iscover
Ah! Just when you thought that flying was becoming boring- there is the Super Pup Sport. Yes, Cessna and Beech drivers, that IS an ultralight, eat your hearts out! Aircraft of this calibre represent the future of light aircraft flying as traditional GA becomes more entrenched in bureaucracy and high costs.
Ultralight News
0 comment
Sixty Minutes Incurs Wrath of Ultralight Community
Most people involved in ultralight aviation were dismayed at the recent Sixty Minutes TV report on ultralights entitled, “Free to Fly- Free to Die”. While basically giving the industry a dose of bad publicity the show generally overlooked crucially important facts relating to the accidents it so graphically brought into the living rooms of Australia.
Probably the best was the death of American television reporter Steve Douglas in 1983. Steve, with no ultralight flight experience, flew his borrowed Pterodactyl Ascender before the cameras in a special segment on ultralights. Pilots will be dismayed to learn that (a) he refused to wear a seat belt (as it was later testified before the NTSB that the harness would visually interfere with the horizontal stripes on his shirt! fair dinkum. ) and, (b) that he deliberately flew three times past the listed VNE speed of the aircraft. The third reckless dive naturally took its toll. The aircraft broke under enormous loadings it wasn’t designed for and the unrestrained pilot fell out of the aircraft that if fitted with a ballistic recovery chute could have still been recovered safely to the ground.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Australian Aviation a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Australian Aviation as a preferred news source.
