How could people dislike this? Yes it is considered dumb to try and learn how to fly by trial and error, but he is out there chasing his dreams, he built it and now he is flying it all without a piece of training or instruction. No one who did anything great every had an instruction manual, they just got out and figured it out and that is why I commend you sir, for having the balls to go out and chase your dreams. Happy trails!
Kenneth some people just do not understand our dreams and passions.... god this is beautiful. Makes me realize it is possible. THANK YOU. Cannot wait for my own
I am 65 years old and I have diabetes. I doubt if I could get a pilot's license. Having said that, all my life I have wanted to fly. So I probably would buy an ultralight. Guess what? I am going to get lessons anyway. Why? Because I want to fly safely and I want to die of natural causes. Vaughn
And some people do not understand the safety requirements for Regulations and Licensing. You need a license to fly an ultralight in Canada and I'm glad you do.
Some people don't realize that their family needs them and that with a minimal investment of time, money, and a little respect for the future of ultralight flying he could be far safer in the air. He (and she) made so many needless mistakes here that I lost count. By all means pursue your dreams but maybe help yourself a little so you can live to continue flying. The odds have a way of catching up. Like the wise man said: " There are old pilots. There are bold pilots. But there are very few old, bold pilots."
Only a few of us have the experience of 1st flight with no lessons. Nobody can take that away from you ever! That is priceless. Most naysayers don’t have the guts to risk death based on what they perceive as unknown. I see equipment around which develops skills. You probably knew you were not the panicking type. I couldn’t get lessons either. I taught myself remote control airplane skills without lessons. The guys swear that’s crazy also. I’m not saying it wasn’t a huge or the ultimate risk you took, but nobody hardly knows what getting back on the ground felt like. First I hopped off runway suddenly at about 30 ft. Reduced power and realized that was not right. Added some power slowly reducing power until sink rate was good, smooth landing. After my heart beat got back to normal I throttled up and took off. I looked down after climb out and saw all the cows in field below me. ( I’m in Texas too) I’m flying now. After three circles of grass field. I decided to land. 1st landing was great, next 2 weren’t as good. My nerves were shot. I called it a success. Finally found some lessons. My instructor didn’t want to let my solo or stall his plane. I used my own for that. He signed me off in 7hrs. I did go on to lessons after about 60hrs in ultralight. I did this to learn regulations, weather, and all the technical stuff the guys we’re talking about. You lived you won!
Good job getting it back on the ground in one piece! As a one time CFI with over 6,000 hrs flight time.......please get a few hours training in conventional geared aircraft.
Ed Blevins yes. If not just for the actual flight training but some background in airspace and how things work. Certified pilots worst nightmare are pilots with no clue in the air.
His dog knew his master was up there. My doberman does the same thing, altho tied up in front of the hangar. Good flight, Buddy. practice makes perfect
You fall off a surfboard you get wet, you correct an asymmetric stall with aileron instead of rudder, you get a funeral. If I was in the insurance business I would not offer this man a policy.
7000 hour commercial pilot and former cfi here! Nice work! I know many self trained pilots where im from. It used to be common. Do get some training when you can and learn spins and stalls. But nice work!
I fly this same plane after flying with my buddy in his 4 seater 2 times. I bought this same plane. Took it up and landed perfect. Never had any formal training. Easy. Y’all make it look hard if u have common sense and are half ass smart this is a piece of cake
Good job, Ken.. I know you learned a lot on this and successive flights. The takeoff and landing were a little shaky, but you walked away AND you can use the airplane again. I know the naysaying rank and file pilots are screaming at this point, so I'll be blunt. It's your life, you were not in a populated area so the only one to be hurt or killed was you. You owe no one anything except yourself, so enjoy flying!
@J W As I reread my comment, I see that I never mentioned anywhere that it was good flying, so I don't see that I need to defend anything. If he kills himself, his kids will know that he died doing what he loved and he had balls the size of Texas.
I just don't know how you know where he was unless you live there, or whether there were people around or other things that would cost a lot to replace if he ran into them like a windmill. I got no trouble with the spirit of this , cuz I think that's great period I just think it would have been better if he found some place a little safer to do it. As an attorney, I see those windmills and I don't know how much they cost but if he smashes into one, I'm pretty sure that it would cost his estate everything that it has. That's why ignorance really is bliss...
@@WendelltheSongwriter As an attorney, how about his estate sues the power company for not doing anything to deal with Ultralight collisions that are clearly a legal form of aviation. Maybe if he whacks one taking off or landing, it should be on him. But while he was just moving around, he is like anyone else operating a legal means of aviation. Do those things actually make any net power, and if not, what are they doing there endangering lives. Maintenance of those blades is a typical problem as they get scoured by rain and dust. If the visibility of the blades was compromised...
If that truly was the first time you ever flew an airplane, my hats off to ya. You sir, have balls of steel. I don't care how much you think you know about control of an aircraft. Until you feel how to control it you are kind herding it through the air. Precise control takes practice. Without precise control it can be fatal. THAT takes some serious stones. Good job!
No instruction and in a taildragger! I learned in an ultralight two seater that l bought to get trained in. I could not afford to crack it up so paying an instructor friend of mine just $75.00 for 5 1/5 hours was cheap insurance. Ultralight taildraggers are not the most docile plane to keep from ground looping and I would NOT suggest trying teach yourself in one of them at all!!!! 5 1/2 hours is not enough training but makes quite a difference. I'm glad to see this flight worked out.
Great job man! I tried the same thing in my spitfire UL I had, had a hard landing, repaired the landing gear, sold it, and bought a microlight trike..taking training in April..lol.. I didn’t get hurt, but it coulda been a lot worse, thankfully I only made it 20 ft off the ground and my rudders were tangled up in a hanging wire above the pedals, as I was taking off, I had a bit of rotor to the left, went for right rudder input and they were frozen! As I headed for a direct hit into the hangar, I pulled right aileron and slammed into the ground in a slip while spinning ...wow! That was scary enough to make me want training..lol.. good luck , fly high and fly safe!
@@SR-gs8zo yes, but had I took training, I would’ve known to check rudders before flight…the time of da6 was wrong… I had never flown at that t8me… made it out alive, but if I would’ve been educated,I would never had tried to fly considering the weather, and time of day..👊🏻
Good for him! Outstanding work, build the aircraft and pilot the thing. The only way to learn is by doing. He's staying with it. Thanks for sharing. J.
They say: "If you not fall down from a bike you will never learn how to ride one" In this case it is a bit risky to learn from your own mistakes, lessons would be a great idea although You have balls to try it yourself and every landing after which you can walk away in one piece is a successful one!. Good luck but as an instructor I am still advising you to take few lessons!
well said Michael agreed he may have studied for months online and got better and better with taxiing and very low flight I doubt he jus got in and hit full power also he is in the middle of nowhere getting an instructor may be a challenge just glad he made it hope he is still flying around safely
The Wright brothers were experienced glider pilots before they flew their aircraft under power and they had also studied the techniques of the great glider pilot, Otto Lillienthal, so they brought a lot of skills to the act of flying the powered aircraft. They were way ahead of their time as far as aircraft were concerned. This guy is so far behind his aircraft, the only surprise is that he isn't dead or injured. For the sake of a few hours tuition, he is being pointlessly reckless.
I'm certain that once a person decides to land, without any experience, it's simply amazing how fast that runway runs towards you and how it can confuse you by moving around on you dodging your attempts to land on it. 🥴
Good example of why flight training is such a good idea. Problem is you don't know what you don't know till it reaches out and bites you. Then it's to late. Himax is a nice little airplane though, I flew one for about 150 hrs. Had the fiberglass gear and a strobe lite like your's. sold it about 13 years ago. If you search my name on here, you can find vides of it. Hope you got some lesions and didn't wreck it or hurt yourself. Jim
From someone with about three hundred hours in ultralights... If you decide to try to fly without training, make sure your affairs are in order, and that you apologize to those who love you, before you do.
This is the same exact way I learned how to fly just got in one and figured it out after your off the ground and make a couple circles u catch on very quick to what does what kudos to you sir learning is the only way to do it and that’s how head first book can’t teach ya crap if yours hands on like me
this man showed a lot of courage, thanks mr. smith. after reading these comments I must say I agree with both sides, it is evident that the forgotten man named igor sikorsky who developed the rotor wing aircraft. he had no one to train him. I taught myself in a rotor wing. I admit it was trial and error. if no one takes a chance, then where would that leave the rest of us. trust me. it is nothing like having a dream to fly. so we take that first step. even if it is a risk to life and limb. it is evident that all here are interested in the skies and for sure interested in Kenneth`s health. but some of you will never feel what he felt when he escaped the bonds of earth on his own. Kenneth what part of west texas do you live. may visit sometime. I live in east texas myself. we went to the moon for G. sakes.
Since there are so many negative comments I feel like I must add one positive one. Good job for flying and landing safely. I’m glad that you had the courage to follow your dreams. Be careful, stay safe, have fun.
Hi, I remember when I got my pilots license one thing I had to learn was recovery of a stalled aircraft, this was done at around 3000 ft, this was to get used to recovering the aircraft within 200 ft in the event of a stall, engine failure on take off ect, I think in seeing a comment, altitude is certainly your friend lol, all the best mate
So much hate in the comments. Sure, the takeoff was a bit rough. The landing was a bit long, but there were trees he wanted to be clear of. He flew his plane, landed his plane, and lived to see another flight. Many people have done just this. Pilots with thousands of hours can die in a plane crash just as easy as those with 0 hours. And unless he was flying one of your family members, or flying right over your house, what does it matter? I do love seeing how many people think that he was even relatively close to the windmills. They clearly don't realize that this plane could fit INSIDE the generator area, or just the massive size of the things. At least a mile separated any windmills and this plane. Oh well, to each their own. Great job bringing it down safely, glad to see you put this out there for us, even the uneducated among us!
Even the dog knows that takoff was wrong....I am taking lessons and if I took off like that I would have been beaten in the airplane with good reason too. landing at the 3/4 end is also dangerous. Kudos for not getting killed. WoW!
Lessons would definitely be an advantage. BUT! So many fliers started somewhere, from scratch, on their own- no one was born a natural flier and the skills were obviously acquired from just having a go. Doggy was quite keen, too. Hope you get away with it, and can keep going, best regards mate!
Congratulations on your first solo. Not going to ride you like others but a few hours with a LSA instructor that specializes in conventional landing gear(AKA tail draggers) would be a real help and not too expensive as many charge about 150 an hour.
I thought she did pretty well for as much as she was freaking out about it considering I was only planning on taxing she did a good job keeping her freakout contained lol
I grew up in a small town with an airstrip. Dogs chase planes a time or two. Then theres a piece here, a piece there .... Prop does quite a job on a dog.
Breath taking and not in the exciting sense. I'm no pilot but watching all the things that I thought were wrong gave me goose bumps. Weaving all over the very rough strip, near giant wind turbines and overhead power lines. I was waiting to see if he collected any of them and to have the dog running around loose on the 'strip' was not a good ides in my opinion.
He dosnt like me doing anything without him and is normally very well mannered and has never gone after a plane before but is no longer allowed to just hang out when I fly for this reson
Yikes - nice job surviving, Ken. I don't mind saying, looked sketchy as hell. I would try to get more air under my wings. 500' AGL, anyway. Low is (contrary to instincts) dangerous.
What engine do you have? Seems to fly well. I also first flew without instruction. Did perfectly fine. Is it riskier? Yes ofc. But its a free mans right to do as he wishes. All the rest of you can shutup. Leave the guy alone and give him some kudos for having more balls than 90% of the population. He knew the risks. His choice. Well done sir. Where you located?
Get a bit of altitude so if the engine loses power you have a bit of time to plan for the landing. At low level if the engine hiccups at all there will be little time to choose a path clear of trees or power lines. That plane will not glide well and will loose airspeed quickly because of the high drag design. It will not be a very good glider. Also land and take off into the wind. Get the nose down quickly if you pull back the throttle or loose power. It will reach stall speed quickly. I used to fly a 2 seat ultra light on floats with a 65hp rotax 2 stroke.
You are right about that on my 4th flight I was trying to see how far I could glide with no engine I did not shut it off just let it idle I glided a good wais and should not have let the engine just set and idle as long as I did I should have been gassing on it from time to time to keep from fouling plugs being a 2 stroke but I did find out that day the hi-max glides great with engine out that is if your comparing it to how a rock glides lol
Y’all should go to Kill Devil Hills in the Outer Banks of NC!! The first flight was flown there by brothers Orville & Wilbur Wright. And there’s all kinds of exciting things to do there.
West tx I'll try to get some more bit there has not been much good flying weather if there is any wind I'm not going up o try my best to stay within my limits As for the pup he is a mutt lol his mom was a full bloud jerman shepherd with papers his daddy was a fence jumper there was a wolf that lived in the neighborhood that was known for getting out but not sure they gave all the puppy's away I got lucky and got a new best friend I had no idea he was going to chase me but should have known he gets mad if I leave on or in anything he even rides motorcycles with me
@@kennethsmith1233 You're doing something that I imagine mankind/hominids have dreamed of for several hundred thousand years - maybe millions. I can't salute you enough, my man. With luck I will soon join your ranks, and I ask permission from you in advance to fly the K. Smith Air Force colors.
@@jimfree0 that's awsome I wish you the best of luck some tips is there is somone on RU-vid that post all the old military flight training videos watch the heck out of those there verry informative and contributed to my success in flight also any time I would be driving down the road I would move my feet in the direction i would be turning the wheel just a bit sorta getting ready for rudder pedals
A Darwin award for sure. Glad you got down in one piece. You're no less a person if you have a few lessons. His family and friends would have been sad if he was injured or worse.
Like I stated in other comments I watched a ton of videos on RU-vid and such like old military training videos and just every other video I could watch on the matter it wasnt like I had never seen anything about a plane before
Windmills, power lines, and drilling equipment oh my. Did you ever get those flight lessons? .... Are you still alive? ... Do you still have the airplane? If yes to all, good show!
Tittle is a bit miss leading I spend alot of my spare time on you tube watching the old military flight training videos and just every other flight video I can still have the plane have been up 4 times so far wish I had time for lessons and could find a good instructor I had talked to a few I could find close to me but just got the run around
@@kennethsmith1233 in this day and age it is very difficult to get someone to just take you up for a flight lesson. I recommend finding a small airfield near you and just spend time with the pilots. I rarely get to fly either, but I still have good friends who I can go up with. A friend is far less likely to give you the run-around than a business that wants to get you a full fledged license for 10 grand.
this was dumb. you can't learn from watching videos. especially on a taildragger. it's been a year since this video was made. how many times have you crashed it? are you even still alive?@@kennethsmith1233
I appreciate anyone who loves to fly, it's all fun and games untill that 2 stroke quits on you in one of those low high bank turns. For those who are getting their flight training from youtube, start with searching a low altitude stall and spin. Might make you rethink a couple hours with a CFI. Not judging just want the sport to stay safe.
simrey33 Agreed, classic mistake of adding rudder, if landing and off of extended centre line due to overshoot or crosswind, and a stall, or worse low altitude spin is induced. Makes my palms sweaty watching this video.
All take-offs are optional but landings are compulsary. A little training goes a long way. Better to be wise, than sorry. Low level mistakes are rarely forgiving. Good luck!
I'm thanking abour 3 to 7 days maybe I can't remember west Texas winds don't allow people like me to fly everyday we have free time the second or 3rd time i flew was around the 20mph winds a good pilot could handle it no problem but for me any wind is to much it took me a while to get it on the ground the i made several passes my last one the wind had just stoped for a bit lined it up perfectly made it look like I knew what I was doing lol
Takes balls to do that. Even more to land. Hats off. It's your life. Better than dying at a stop sign after being hit from behind. But take a lesson or 2
Derek Downs 🤣🤣 This video reminds me of an old Harold Loyd , three stooges or Jethro Clampet flick 🤣 just find an airplane get in and take the heck off!
You sir are one of the luckiest people alive! Taildragger...good breeze at 8 o'clock...rough uneven strip... clearly barely enough power... very low altitude depending on said low power to get you out of trouble... your plane your life i know... snickering camera lady.... all funny till its the day of your funeral
Around here, lessons are 150 dollars an hour. Part 103c was arranged as a way for nominal wage earners to experience the joy of flight. Sadly the richie rich people got their stinking hands on it and jaunted the cost of flying these birds to near getting a general aviation license. I built my first ultralight from Lowe's hardware stores and used dirt bike engines. I have no regrets. My first plane was under 2000 dollars . Fascism destroys these hobbies. Sadly we are going to see allot of self taught disaster stories in the near future. I am pretty sure if he had a power out there wern't much landing areas for him to ditch. And those crappy wind mills, I wouldn't have though of flying there at all. And by the way, "Ditching" is one of the most important lessons in ultralight instruction.
"Oh say, can you SEE, the RAMPARTS in front of ME! I MISSED the strip, oh what a trip! I hope the only stripes that must be CLEEEEAAANED. . . -ARE the ones left in my UNDIES!
@@ericblankenship6564 after all the grass and such died in the dirt down the side I smoothed it out also made runway wider I figure I need double what a real pilot needs for take off and landing
So, on takeoff, there was a quartering wind from the front, right to left. That pushed him to the left until he lifted off. At that point he immediately weathervaned into the wind - to the right. Right?
Kinda looks like that but not quiet actually I was not planning on taking off I just practicing taxi getting a little faster and faster just trying to get a grip on the tail wheel my runway was to narrow for my skill at this time and I git a little out of control and was shooting to the left side and was going to hit the little wind row of dirt on the edge of the runway so I made a split decision to just gas on it and attempt to get a little off the ground before I tore up my plane the dirt row would have done damage when Before I knew it I was in the air and shooting off to the right this aircraft the prop spins to the left so it requires alot of left rudder instead of right rudder
@@commentatron just been flying with some friends I've got a couple ultralight I've been working on but not ready just need a little more fabric work to be ready
@@kennethsmith1233- For goodness sake. Beside all that, instruct your "ground crew" to keep that dog under control... Friend lost is dog, properly "sliced" by the propeller. Let alone the fact they lost the favorite family pet. And had a bloody mess to take care afterwards. Thankfully, if we can say that, no damage to the plane and most important, the pilot! Best of luck.
