Posted on 04/11/2005 9:09:30 AM PDT by Spiff
Before I got into ultralights, I checked out the ultralight safety record with the NTSB. About 95% of the crashes were caused by unrecovered stalls. Anyone who can't get his aircraft out of a stall has no business flying so much as an armchair. By lesson two of private pilot instruction, the instructor has you putting your craft into stalls and recovering from them.
The remainder of the danger in ultralights comes from flying into unseen power lines and guy wires. Antenna masts and canyons are common traps for these hazards.
It appears that the death of this Wilcox man is being attributed to high winds, but I can tell you that even though the craft I flew (the Flight Star by Pioneer Aviation out of Conn.) only had a 15 knot crosswind rating, I regularly landed it with 30+ knots of crosswind. Piece of cake (and fun)!
Remember, wind velocities are not the same as crosswind components. If you get yourself into winds gusting 40-50 mph (35-45 knots), you just land into the wind and tie the plane down till it blows over. If the runway is cross to the wind, land somewhere else, a road for instance.
Most modern ultralight include a ballistic parachute recovery system (BRS). Since they deploy explosively, manufacturers claim they will save your life any where from 200 feet on up. FAA ultralight regs give a big preference to ultralights that use a BRS. I've seen video's of the BRS in action and it is quite impressive. I personally know of one person who hit a guy wire at 75 feet, flipped upside down, yanked the cord, and the BRS deployed and saved his life.
Personally, I don't trust the powered parachute, but that's just my thing. A strong gust of wind can collapse a parachute and the powered parachutes almost never come with a BRS (to heavy).
As far as where to get an ultralight, go to the small local airstrips and ask around. They'll tell which airport the ultralights are flying out of. Go there and I'll bet you dollars to donuts, that you'll find someone renting them.
Basic rule of thumb in picking out an ultralight: You want a PLA (a proper little airplane) without any fancy aeronautical designs. You want three axis control, ailerons, elevators and rudder. Stay away from anything with canards, elevons, etc. It should look, feel and act like a Cessna 152, just a hell of a lot smaller (and cheaper).
Let me know if you give it a try.
--Boot Hill
Boot
I did not have time to post all the numbers.
While Naco and Douglas have a sharp drop in apprehensions, Ajo, Casa Grande, Norgalas and Tucson have had sharp increases in their daily average apprehensions.
All the Minutemen are really doing is shifting the crossing of illegals east and west.
Illegals don't fear the border patrol, but they do fear the Minutemen and have moved east and west to cross the border.
Good report. Thanks for keeping us plugged in.
And that's a major accomplishment, because contrary to what many are saying today (especially by the CAL-9 here on FR), we now have proof that the entire length of our border with Mexico can be secured with a reasonable level of manpower, IF they are managed and equipped by those with a passion to actually stop the illegal migration.
Next, we need a Minuteman Project to start building the fence.
"Mexican Army's involvement in transporting the illegal immigrants"
--Boot Hill
Next we need a Minuteman Project to start building the fence.
--Boot Hill
I've wondered about webcams, too.
Spiff, check #19...
How much time and money is required to get the proper training/paperwork to fly?
And how much does a good ultralight cost?
"Illegals don't fear the border patrol"
They would if your superiors would let you do your job!!!!
You can dig under the fence and wall. The DHS knew about that and has other plans.
Why bother?
Thieves can pick locks, jimmy windows, etc.
The point is, an effective fence is part of an overall border defense, allowing the same number of Border Patrolmen to be more effective at keeping illegals OUT, rather than trying to find them all over the canyons and hills, after they have walked IN.
Do you think Israel is stupidly wasting money, building security fences? That would be big news in Israel.
I think they would laugh out loud at you, if you held up our border defenses as an example of how to keep intruders out.
"Other plans" my Aunt Sally. The "other plan" is the present asinine "catch and release" program, which gives a crosser an 80% chance of success on one try, a 96% chance on two tries, and a 99% chance by his third try.
Thieves and intruders can pick the locks, and jimmy the windows. (Dig under, climb over)
You really must do better than make vague references like your oh-so-mysterious "Once again, I will not go further in depth to talk about those security measures so please don't ask."
Our border defenses and policies are an utter failure and the laughingstock of the world. Don't make yourself sound like a complete buffoon by holding out mysterious "other plans" you can't talk about.
You sound like "Jethro Bodine Clampett-Double Nought Spy."
If you are a goverment policy maker, God help us.
(PS: Even a ten year old understands that first you build doors, windows and locks, THEN you go out in the weeds with your "secret agent decoder ring" gadgets. NOT the other way around.)
This is what your "No Fence Defense" has brought us: millions of invaders a year.
I think that wins as the most out-to-lunch pointy-headed comment ever made on a border thread.
Millions of invaders can simply WALK into the USA, but Wiz says we are "doing way better than Israel" at keeping out intruders.
Are you taking LSD, by any chance?
If you are in a policy position, it's easy to see why we are being over run by millions of criminal invaders. In "fantasy land," facts don't matter, and we're doing "way better than Israel," even without a fence.
Sheesh, we're in BIG trouble, if you have policy input.
DP
I think he's talking about keeping terrorists out, while the discussion here is about keeping the flood of illegals out.
"And how much does a good ultralight cost?"
There is no paperwork needed to fly an ultralight, no license is required for you or the craft! And (legally) the same is true about training, BUT if you've never flown before, you'd have to be some kind of damn fool to just jump in an ultralight, firewall the throttle and take off screaming, yippee ki yi yea! Clint Eastwood said it best, "a man's got to know his limitations".
Flying is not a form of transportation, it's an art form, it's a sport, it's the ultimate thrill, its a ballet in three dimensional space. And unless you've have made yourself intimately familiar with the aeronautics of how your craft works and handles, you will eventually have a very unpleasant experience.
The simplest way is to hire an instructor pilot to teach you flying in a small plane, similar in handling to an ultralight, something like a Cessna 152. Check at any small airport in your vicinity. It won't be as expensive as you might think, because you only need the lessons up to, but not including, your first solo flight. That should be about 10 hours of flight time. That shouldn't break the piggy bank. By then you'll have enough bookwork, theory and hands-on flying experience to be more than qualified to fly ultralights.
You will have landed an aircraft and taken it off. You will have learned how and why that it's the throttle, and not the stick, that makes your aircraft go up or down. You'll know what causes stalls and spins and how to get into them and how to get out of them. And how to do them just because they're fun to do. You will have learned the rules and customs of flying. And you'll know how to land your plane safely in the event of an in-flight emergency, like an engine failure (trust me, it will happen to you sometime!)
As for expense, DO NOT plan on buying an ultralight when you first get started, rent them. Get used to your flying experience first, have a blast, try some stunts, push that baby to its limits! And learn more about just what YOU want from an ultralight. After 6 months to a year, you'll be so familiar with what the market offers (both new and used) and what you can afford, that I'll be asking you rather than you asking me.
You can get a new, fully equipped ultralight for under $10,000 or far far less than you'd pay for a Harley or a motor home or that vacation cottage or any other hobby or sport. But by the time you've found just the right model and just the right Rotax engine (and accessories), it will likely be more than that.
--Boot Hill
This is really common on the border- it usually happens to the Border Patrol or other Law Enforcement agencies, but I have heard of it happening to ranchers or others who got in the way of smugglers. When the Border Patrol does a concentrated effort on a certain area and pretty much closes that area down then the smugglers will get desperate and try to run officers down, crash vehicles and even have a shoot-out.
These incidents are talked about locally- but seldom make it in the news. Officials are not allowed to talk to reporters about things like this and if a private person tries to tell about it- the media doesn't believe them.
Another thing that I never hear about- though it has happened to me, my daughter and a friend on different occasions- illegals that are abandoned by a coyote on a secondary road will literally try to car jack people.
I was on a secondary road that is not well traveled and came upon a group of about 10 illegal men- some of them got in the road to force me to stop and some stayed on the side of the road to try to get the doors opened- I did not weaken and they jumped out of the way at the last minute...my daughter came upon a mixed group and a woman actually jumped in front of her holding a baby- my daughter slowed & went to the ditch and a man grabbed the door handle- the door was locked and he fell away. The friend lived on a ranch and slowed down to stop to open a gate- illegals jumped out of the ditch & ran toward her truck- she gassed it and drove through the gate. These incidents were all reported to authorities and they tried their best to convince us they did not happen...we were mistaken about the illegals actions. Right.
This proves that the minutemen are being effective- and shows how dangerous it really is on the border. Those of us who live here try to tell others about these things and you might as well try to tell people you just returned from Mars. Without any support either from LE or even other people who don't live on the border- you just go on about your business and the story never gets out.
People who do not live on the border refuse to believe these things happen- because they don't see it reported on the news. I see a lot of this additude from some posters here on FR since the minutemen project started.
People who do live on the border and deny these things have an agenda- they may be involved with smugglers- or have a business or are involved in politics- they need to keep everyone happy so they won't admit what is going on.
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