Microlight Q's

[alphamatt]

Hi,

Im on my 6th PPL Lessons now and have a few questions about Microlights.

Whilst on the way home from work a few days ago i saw a microlight near where i live looking like it was about to land not far from my home. After getting home and researching where does microlighting near me i found the place and drove to it to ask about them.

I was told they are really cheap to buy, really cheap to run, as safe if not safer than class a aircraft due to their lower stall speed, can have just as much fun and can travel abroad to most places now with permission. Yes i couldnt fly at night or in cloud but to be honest i wouldnt be that bothered about that. Also he said if instructing was a thing i may be interested in that the pay is better for a microlight instructor due to most people becoming class a instructors as a path way to the airlines.

Is all this right or have i been led up the garden path?

Matt

[AlphaMale]

Also he said if instructing was a thing i may be interested in that the pay is better for a microlight instructor due to most people becoming class a instructors as a path way to the airlines.

I know that is true. I guess if you have no ambition to fly for the airlines/bizjet etc and are quite happy to instruct on microlights for a living then making a living out of it is possible. I have seen the Ikarus C42 at Swansea and they looked pretty smart, and will apparently match the Class A aircraft for performance too.

I know some Microlights are cheap to buy and run but that's about all I can say. Not sure about the safety side of things or landing at airfields abroad.

[Whopity]

Why not go and fly one to see if thats what you want to do. Its a bit like comparing motorbikes and cars.

Remember if you get your PPL aeroplane you can fly either, if you get a PPL for Microlights you will still have to go through the conversion process.

[Genghis the Engineer]

With a few caveats, yes it's all true.

Microlights are great fun, good value, and many of the newer types will leave a typical flying club light aircraft standing performance wise - needing much less runway, and cruising a bit faster, whilst using a lot less fuel.

Light aircraft instructors are often building up experience aiming for an airline job, and also there are usually more instructors available than instructors jobs. You can't build hours in a microlight towards an airline licence, and hence the economics of the industry tend to force it to pay instructors enough to live on and stay. Also, many microlight schools and instructors are actively involved in providing maintenance, hangerage, aircraft sales and so-on - which provide further income that doesn't exist so much in the light aircraft world.

Safetywise, it's not quite true to say that microlights come out as safe as "group A", but not far off. Statistics show certified group A at 1 fatality per 70-80,000hrs, whilst microlights sit around 1 per 50,000 hours which is similar to light helicopters and gliders, but not quite as good as group A. Ultimately however, both are pretty darned safe in the UK.


But, as Whopity says, what you really want to do is go and do some flying in some. Bear in mind that there are two main classes (3-axis, which is similar to what you've been flying now: and flexwing, based upon a Rogallo, or Hang-glider wing), and also that there is probably more variety of common aircraft types in the microlight world than you'll find in the light aircraft world.

G