (especially one i worked on, i made 6.25 an hour making airplanes...if that don't scare you i don't know what would.)

[acfixer69]

Hey HDNB I made about the same as a helper making Nuclear submarines for the Navy. That's why I joined the AIR Force.

[GCB3]

If you enjoy the complexity, research, and effort required for this wonderful hobby, and have any interest in flying, you might just love it. I started when two of our kids moved 5 hrs away in opposite directions in about 2000. Flying gave us an easy way to visit and gave me the chance to fly more. I absolutely loved it.

I grounded myself when I lost eyesight in one eye in about 2008. I can honestly say that it was one of the highlights of my life. I miss it every day and frequently it creeps into my dreams even now.

If you have any interest in it, go get an intro flight lesson at a nearby airport. You will get to fly the airplane! I’m not sure what they cost today, but, I’d guess under $100. Life is short. Wring as much out of it as you can!

[shadylane]

Take a kid to the airport with some money and a logbook and she will become a student pilot
There's nothing like bragging rights to give a kid self confidence

[HDNB]

i've been doing a few flights a year. real life gets in the way of ground school though. not enough room on the hard drive for that much new information. I need to give up one of my day jobs...but then i won't be able to make the vig on the flights, they run 170-200 around here.

[GCB3]

Yeah, it’s tough to make a lot of progress if you can’t fly once or twice a month. Sort of like another hobby we all know!

I checked our local flight school website and their intro lesson is $140. It was $65 when I did mine. Yikes! Hang in there HDNB, I’m sure there’s plenty of extra space on that hard drive!

[Yonder]

Yeah, it’s tough to make a lot of progress if you can’t fly once or twice a month. Sort of like another hobby we all know!

I checked our local flight school website and their intro lesson is $140. It was $65 when I did mine. Yikes! Hang in there HDNB, I’m sure there’s plenty of extra space on that hard drive!

Christ on a crutch, I knew there was a change since I stopped flying after my last biennial. Must a been 6 years now. I was paying $55 an hour in VA. Hate to tell that it was $20 an hour, wet, and $5 more for the CFI when I learned. 'Course that was back at Simon's Army Airfield more than a few years back. $140 to bore holes in the sky is a bit much! That $100 hamburger must be close to a thousand now!

[The Baker]

Take a kid to the airport with some money and a logbook and she will become a student pilot
There's nothing like bragging rights to give a kid self confidence

My brother as a youngster (dunno, maybe thirteen to fifteen?) joined the gliding club. Probably around 1956.
He was a bit late to the field and another member took first flight with the instructor in, from memory, a Kookaburra.
They performed a manoeuvre that put too much strain on the glider and I think a wing more or less fell off. Lloyd was first at the scene with an adult member who jumped in the glider-field jalopy with him.
Both pilots dead.

Geoff

[shadylane]

They performed a manoeuvre that put too much strain on the glider and I think a wing more or less fell off.

Hells fire, I've never seen a wing fall off, usually the wings fail upwards

[Twisted Brick]

If you have any interest in it, go get an intro flight lesson at a nearby airport. You will get to fly the airplane! I’m not sure what they cost today, but, I’d guess under $100. Life is short. Wring as much out of it as you can!

Another one of my missed opportunities. My cousin is a 20-yr flight instructor (Orange County/Long Beach Flight Instructor of the Year a while back) specializing in aerobatics and between three kids in multiple sports, I never could squeeze in the time to learn, much less take up her offer to go up and try my hand at flying inverted. C'est la vie.

[The Baker]

They performed a manoeuvre that put too much strain on the glider and I think a wing more or less fell off.

Hells fire, I've never seen a wing fall off, usually the wings fail upwards

Could well have been that, all jokes aside.

Geoff