I am looking for free ultralight plans for a beginner. I have been wanting to fly but I don’t want to spend thousands on a license so ultralight is the next best thing.
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
2
-
$\begingroup$ David, if you don't mind me asking, exactly how old are you? $\endgroup$– John KCommented Oct 8, 2019 at 1:08
-
1$\begingroup$ Learn to fly first. Don't teach yourself. In addition to ultralight lessons, you might seriouly consider taking some hang gliding lessons, either by foot-launch or aerotow. It will be a great experience and you will learn some interesting things about flying and it will be easier to do while you are young and fit than later in life. Just be sure to find some place where they don't make you buy all the gear, unless you are sure you want to make hang gliding your main hobby. $\endgroup$– quiet flyerCommented Oct 9, 2019 at 1:12
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
1
Your best bet is a Sandlin Goat, with free plans for download and quite a few built. It's a soaring glider but some have added motors, although that eats into the useful load. A motor would have to be a 2 stroke to have adequate power for the weight, (you want about 25 hp) and it would be best to use an off the shelf paramotor engine. I would just purchase an old used paramotor cage/motor to get the motor/reduction drive/prop and rebuild the motor. A goat itself is still going to cost you at least 5k to build from scratch, probably at least half that in the cost of fabric covering process, before the motor. Then of course you have to engineer a way to attach the motor with adequate structure that can handle several Gs, doesn't screw up the weight and balance, etc etc etc.
Aviation, even at that level, ain't cheap.
But before all that, you have to get training to avoid killing yourself, so save up a couple grand first and go to an ultralight flying school for lessons.
-
$\begingroup$ +1 The third paragraph is the most important. It's easy enough to kill yourself in an aircraft when you've lots of experience and training, with neither it is pretty much a certainty $\endgroup$ Commented Oct 9, 2019 at 19:09