The ULM is not a panacea for arresting the decline in GA, that can be happening for many different reasons, but it can help and should not be treated with disdain by those who consider these machines as not real aircraft flown by not real pilots on not real journeys.
In the UL world one has to accept that the aircraft are not suitable for family trips unless that family consists of just 2 people. One has to accept that luggage is limited etc.
But on the other hand the Super Guépard I fly costs under €100,000 new and equipped with mode S plus radio asi vsi altimeter. No AI or other frills but space for a tablet. One could pay a little more, still less than 100k and get more instrumentation.
Empty weight is somewhere between 265 and 285 kg so enough left over with parachute for a useful load of 245kg to 260kg. The reservoirs hold 60litres of unleaded 95. Take off distance at MTOW needs around 100metres although this can be reduced. And I can do a full stop landing on a 150m grass strip. Climb at MTOW is quoted as 1100fpm but I often see 1300fpm . Cruising at 4800rpm I get just less than 100kts using 10 litres per hour but for planning on a day to day basis we suggest 13litres an hour. It always seems to be a bit OTT.
On a personal note I was and am a fan of twin engined aircraft and held and MEIR and a SEIR. In december 22 and jan 23 I did some 20hrs MEIR. But through a combination of circumstances I was unable to get a suitable aircraft for my annual revalidation (ie avionics failure on the aircraft I had chosen to fly and delays in getting the bits needed to repair it from Garmin).
I had already had both a trial and passed my test in the club’s Super Guépard last year. I had always stayed away from the ULM even back when I could have just shown my PPL to the DGAC and got the licence. I just wasn’t interested but I thought it was time to give it a go. I found it was really fun and freeing.
In fact so much so that I decided to allow my MEP, MEIR and SEIR to lapse. Cost v fun was the major factor at somewhere between €500 and €700ph, although by a stroke of good fortune I was able to fly many hours with a friend for just fuel costs but this of course was not to my timetable. On thinking about it I decided that if I wanted to go to Egypt or India as I have just done recently it was much simpler and more enjoyable to go first class or business class and I would still save money on renting or owning a twin and flying myself. And the wife prefers it too.
Although I have recently revalidated my SEP I am finding the DA40D, more and more boring.
And more and more repressive with creeping, I can’t totally blame regulation, but there seems to be more and more people trying to put obstacles in the way. Well perhaps not obstacles but little things to niggle one. Like filling in the same blxxdy form every year for the medical even though nothing has changed. Even the control flight every two years now has a structure and is edging towards a test rather than a friendly flight with an instructor.
The DA40D is heavy and as I get older and weaker I find it more and more offputting, not to drag it out of the hangar as the ramp slopes away from it but putting it back after the flight when I find myself sweating and puffing as I push it back up the slope into the hangar.
Although the aircraft is often available on nice sunny evenings and often even at weekends I find myself thinking I cannot be bothered if no one is around to help. Most of the lady pilots have long given up for the same reason or like me only if there are enough people around to help or someone has booked the aircraft after them so that they can leave it out.
Not only is the ULM cheaper to fly getting it in and out of the hangar is so easy as it is so light.
An hour’s flight on a nice sunny evening is fun again. I am getting a new sense of freedom to fly, to have fun whereas I might otherwise well have given up flying for other pursuits.
And I find that with a bit of extra planning I can still do the type of flying I did before, visit the same places. Flying to Italy, Greece, Croatia, Germany and Spain is no more problem than 48hr PN to the NAA. And I can land at more hidden away fields where you are a welcome visitor.
For the young, the ULM scene is a great introduction to GA as one can train and solo much younger.And later when of age move to PPL training, better equipped to gain the licence in the minimum hours necessary. If the mood so takes them.
But as I said it is not a panacea, the ULM by its very nature does not suit everyone. It does not suit, and never will, those who fly with family and friends and loads of luggage.
It is not suitable for those who wish to fly in or to Switzerland or go by ulm autogyro to Belgium.
It does not, in the short term at least, suit those who like to fly at night or under IFR.
It does not suit those who do not like to pick up the phone to ask the airfield owner if s/he minds if you pop in to their strip for a few touch and goes. And you are not particularly welcome at fields like Nice or Bordeaux Mérignac.
And it does not suit those who do not wish to contact the NAA of another country to get permission to fly there. (Although there are some bilateral agreements in place)
But if you just want to fly and see the sights from the air I would highly recommend giving it a try and I also suggest that "real pilots doing real flying even those who fly in real IMC accept that the ULM scene is just as much a part of GA as business jets, turbines, and spam cans. As are kit builts, plans builts, experimentals and those of historical interest.
Excellent post @gallois 
And similar to the popular thread made by @aart Changing Horses…
I love the spirit, the rekindled interest, the found again fun, modern grass root flying.
Yes, nice and wise words
Another thing that may not be all that obvious perhaps, is that technological development and activity goes hand in hand. What is the chicken and egg here may be discussed, but IMO the egg is clearly technology. Technology will always find it’s way when there is an untapped potential and a welcoming environment. Activity will follow. This creates an ascending spiral of activity and development.
In the 60s-70s early 80s it clearly was traditional GA. That stopped sometime in the 80s, and traditional GA has been sliding slowly downward on the momentum alone ever since. Nothing has happened there in the last 40 years that have been truly beneficial for the average private pilot. In the 80’s the kit industry (US mainly) and UL (Europe mainly) took off, slowly at first, full throttle in the 90s and 2000. In many areas (engine and avionics in particular) these two industries have converged. The result is an almost endless stream of new aircraft and bits and pieces for these aircraft. The variation of aircraft is large also, but with a clearly visible “bread and butter” breed of aircraft.
Traditional GA has also had some benefit from this, but what it boils down to in the end is “bang for the buck”. Experimentals and ULs delivers in that department, several times more than traditional GA.
I never understood that there is no more TMG development ongoing. Its green it flies efficient and you can turn off the engine. Its a shame that the RF10 or Ximango never saw a carbon version. Aeromot is back in business with producing DA62s in Brazil. The market is too small I guess….The number of TMG/SEP rated pilots is soon retired also…Not an issue with international flight planning, you can go anywhere anytime. Only not at night :-)
https://aeromot.com.br/
LeSving wrote:
Nothing has happened there in the last 40 years that have been truly beneficial for the average private pilot.
GPS navigators…? Electronic flight bags? Weather and other briefing information on the net?
The ULM is not a panacea for arresting the decline in GA, that can be happening for many different reasons, but it can help and should not be treated with disdain by those who consider these machines as not real aircraft flown by not real pilots on not real journeys.
The converse is also true, and falling victim either way to divide and conquer will not be beneficial for anybody. Nature does not see any difference between aircraft labeled ULM or certified, but the European legal construct that divides them is being used to push aviators into a more limited scope of operations. If there is a regulatory division in terms of e.g. aircraft weight and capacity, I think there should be a political effort to allow ULMs to operate everywhere a certified plane can (like Experimental in the US), not an acceptance that gaining freedom in one area automatically means losing it somewhere else when there is no rational reason for that to be the case.
The safety record for ULMs in unlimited operations should then be used to evaluate and reduce the requirements and costs to maintain a certified aircraft of EASA registers, so that somebody like me can operate a certified aircraft much less expensively than a new LSA, as I do on N-register.
Airborne_Again wrote:
GPS navigators…? Electronic flight bags? Weather and other briefing information on the net?
GPS is a military thing, and has transformed aspects of the entire society, including GA. Nothing to do with GA as such. It’s probably one of the major technological inventions in the last 100 years. Electronic flight bags is simply a logical step of GPS + handheld devices, nothing to do with GA. Internet has nothing to do with GA, but useful there as any other place. What I’m talking about is:
The production of aircraft kits. Literally enabling everyone to build a plane in the garage using a minimum of tools, and for a decent price, and no jigs. “CNC” type, literally fully automated pre-punched skins and other parts at high quality and accuracy. It’s a change that probably is invisible for most people, but it’s an achievement in aircraft production similar to Henry Ford’s mass production of cars. It’s also a main reason why a C-172 is insanely expensive in comparison (all hand operations and fiddling with inaccurately manufactured parts in jigs). Metal ULs now use the same techniques, and most of them can also be bought as kits. Actually where this started, among UL factories in Italy and previous eastern block countries, or in the US kit industry, is a hard question to answer. Probably more a hand in hand thing.
The Rotax 912. Nothing would be possible without this engine (not to say some other wouldn’t step in if they weren’t there)
For the same reason, you could say that the Lycoming 320/360 in the non certified version, but probably more all the non certified “clones” have done a similar job. Not much would have happened without this engine either (other than what could be done with small Continentals). It’s probably the only thing brought over from the traditional GA boom. No effect on the European UL industry though.
Then there is composites, carbon. The basic technology existed for gliders. Enabling (true) laminar flow wings. This was mostly glass fiber. ULs started right away with carbon. What hasn’t happened (yet), is automated production methods. Carbon composites is very labor intensive, time consuming and requires special competence, hence expensive planes. High strength, ultra high shape accuracy, and high aerodynamic efficiency, but also high price.
With avionics there are millions of different EFIS’es and related gadgets and instruments. For certified GA there’s only super overpriced Garmin
In general, the technology of creating light, strong and simple aeronautical structures has seen a revolution. Traditional GA has none of this, not even Diamond. Strong perhaps, but light and simple : no.
LeSving wrote:
Nothing to do with GA as such.
So things that are not for “GA as such” don’t count? Well…
For certified GA there’s only super overpriced Garmin
Avidyne, Aspen…
Airborne_Again wrote:
Avidyne, Aspen…
99% Garmin and 1 % Avidyne/Aspen I think you understand what I mean. In the uncertified world there’s tons and tons of different manufacturers creating stuff that people actually can afford. In the certified world there is Garmin, and installing something else, your plane will be hard to sell.
Airborne_Again wrote:
So things that are not for “GA as such” don’t count? Well…
As I said. The only thing of value from traditional GA is the 320/360. This simply IS a very good engine for home builders, and made affordable (as factory new) by dozens of clone manufacturers. Continental could be in the same spot, but isn’t. They also manufacture Lycoming clones for the kit industry.
