Is noise the only reason for ultralight bans?
There is no reason for ultralight bans per se. But, ultralights traditionally only fly in G with no requirements for radio or transponder, so lots of ultralights do not have the required instruments to fly in controlled airspace. There is no requirement for ultralight pilots to have a license to use airband radio, so they are not licensed to use the radio in case the aircraft should have it. With radio, transponder and a separate license to use the radio, the ATC cannot ban ultralight any more than they can ban a Cirrus.
But many aerodromes do ban them with their own operational rules.
One field I know is reputed to have never have allowed them, and doesn’t to this day, because the powers that be think that aeroplanes lighter than a C152/PA28 cannot be viable. They do have accepted some LSA’s, though, recently. It is a pity because they are, like most fields round here, plagued by nimbyism, and today’s average Rotax-powered 3-axis microlight is less noisy than most “E-Klasse” planes.
Peter wrote:
Apparently Spain does sometimes reply but after months, which is useless
Why is it that it’s always places with the most chaotic bureaucracies also have the most hoops to jump through (and often the most rigid enforcement?)
