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OK, so how is this even possible?

finity

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This claims that no license or training is required:


It weighs almost 200lbs empty and can travel at 63mph at 1500 AGL (minimum of Class E airspace in the US).

How is it possible that our < 55lb drones (most are WAY less than that) that are limited to 400AGL require a Part 107 license or at a minimum a TRUST certification issued by the FAA but this doesn't need a thing to fly it except the $100,000 price of admission?

This makes no sense to me at all.
 
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The idea is that, if you're flying it, you'll be more careful. You're right, it's senseless.

There's a nearby large lake where drones are banned (takeoff, landing and controlling). It's said that drones are dangerous, loud and disturb wildlife and other lake-goers. Yet ultralights are allowed almost unrestricted - and they're much bigger, louder and more dangerous.
 
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It's considered an ultralight aircraft and subject to part 103 rules. While there is no requirement for a airman's certificate, unlike sUAS where the pilot in command does not put his life in danger. This is not true for a ultralight. Try to fly one without some form of training and you'll end up killing yourself!
 
That press release is very misleading. To say "No Pilot License required in the US" Doesn't mean there are no regulations. They are as confined as recreational drones for the Most Part, as mentioned they MUST abide by 14 CFR 103
 
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all of that said even a regular pilot (who also puts their lives on the line when flying) is required to get a pilots license to fly a regular plane.

So...

regular manned aircraft - license required.

small drone < 55 lb - license some version of a sUAS FAA issued certificate required.

200 lb manned aircraft - no license required and it doesn't even need an airworthiness certification like a category 4 drone does.

something still just doesn't add up.

But I guess it doesn't have to make sense. :rolleyes:
 
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Try to fly one without some form of training and you'll end up killing yourself!
The training certainly helped when I did the ultralight stuff. The one I had, if I remember correctly, was classified as recreational under a certain weight limit and didn’t require any license. The training didn’t help the one guy I watched nose dive into the ground even after we had warned him about the 180 degree turns he was doing at 150 feet AGL.
It was the most fun I’ve had with anything mechanical.
Fly safe please!
 
all of that said even a regular pilot (who also puts their lives on the line when flying) is required to get a pilots license to fly a regular plane.

So...

regular manned aircraft - license required.

small drone < 55 lb - license required.

200 lb manned aircraft - no license required and it doesn't even need an airworthiness certification like a category 4 drone does.

something still just doesn't add up.

But I guess it doesn't have to make sense. :rolleyes:
A part 61 licensed pilot has the ability to carry passengers. ultralights are limited to a single seat. I guess the FAA doesn’t care if you’re dumb enough to try to fly without training and end up killing yourself as long as you don’t take someone out with you!

Part 103 was written in 1984 and states that if the safety record of ultralights dictates, they will make necessary changes to the regulations. This would indicate that the ultralight community has done a pretty good job of self policing over the years. The drone community has morons flying over crowded stadiums.
 
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**** I'm 6'4 and 235 so I'm 25 pounds over the limit. Guess I'll have to refrain from spending 100K to kill myself
 
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What licence?
Part 107?

Or at least a TRUST certificate proving you at least went to some website and answered a few questions.

Which is apparently more than you need to fly this thing.
as long as you don’t take someone out with you!

Hopefully you aren't flying over anyone on the ground. That you won't know about when you are flying at 60mph 1500 feet in the air in controlled airspace. Because you don't know you can't. Because there is no minimal certification or training requirement. Because the advertisement told you so.

I'd still prefer to take my chances with a sub-55 pound drone than a 200 pound octocopter with a 200 pound person in it falling out of the sky onto my head. 😬🤕☠️
 
This claims that no license or training is required:


It weighs almost 200lbs empty and can travel at 63mph at 1500 AGL (minimum of Class E airspace in the US).

How is it possible that our < 55lb drones (most are WAY less than that) that are limited to 400AGL require a Part 107 license or at a minimum a TRUST certification issued by the FAA but this doesn't need a thing to fly it except the $100,000 price of admission?

This makes no sense to me at all.
There is an old regulation on the FAA books for what is still called Ultralight vehicles under FAR Part 103, they never called them aircraft, on purpose. I was a flight instructor for many years and these Part 103 vehicle owners, were often some of the people I gave training to, I gave to new students who wanted to fly or owned an Ultralight.

Of course, it stated that this vehicle had to weight under 254lbs and carry no more than 5 gallons of fuel and have only one seat and there was a minimum stall speed and max straight and level flight speed. To fly it you did not need a medical, nor did you need a pilot license. With that said, it was strongly suggested that anyone contemplating flying such a machine, should get proper training in a similar flying machine prior to attempting to take flight in it. So many if not most owners, did get flight training from flight schools, well at least the smart ones did.

For the most part, people did take flight training before attempting to fly an ultralight and went on to be some very good pilots. It was the most fun form of flying as well as the most affordable form of flight ever. There were some extremely well-made flying machines on the market way back then and of course a few death traps about. Now some pilots did manage to teach themselves and I know of a number who tried and were unsuccessful and were injured or killed in trying to teach themselves.

These Part 103 regs. were formed when there were no 2 seat trainers around. The FAA wisely allowed an exemption in later years to allow a 2 seat training Ultralight to be used but the instructors had to have a min. of 100 hrs of flight time logged before they were allowed to begin their instructor training to be Ultralight instructors. I think the minimum training for instructors back then, was 25hrs of dual.

The 2 seat aircraft were only allowed to be used for training and never as a sight seeing type of aircraft with the Ultralight Instructor rating. As you would expect, more and more instructors we carrying out sight seeing flights, pretending to be training flights and eventually the FAA brought in new regulations for all those 2 seat ultralights. The new category was called Light Sport Aircraft and you did then need an FAA Light Sport Pilot license to fly one, though you still do not need a medical, as with a PPL. You do need to have a valid driver's license though, to show you are at least medically fit to drive a car.

With all this said, that old Ultralight catergory of Part 103 still exists today and that is the reason that you may be able to fly this with no license, though no one would ever suggest you try it with no flight training. One more point, under FAR Part 103, your vehicle had to be under 254lbs empty weight, no more than 5 gallons of fuel and a single seat machine plus it had to have no more than one engine, I believe. However, I am not 100% sure on that, because there was a nice little French aircraft called the Cri-Cri that had 2 tiny engines up front and that may have fallen under the Ultralight category.

I hope this give you a more comprehensive explanation as to why you may be able to fly the machine you were asking about, with no license. Also note that although flying an Ultralight gave you more freedom to fly around compared to a GA aircraft, you still had to abide by almost all laws of aviation that a GA PPL had to follow, so you were not simply allowed to do what ever you wanted to do or fly where ever you wanted to fly. One of those laws were that you could not fly your Ultralight over a group of people, which still holds today. There were other restrictions, but I don't have the time to go over everything. I hope this info helps you understand more now.
 
There is an old regulation on the FAA books for what is still called Ultralight vehicles under FAR Part 103, they never called them aircraft, on purpose. I was a flight instructor for many years and these Part 103 vehicle owners, were often some of the people I gave training to, I gave to new students who wanted to fly or owned an Ultralight.

...

Thank you for the comprehensive reply. it was interesting.

but to be more clear...

It was more of a shocked "you can fly this 500 lb beast with no licence or training requirements at all for you to know what flight restrictions there even might be but I need at least a TRUST or part 107 certification to fly my ~0.5 pound drone even in my own back yard?" type of question.

TBH, I still can't wrap my brain around that.
 
Thank you for the comprehensive reply. it was interesting.

but to be more clear...

It was more of a shocked "you can fly this 500 lb beast with no licence or training requirements at all for you to know what flight restrictions there even might be but I need at least a TRUST or part 107 certification to fly my ~0.5 pound drone even in my own back yard?" type of question.

TBH, I still can't wrap my brain around that.
Just think of it this way, FAR Part 103 was created a long time ago. The weight was determined only because originally it was for a flying machine that had to be carried and ran with, to take flight. When it came to the day to show what this weight could be, they found the biggest most weight carrying jock they could find that they could also teach how to fly this machine and the weight he was able to carry was just under 254lbs. Therefore, that was the max weight the machine could be. Later on the FAA conceded that running and carrying this weight was more dangerous than if it could have wheels. So, they allowed the vehicle to have wheels as well. But the weight max remained. Remember, this was still not an easy thing to fly and required a certain amount of skill to learn to fly, plus you were sitting in it so had good visuals all-around of what was in your sky and you did not want to bump into anything.

Fast forward to today with all the sophisticated technology that we have and the easy at which you can fly a modern drone plus the fact that you have no real clue as to what is close to you nor able to see all around yourself while flying, and you can see why there was more need for regulations for todays drone flying. Who knows, maybe if we had not had those idiots in the early days, flying dangerously and carelessly, we might not have had so many regs thrown onto us, as has been the situation in recent years.

There is a world of difference sitting in an aircraft and flying around and standing on the ground, looking through a single camera and trying to work out what things are around you, behind, above and below. I prefer to have the current regs in place to keep us who fly in aircraft, safer than if there were no rules. You just can't see a drone up in your airspace as you close on it, even big birds are hard enough to see. So, I do understand and accept the current rules to keep as many as possible safe in the sky.
 
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