USA Flying/Roadtrip 2015

[JG3]

Gday All,

 

Come along for my last flying/roadtrip in the USA.

 

http://jgflyingroadtrip2015.blogspot.com.au/

 

JG

 

 

[rdarby]

Did you do all of that in the ultralight category hence no license over there?

 

Or did you get a sport certificate?

 

 

[Marty_d]

Great blog JG. Enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing!

 

 

[terryc]

Thanks JG, loved those photos shows the vastness of the area. Your right about the almighty dollar, wins every time and we are no different. We will pay eventually.

 

 

[JG3]

Did you do all of that in the ultralight category hence no license over there? Or did you get a sport certificate?

Interesting question, with lots of complications.....

 

Originally I had intended to buy a used light sport aircraft and get a sport pilot license. Until I found out that you must be a US citizen or green card resident to register an aircraft there.....

 

So instead I decided to use the freedoms of the Part 103 ultralight category, where no license or registration, or even training is required. The catch is that the empty weight of the aircraft must be less than 254 lbs, and max fuel capacity 5 USgal (19 litres)..... It's very difficult to build and equip a good aircraft that light, and so nearly every 'ultralight' flying over there is overweight, but authorities mostly ignore the situation. So I flew a Kolb FireStar, with 503 electric start, brakes and 12 gal fuel tank. Way overweight, (never weighed it, didn't want to know...), would be a legal 95.10 ultralight here. I just flew it on the basis that, it "...looked like an ultralight, sounded like an ultralight, and flew like an ultralight, so lets just pretend it is an ultralight....". Only got challenged once, by a really sour and aggressive character, he asked a lot of questions and took a bunch of photos, then when he went home for lunch and I suspect to consult the internet about this model, I quickly loaded up and split..... If I did get bailed up they could either charge me with flying an overweight ultralight, which usually just brings a slap on the wrist, or they could charge me with flying an unregistered aircraft and having no valid license, which would be really serious..... Americans strongly believe that we should all be left to out own freedoms, provided we don't interfere with anyone else, so if cornered that would be my last ditch defense....

 

I had intended to get a Sport Pilot license, so jumped thro the hoops for the Transport Security Administration (background check and finger prints for us 'aliens'), took the FAA written exam (93%), and passed a third class medical. But when they insisted on full 20 hrs basic training I balked. I did that 20 hrs basic training 23 years ago, and now have 2700 hrs experience since, 1200 on type for that aircraft, plus endorsements for cross-country, pax, radio, high performance, low performance, nose wheel, tail wheel, two stroke, and human factors. Their 20 hrs is really just basic training and doesn't have any endorsements, not even cross-country, and I had learned all their rules and procedures and air space in the written exam, so their 20 hrs wouldn't have given me anything further. So I carried my RAAus certificate (and my ASIC card to show that I've had background check here as well) and determined to argue my case if should need be. Not legal at all, but a pretty sound case of proven competency. Supposedly ICAO is working on reciprocity of Sport Pilot Licenses, but I don't suppose I'll live long enough to see that..... Never got questioned about it, and probably wouldn't ever be a problem unless I was involved in an accident or incident that attracted attention. I mostly flew out of quiet country airstrips and was careful to stay out of everyone's way. I was quite surprised to meet and hear of so many pilots flying GA aircraft over there who no longer have a valid license or never ever had one......

 

So, I was taking more risks than just flying over the rugged terrain in an open ultralight..... But sometimes you just have to take some calculated risk to get done whatever you need to do..... Actually, the risk with the most dire consequences was that I couldn't get medical insurance for flying activities..... Regular travel insurance excludes such activity, and even companies that insure high risk sports like base jumping didn't want to know about PIC in an ultralight.... If I had ended up in the outrageous American hospital system in traction with a broken leg, that would clean out my retirement savings..... So I figured that if I could crash near a road and crawl up on it then I'd claim to be 'road kill'.......

 

Such were the trials and tribulations when I just wanted to have some innocent fun!

 

But I got away with it, and now back safe and secure......

 

JG

 

 

[Guest SrPilot]

Thanks JG. Interesting post. Your pictures are great and the narration is really interesting.

 

I flew over some of that area a few years ago but the plane was a CJ6A and we were a bit higher up. I doubt that I'll ever get back that far west now that I'm flying an Aeroprakt A22LS. Great airplane but a very long trip.

 

If you ever try East of the Mississippi, drop me a line.