Alan Minyard wrote:
Mike Marron wrote:

Pull up into a vertical climb in the (tailless) type of aircraft
I happen to fly and you'll probably die. Here is a horrific
little video that illustrates exactly what I mean:

http://www.pegasus-usa.com/tech/tumble.mpg

(Play it several times in slow motion and just imagine what
was going through the doomed pilot's mind at the time!)

A "stall turn" to me is a hammerhead stall (we can't perform
those either, without either dying or firing the ballistic chute).
Without a rudder, the closest thing to a hammerhead stall that
I can safely perform in the type of airplane I fly is a wingover.
But since a true wingover is a 90-deg. climbing turn followed
by a 90-deg. descending turn resulting in a 180-deg. change
in direction, technically I perform "wangs" rather than wingovers.
Trikes can't perform true wingovers because bottom rudder
is needed at the top of the climbing turn to keep the aircraft
coordinated.

In steady-state winds aloft, flying stationary (relative to the
ground), or even backwards and sideways is no problem,
however.

Ultralights are generally not considered "aircraft".

Correct. However, anything equipped with 2-seats and weighs more
than 254 pounds, has a fuel capacity exceeding 5 U.S. gallons, is
capable of more than 55 knots calibrated airspeed at full power in
level flight and has a power-off stall speed that exceeds 24 knots is
not considered an "ultralight."

Truth be known, 99-percent of today's "ultralights" do NOT meet
the criteria above and are therefore actually illegal, unlicensed
aircraft being flown illegally by unlicensed pilots!

Granted, to the untrained eye my trike (like most trikes) looks like
an "ultralight" but my particular trike is actually an N-numbered
aircraft (not an "ultralight" by any stretch of the imagination) and I
am a CFII, and Commericial, Multi-Engine, Instrument pilot with an
Airframe & Powerplant mechanic certificate.

In other words, I am one of the very few in this country who is not
flying around in these things "illegally."

The reason the FAA doesn't enforce the current rules for "ultralights"
is because they recognize that the rules for ultralights were written
back in the early 80's and are woefully out-dated. Hence, new rules
and regulations are being promulgated for so-called "ultralights" as
we speak.

For more information, see: http://www.sportpilot.org/