Bobby Handzhiev asked:


It has never been easier to fly than today. And if you only dream flying and don’t do it, that could be just because you don’t know how to start.

Of course flying is not the cheapest hobby you may have, but it’s not that expensive that many people think. Today there are options for everyone to fly, no matter of their wallet size, location or age.

Let’s explore the opportunities which allow the ordinary person to start flying without too much efforts or too high expenses.

Paragliders

One of the most popular flying activity and sport today is paragliding. Paragliding is relatively cheap and fairly safe. The average fatality rate per thousands USHGA members per year for the last 15 years is only 0.88.

There is no license required for flying a paraglider, but if you have no experience at all, it’s recommended to attend some education in any of the thousands paragliding clubs all over the world.

A new paraglider costs about GBP 2,000 while a second hand can be found for much less. Professional fly training typically costs between GBP 500 and GBP 1,000.

There are motor paragliders who are probably the simplest powered flying machine. The motor paragliders (paramotors) let you start flying from the ground without the need of hills or winches.

Hang Gliders

Hand gliding is much elder sport. The first hang gliders have been invented at the end of 19th century. The main difference between the hang gliders and the paragliders is that the former have hard fixed wing. Modern hang gliders give you the ability to soar for hours and fly over large distances.

The hang gliders are more appropriate for performing aerobatics than the paragliders. The hang gliders are also capable of flying at much higher speed.

Hang gliding is considered a bit more advanced activity, but the cost of equipment and training is almost the same or slightly higher than paragliding’s.

Skydiving

Skydiving is not exactly flying, but is also a very popular sport. It’s also known as parachuting.

For a typical skydiving jump you need an aircraft – usually an airplane, helicopter or even a balloon – which to raise you to about 4,000 meters attitude.

The specific and exciting moment in skydiving which is driving so many people to it is the free fall for 1,000 – 2,000 meters before opening the parachute.

Skydiving is rather safe activity and most incidents are due to lack of experience when performing advanced techniques.

Because you need an aircraft to raise you up, the price of skydiving raises with each jump you make. The equipment is not very expensive and can be hired, but the cost of the jumps is raising all the time because of the growing fuel prices.

Ultralight Gliders

If you are looking for more advanced fly you may want to try ultralight gliding. The ultralight gliders are unpowever airplanes which can soar for hours and have basic control systems. Unlike the hang gliders, the pilot’s body here is seated and there could be even a cockpit, although that’s not always the case.

The main disadvantage of the ultralight gliders is that you need a powered airplane or a tower-winch system to help you start flying.

The costs of the gliders and their support is much higher – starts from about USD 10,000 and sky is the limit for the top prices.

Training can be obtained at the gliding clubs all over the world and it’s also more expensive.

Ultralight Aircrafts

Finally, if you are really keen on being a pilot, don’t want to depend on hills, mountains, winches or other aircrafts, you may want to think about flying your own ultralight aircraft.

The ultralight aircrafts are fully functional powered airplanes, helicopters or autogyros. They don’t need help to start flying and can be used not only as a tool for leisure and sport, but also for practical purposes.

Unfortunately you need a license to fly an ultralight aircraft. Depending on where you live, you may need an LSA license or license for ultralight/microlight pilot. The training costs several thousands GBP.

Flying ultralight aircraft can be quite expensive, but there are many options to cut down the costs and complexity and enjoy this wonderful activity.



Amber

Bobby Handzhiev asked:


Buying an ultralight airplane is like buying a new car. It can be expensive or cheap, it can be great experience or great failure, it can bring you a lot of joy and happiness or unpleasant and dangerous accidents. It’s not like buying a hamburger, so don’t do it when you are hungry.

There are many important decisions that you must take before buying an ultralight aircraft. Of course the price is important, but there are more – what model to be, used or new, fixed or flex wing, where to buy it from and so on. This article will try to give you some basic directions for taking this important step.

Choosing the right type

If you have decided to buy an ultralight airplane you probably have your preferences. The main choice you’ll need to make is either to buy a fixed wing or a flex wing aircraft. The flex wings have a lot of advantages like lower cost, taking less space, being able to take off from an automobile road etc. On the other hand, if you want to have a real airplane with pilot’s cabine, professional devices and all that, and to use it for more than just fun, you’ll have to choose a fixed wing. You can search the Web for my article Flex Wing Vs. Fixed Wing Ultralight Airplanes if you want to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of these two types.

In addition to this, you may want to take a look at the ultralight seaplanes, the gliders or the powered paragliders. You could miss something pretty cool just because you don’t know about it. So, study more about the types of ultralight airplanes before making your choice. You can find a lot of information about them at http://ultralight-airplanes.info.

Used or New?

Isn’t that a dilemma which comes to you each time when you are going to buy something big? Buying a second hand airplane has some advantages, but of course the main is the lower price. An used aircraft can cost 50% or less the price of a similar new one.

On the other hand, you should not buy second hand if you don’t know how to check its quality. You need to ensure that the engine, fuselage and wings are good enough and are not damaged. If you don’t know how to do that, you need either to go with a friend who knows, or just buy a brand new airplane.

The Prices

Talking about prices, what can you expect? Of course, the prices vary a lot and it’s up to you to choose within a lot of models and types depending on your budget. Here are some very basic guidelines, but please note there can be big exceptions:

- A brand new ultralight airplane with fixed wings costs from $20,000 and can go to more than $50,000

- Used fixed wings can be found for $10,000 or even less, but better don’t buy cheaper than $10,000

- The new ultralight trikes (fixed wing airplanes) start from $10,000 and usually go up to $30,000

- You can find used ultralight trike for $5,000 or even less

- A powered paraglider can be built or bought for $2,500 (if you find someone selling such – it’s a rare chance).

As you see, there are opportunities for everyone. Just make sure that what you buy is safe. Your life costs more than any amount of money.

Additional factors to consider

Your safety is the most important and it’s not enough to ensure that your ultralight airplane is not broken. You do need a parachute system. This can add $2,000 to the costs, but can save your life. Sometimes (especially with the trikes or powered paragliders) you need a helmet too.

When buying an ultralight aircraft, you also need to know in what license category it falls for your country. The regulations are different and you need to ensure that you will be able to fly in your area.

Hangaring your airplane also can cost you a lot of money and nerves. If you don’t have a good place on your own or there is no airport hangar close to you, maybe you should think about buying a trike which can stay in your car garage.

Where to search?

Of course the best option is to browse the classified sites on the net. Cost-wise however it would be much better to find a good airplane in your area, because transportation on big distances can be an issue. Check if there are any companies around you which build or resell ultralight aircrafts. Often they will also offer used ones.

If you prefer to search the Web, write “ultralight airplane for sale” in your favourite search engine and you’ll get a lot of classifieds and company sites. If you have decided on the type, make or model, you can narrow your search.

Another good idea is to search for “ultralight airplane kits” – then you will get a whole lot of results, options and prices. But building plane yourself from a kit is an entire different topic which I won’t cover in this article.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure that you spend enough time planning and researching. Your airplane can be your partner for the next 10, 20 or even 50 years. It’s like a marriage except that you could have more than one partners.



Barry

Bobby Handzhiev asked:


If you are interested in ultralight aviation, you have probably spent some time thinking how to simplify your flying. Most of the ultralight enthusiasts meet various problems to achieve their dream.

The price of the ultralight airplanes is relatively low, but still not for everyone’s pocket. Then you have to add costs for obtaining a license, hangaring, fuel and flying permits.

On the other side are the paragliders. They need literally nothing except wind. The problem is you depend on the wind way too much.

I guess some smart guy have realized that many of us need the best of both world. Thus the powered paraglider was born.

How is it different?

The powered paragliders can fly and pick up on their own, not matter if there are appropriate wind conditions or not. They have a very simple engine sitting on the back on the pilot and allow very easy flying.

The powered paragliders are cheaper than the ultralight airplanes and do not require a pilot license.

You can even buy your powered paraglider online and receive it in few days.

Safety of powered paragliders

Typically the powered paragliders are considered safer than their unpowered cousins, because you have greater control on the flight itself.

If you have experience flying a “normal” paraglider, you will be able to use the same knowledge about safety that you have acquired before.

How to start?

If you feel interested, there are several things you need to do:

- Think about your education. If you have no experience flying a paraglider, it’s highly recommended to attend a flying course

- Plan your finances. The powered paragliders are one of the cheapest way to fly, but still you will need several thousands dollars to do it safely

- Research new and used market of powered paragliders. There are a lot of options, but some pilots prefer to build their own motorized paraglider. It’s easy!

- Buy, pack, get trained and start flying

There is just one step from powered paragliding and flying a real ultralight airplane. Some pilots prefer to stay with the paragliders, other want to grow further. Whichever you choose, paragliding is an excellent way to start.



Bradley

Bobby Handzhiev asked:


The aircraft fuel prices go up like crazy. This is making flying an airplane a very expensive venture. Wouldn’t you be happy do discover a way to fly without buying fuel?

That is possible if you try flying an ultralight glider – an aircraft without engine. There are several types of gliders and in this article I’ll let you know about the most important and popular of them.

Ultralight Gliders

The gliders are airplanes which can fly without without engine and fuel. They look very much like normal airplanes and can have a closed or open cockpit and various kinds of wings.

A good glider will let you soar in the sky like a bird – for hours. And the only time you need power will be the time of taking off the ground.

There are two ways to take off the glider. With the most popular method you need another airplane which has engine. The glider and the airplane are connected with a rope. Once your glider get high enough to soar freely, the rope is released and you are free. The motorized airplane can land. Thus you have to pay only for few minutes powered fly. However, obviously there is another pilot engaged in this operation.

The other method is usually more cost effective. It’s called winch launching. Here you use a land locked engine which is connected thru a long rope to your glider. The which quickly picks up the glider and the pilot releases the rope when he is ready to fly on his own.

The glider prices are close to the prices of an ultralight airplane, but the glider’s usage is much cheaper, because you don’t need fuel. The only problem is that you must to to an airport which offers service for taking off gliders – either winch launching or thru another airplane who can take your off.

Hang Gliders

The hand gliders known also as deltaplanes are a lighter version of the gliders discussed above. They are constructed for one or two pilots and are attached directly to your body. You are freely soaring, there is no cockpit or anything like that.

The hang gliders are cheap and easy to use. You don’t need other airplane or a winch launching engine to take of. Instead of that you just need to go to a high place (for example the closest to you mountain) and run for few meters on your feet. Then jump, and here you are flying!

The hang glider will also let you fly for hours as long as there are appropriate weather conditions and wind. No special education or license is required.

A brand new hang glider can be bought for about $5,000, but you can find second hand much cheaper (under 2k).

Paragliders

If you think flying a hang glider is not easier enough, I’ll suggest you look at even simpler option. The Paragliders are lighter than the hang gliders/deltaplanes. Instead of having hard wing, their wing is soft and looks like a parachute. When you are done with your flying you can pick up your paraglider, put it in a large backpack and go home.

The hang glider wing needs storage place, while the paraglider can be put in your wardrobe.

The paragliders – just like hang gliders – don’t need anyone to take them off. You just need to go at a high place, run, jump and start flying.

The paragliders are probably the easiest and cheapest method for flying and sky diving. A brand new paraglider can cost about $3,000. An used one can be found for less than $1000. If you really want to fly but have not done that yet, I can only ask you what else are you waiting for.

Flying for fun is possible without engine, expensive aircraft or license. It is easy, cheap and ecological.



Jesus