World Ultralight Fly-in (WUFI)

[farri]

It`s been and gone for 2015! What do you think about the event? Did you fly on the day? Show us the photos!

 

Frank.

 

 

[farri]

I meant this thread to be in General Discussion. Don`t know how it got here!

 

Frank.

 

 

[SDQDI]

I meant this thread to be in General Discussion. Don`t know how it got here!Frank.

Welcome to the forum Farri, I'm sure you will like it here:stirrer:

But jokes aside I did fly on the day but I didn't register:blush:. I might be able to help break the record next time:whistling:

 

Our aero club had it's monthly fly day that day, 13 planes all up. I only got to fly the five minutes to the airport and then a ten minute flight home after a bacon and egg roll (was five minutes longer due to not wanting to get back to work, not because of the extra weight:blush:) then spent the rest of the day on a tractor watching our locals have fun on ozrunways:what the:

 

 

[Geoff13]

I played.

 

Below was my post from the WUFI Photos page.

 

South East Queensland Australia.

 

Today was not great for flying. So just a quick flight over the airfield to get some photos.

 

1. Showing the Dash and Call Sign of my X-Air Hanuman 19-7282

 

2. The strut and lower wing to prove she is a rag and tube ultralight.

 

3. Looking down on our hangar from 1500 feet above Caboolture in SE Queensland Australia.

 

 

 

 

 

[winsor68]

I wonder what their definition of an "Ultralight" is...?

 

 

[kasper]

I wonder what their definition of an "Ultralight" is...?

They were pretty generous on what was included:

"Any pilot of an aircraft considered an "ultralight" and/or "open air." Ultralight, PPG, PPC, Trike, Paramotor, Hang Glider, Hot Air Balloon. Any imaginative, magnificent flying machine."

 

 

Much more generous than the FAI who define microligths as:

 

"1.3 DEFINITION OF A MICROLIGHT OR PARAMOTOR AIRCRAFT

 

1.3.1 A one or two seat powered aircraft whose minimum speed at Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) is less

 

than 65 km/h, and having a MTOW of:

 

- 300 kg for a landplane flown solo

 

- 375 kg for a landplane specifically designed to be flown with two persons but flown solo in championships.

 

- 330 kg for an amphibian or a pure seaplane flown solo;

 

- 405 kg for an amphibian or a pure seaplane specifically designed to be flown with two persons but flown solo in

 

championships.

 

- 450 kg for a landplane flown with two persons

 

- 495 kg for an amphibian or a pure seaplane flown with two persons

 

Note. These definitions also apply to foot-launched Microlight and Paramotor aircraft."

 

So nearly all RAA Aircraft are not microlights for international sporting competitions or record setting as they are either overweight for the category or too fast - MTOW of 300-450kg and stall at MTOW of 35knts is not much of the RAA fleet

 

 

[farri]

On the day of the event, the weather was nasty, here at Deeral, 20/25 kts wind and rain, fortunately! we got a break in the weather just long enough to get a fly in, to add three more aircraft to the event, Uwe Von Gunten, X-Air, Ron Biondi (85 years of age) Drifter, and myself, Drifter.

 

What has amazed me with this event is the number and types of Ultralight Aircraft ( Basic Ultralights ) being flown in the US and the age of a lot of the pilots flying them, at a guess, I`d say, 60+! whereas over here, at that age, the LSA is dominating.

 

There was a guy flying a Pterodactyl but I didn`t save the photo and can`t find it now, I`ll put out a call for it.

 

 

Frank.

 

Ps, Just one of the many different types.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

I was really surprised at all the different types that took part. Some real interesting types and even a ultralight balloon. Looked like a single seat Cloudhopper.

 

Gee there are a lot of 103 Ultralights in the USA.

 

 

[farri]

 

Frank.

 

 

[paulh]

Maybe if we had a direct equivalent of part 103 a revitalisation of popular fun flying might be possible.

 

 

[kasper]

Maybe if we had a direct equivalent of part 103 a revitalisation of popular fun flying might be possible.

the parts of FAR103 that we do not have are:

1. no flight training; and

 

2. sale of fully built single seaters without certification

 

Item 1 I am happy to be different from USA - lack of pilot training does kill people unneccessarily

 

Item 2 we used to have before 95.25 came along - 95.10 machines could be sold to the public.

 

Now arguably we have the abilituy for FAR103 kits because we have experimental 19 reg and we could go with 95.10 kits

 

BUT against FAR103 revitalizing Australian RAA I put up

 

1. RAA seems heavily biased in membership and aircraft towards very high end expensive aircraft with performance close to or exceeding GA

 

2. RAA membership now seems heavily biased towards regulation - eg what do you mean I can look after my own engine/plane as an L1? that shouldn;t be allowed .... adverse to the concept of FAR103

 

3. No manufacturer in OZ or importing to OZ is focusing on simple 2 strokes in their airframes - when everyone starts with a 912/Jab2200 you end up with something costing north of $60k and flying at 70kts+

 

And as a final kicker - OZ very light type manufacturers have followed the market - they got bigger and heavier or they went bust

 

Oh and Quicksliver US is no more - bankrupt. enough said really