James Wiebe, owner of Belite Aircraft, has an opinion. He’s one of the more transparent people I’ve met. It doesn’t surprise me he wrote about the accident of a Belite UltraCub on his website. The details of this stall/spin accident, in which the pilot survived, is eye-opening.
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Greg W says
Very impressive, many ultralights are exceptionally strong although this is likely one of the strongest, and best designed cabin sections. It is great that the pilot reports that he has many hours of experience and yet the accident was his fault for not understanding the aircraft. An ultralight is a very low energy machine that will fly quite differently than a heaver airplane. Get time in the lightest machine you can before a first flight in pt. 103 ultralight and remember even a Cub is going to be twice as heavy at take off than the heaviest ultralight. Ultralight also have very high power to weight ratios an torque/P-factor can be an issue dispite the small engine. The low speed leaves little airflow to counter the effects of the wind or the aerodynamic forces on the aircraft. Treat them like any airplane new to you keep the nose down the speed up and altitude is your friend. I think a good comparison of airplanes and ultralights is like a road bike and dirt bike. Both are two wheels and a motor but don’t ask the Honda Goldwing to do what a 125 dirt bike does or ask the 125 to cruise all day on the freeway. The GA aircraft and Part 103 are like that , they both fly other than that…. Another thing with the Cub that would relate to ultralights is this that used to be said about the Cub when they were used as trainers. The Cub is a very safe airplane it will go just fast enough to kill you. Keep your speed up and stay safe.