A Weird Question...

[ApS]

Originally Posted by C_Duff

"...I'm a former pilot myself and a current air traffic controller. That and those I've met who fly these things have made up my mind for me..."

We wouldn't have left the ground at all, if it weren't for those earliest "high-risk" aviators with their homemade "flying machines".

Originally Posted by C_Duff

"...and if Acres per Second wants to comment on my opinions on ultralights, that's fine..."

Except for the homebuilt aspect, I don't think we have a dispute here.

Flying an ultralight is a high-risk activity; however, as long as these pilots endanger only themselves, there's no problem with ultralights for me. Few in this demographic abandon high-risk activities even after their buddies fail to "arrive alive".

For example, the U.S. Army—distressed to lose so many expensively-trained men on leave from Iraq, and in the age 25-34 demographic already known for risk—lists the following activities as "high-risk" :

ALL TERRAIN VEHICLES (ATV)
AUTO RACING
BUNGEE JUMPING
CIVILIAN LIGHT AIRCRAFT FLIGHT
CIVIL HELICOPTER FLYING
DIRT BIKING
EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT
HOT AIR BALLOONING
HUNTING
MOTORCYCLE RIDING
MOUNTAIN CLIMBING/RAPPELLING
RODEO/BULL RIDING
SCUBA DIVING
SKI JUMPING (SNOW)
SKYDIVING
SNOWMOBILING
SOARING
WHITE WATER RAFTING

(I would add base-jumping, free-diving, free-basing, shark-petting, snowmobile skimming, snake charming, lion taming, box-comb jellyfish collecting, venomous snake photography, mountain climbing, and bullfighting, as I did a few years ago, here). Ten-fifteen years ago, the list probably would have included PWCs!

The irony is that the Army list exists so that "personnel can come back from the U.S. alive".

(Now, I have my own "high-risk" activity, but instructing race-car drivers from the passenger side of the driver's own cars is done on a closed course after many hours of classroom and the precautions in mechanical preparedness. Or, "Do not try this at home".

Where we might have a dispute is when high-risk personalities choose to not avail themselves of available training, yet choose to spread their risk with hundreds of family boaters on protected inland waters.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but it's raining and—oh yeah—you're new here!

Originally Posted by tis

One of the Marriots flies one.

All I ever see is red or yellow ultralights. (Mostly red ones).

Originally Posted by jkjoshuatree

Do you know what they're called?

"Powered-parasails", "Powerchutes", "Powered-parachutes", or just "PPC".