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Hello, worried dad here

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Jacksdad

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2015
Messages
5
Location
Amity Oregon
I don't even know where to start, so I will just jump in....

I have a very slight interest in flying, so slight I will probably never fly anything but a paper airplane the rest of my life. Cant say I even enjoy commercial airline flying.

My son on the other hand, thinks all things begin and end in the air. He is 18 and currently a freshman at college studying Mechanical Engineering. The smartest kid I know. Graduated from an Engineering and Aerospace Science Academy High School with full honors. His greatest joys are flying his toys, whether it be online simulators or homemade model rockets, RC planes, or his quadcopter he designed and built. First person viewing or it wasn't worth his time. His ultimate desire is some sort of Aerospace Degree, working in space in some facet. As he works his way to space, he has to get thru the regular air space most pilots play in.

He crashed his quadcopter the other day, and has decided he thinks he can build a ultralight and put himself in the air, for about what he wants to spend on his quadcopter rebuild. Hence shelf quad, and move to the next step which is him in the air. That crashed part doesn't bother me on his quad, it does bother me when my son may be onboard.

We are both very mechanical, and building an ultralight is within either of our abilities. He thinks he can CAD up a design and build it fairly cheap, when he mentioned a harbor freight motor, my survival instincts kicked in because I know the reliability of all cheap things made in China. Are the Ultralights fairly easy to design, or are tried and tested plans probably a much better start. He was rattling off specs, weights, regulations, lift, blah blah blah so fast I could barely keep up with him on the phone. He can talk about roll, pitch and yaw all day long. I can see this being a father son project this summer when he is home and out of school on break.

My first questions, for the experienced flyers, do you recommend a pilots license before building and flying an ultralight?
Any advise to my one biggest concern, keeping my son alive as he transitions thru this desire to fly and has no money to do it any other way but on a very very small budget? Some day he will be designing stuff headed to space, but I gotta keep him alive long enough to get there, his desires usually exceed his abilities (wish I was 18 again).

I knew this day was coming, he will be flying some day. I am both excited and worried for my son, I had hoped it was after flight school and on a factory built plane, not something he wants to strap together in the shop and gain elevation with out the back field.
 
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