We're on our way......
Greetings..... Peg and I just got home from Merrill, the proud owners of two successful completions of Ultralight Ground School!! But let me back up a little.
On Saturday morning we went to Wisconsin Rapids to visit Ken Snyder's Quicksilver dealership at the Rapids airport. We talked at length about the different models, the differences in flight, how they handled, how much they cost, etc. We came away with a load of brochures and a price list. I thought that we might as well go find the Merrill airport, as I have an appointment there to get an introductory flight in a Quicksilver next Tuesday. So we found it, drove in and found Steve Krueger, the instructor that is taking me up. We talked a long time about his planes and also about a ground school that he was teaching the next day, Sunday. 
So..... we decided to go, and Peggy is decided to take it as well. So we continued on to Paul and Susanna's place to drop off a CD of theirs that I had, but the weren't home. We left the CD and split. We headed back to Phillips and attended the late afternoon and evening of the Boy Scout family campout weekend. We were planning on camping and such, but now we had to be in Merrill by a little before 7:00A.M. So we got up at 5:15 and headed out at 5:45. Got to the airport before 7:00. The school started right away and went to noon, we had pizza at the airport and continued on with class. We finally finished at 5:00 and then we had the written test. I guess we got out of there about 6:15..... Long day sitting there trying to absorb about a million details. We go Tuesday for the flight and we both have determined to take the instruction for the FAA recognised Ultralight Pilot Certificate. This training is sponsored by the USUA (United States Ultralight Assoc.) and will be done at the Merrill airport. Yeeee-haaaaaa!! Are we nuts, or what??????p.s. Peg's house is one of those down there......
posted by Red Green @ 7:47 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
lots of stuff to talk about, but i have to go to class right now!!! great pics, will read text later:)
love you guys,
i'll write/call soon
Nyrb
Umlike, you're still on Earth, eh? What's going on?
These planes come all different ways. You can get them from a dealer or used completely assembled and ready to go. You can get them in kit form and bolt it all together, and some kits require more intense work to get a plane out of it. The ones in the pix above come to the dealer as a bolt together kit with some holes to be burned in the cloth coverings where fasteners will go through.
New prices for these Quicksilvers run from about $10,000 to $16,000, depending on model. Then there are all the extra instruments, wheel pants, lights, yadda, yadda that can be added.
I have been told that some folks fly them all winter as long as you can keep yourself warm or like to suffer. November should not be a problem. However, ultralight pilots are not allowed to carry passengers (except for trainers), so no one can get a ride in these except for trainer demo rides.
That's about all I know for now.
Well, recdaughter, it is like this.... the more I find out about this business, the more I understand the need for training. Right now I would not even consider going up in one of these things without taking a training course. The USUA (U.S. Ultralight Assoc.) has a good program that is recognized by the FAA as a valid training for ultralight pilots. This validation also would count towards the new FAA sport pilot license for planes that do not fit the ultralight class but are not like "regular planes". Anyway, one should take this training before flying and it consists of 12 lessons totaling 6.5 hrs on the ground training and a 10 to 13 hours of in the air training. I think there is also the requirements of 25 take-offs and landings and a cross country flight planned and executed. That's it!! Oh, and the instruction will most likely cost around $1000.
Sign up for in the spring.....
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