author: Michal Orlita
I was following an interesting discussion the other day - on Facebook. If it were somewhere in an airport bar, chairs and glasses would probably start flying through the air (and not around the circuit). What was it about? It was about whether the airport circuit should be flown (not only with ULL) in such a way that it would be possible to fly to the airport from any point on the circuit in the event of an engine failure - because that is how it is established for ultralights (which are properly called SFD). The second camp claimed that the shape of the circuit is prescribed and must be flown according to it, regardless of the type of aircraft (with the exception of gliders, of course).
So what about the engine dropout? I have already heard several times that the possibility of stopping the engine is the difference between flying (not only around the circuit) with certified aircraft and with ultralights. Because it is with UL that withdrawals must be taken into account. But I couldn't find it anywhere in any UL regulations or methodology, and I would look at it a little differently: If I fly with a certified aircraft, don't I behave like that? It's all the same, every engine can fail at some point and it doesn't matter if it has Lycoming, Rotax or Austro Engine written on it.
full article in Pilot magazine 05/2024
