FritzW
Well-Known Member
I didn't want to start digging another rabbit hole on the "Part 103 Viability" thread...
I don't think it's a coincidence that the empty weight of an ultralight is *exactly 1.5 times the FAA "Standard Pilot" weight.
If that's true, and I believe it is, as 'hobby level' designers, we have to design safe airplanes for a 5'6" 170lbs, depression era pilot. ...but that airplane has to safely fly a 2018 1st. world adult. (I don't buy the crap about Americans being more over weight than any other 1st. world country. ...that's just "currently stylish" anti-American B.S.).
Just thinking... If the rule was "1.5 X pilot weight" it would open up a whole new world of airplane design. I understand that more than one pilot could/will fly the airplane, and I don't know how the FAA would deal with that (if I understood all that I'd be on SolidWorks instead of the HBA :gig
.
...just thinking
*Yes, I have a calculator also, I'm a pound off. ...I suspect: back in 1983 when the FAA was deciding what to do with powered hang gliders... some FAA engineer in the "Part 103 committee" probably said: "if you limit the empty weight to about 1.5 X the pilots weight (255 lbs) they should be okay". The bureaucrats played the 'telephone game' with the words "limit" and "less than" ...and, shazam, we have Part 103.
I don't think it's a coincidence that the empty weight of an ultralight is *exactly 1.5 times the FAA "Standard Pilot" weight.
If that's true, and I believe it is, as 'hobby level' designers, we have to design safe airplanes for a 5'6" 170lbs, depression era pilot. ...but that airplane has to safely fly a 2018 1st. world adult. (I don't buy the crap about Americans being more over weight than any other 1st. world country. ...that's just "currently stylish" anti-American B.S.).
Just thinking... If the rule was "1.5 X pilot weight" it would open up a whole new world of airplane design. I understand that more than one pilot could/will fly the airplane, and I don't know how the FAA would deal with that (if I understood all that I'd be on SolidWorks instead of the HBA :gig
....just thinking
*Yes, I have a calculator also, I'm a pound off
. ...I suspect: back in 1983 when the FAA was deciding what to do with powered hang gliders... some FAA engineer in the "Part 103 committee" probably said: "if you limit the empty weight to about 1.5 X the pilots weight (255 lbs) they should be okay". The bureaucrats played the 'telephone game' with the words "limit" and "less than" ...and, shazam, we have Part 103.
