Maybe my favorite video ever. Nothing defines America more than having a few beers and mowing the runway, before making your first ever solo flight successfully. Simply, awesome.
I am a certified pilot and have been for many years, and guess what? I think you did a great job! Flying is fun but it's also about safety, not only for yourself but for others too. And as long as you keep that in mind... you have my respect and a high five for your first real solo. Happy flying!
Brilliant comment man. I actually thought alot of piolts would give him stick for doin this! I think I could do it too, flyin is in me.. But I cantafford to get lessons or k ow anyone here in Ireland to help me get into it sadly.. Keep flyin safely man! ✌️
ken dalton if you’re serious about learning to fly find a small airfield and help out by volunteering or maybe getting a job and meeting pilots. I’ve known several people who did just that and eventually they were taken in by pilots who helped them get into the air as pilots. Personally I can’t be a pilot because I can’t pass the physical due to a condition, but I love aviation and became a Cadet in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary as a youth. I later enlisted in the U.S. Army as a communicator and later an Artillery Forward Observer, where I flew in Army Helicopters and adjusted artillery fire from them. After my Army service I rejoined CAP as an adult and I’m a search and rescue navigator/observer and direct the pilot on where to go and what patterns to fly. I have several friends who started with me as CAP Cadets and hung out at our local airfield and would earn rides by cutting the grass, washing the planes, etc., and eventually started working there and earned scholarships for their licenses and some are now commercial pilots. Check it out, you might find such a situation. Good luck!🍀
@@wilfredosoto2722 hey thank you wifred.. Thats some really sound and precious advice there. Thank u kindly! I will definitely look into this so then and try this way of gettin into it. Id be totally happy even with a ride in a old bird.. Old moves like the battle of Britain got me hooked and magnificent men in their flyin machines got me hooked from a very early age haha. I just always felt it's something i feel iv a natural aptitude for an the older I get the less closer it feels to achieving.. But hopefully with your advice it may open some doors. Wow sounds like u had an amazing career all the same.. I'm from a family that relies on our coastal sea rescue services alot so I'm sure there's many many thankful people you and your crew have rescued Over the years.! 😉 Amazing.. Thank u very much once again for that awesome bit of advice Sir
Up on I-80 near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, an old Chevrolet Suburban ('50s vintage?, I don't know) sat in the middle of a field just off the Interstate. It was visible for nine or ten months of the year until the grass grew tall. I last saw the Suburban this past October when the property owner had mowed the grass. I believe it was a pasture for grazing cows 🐄 years ago because of a comment my father made when I was a youngster. My father is no longer here but I'd love to ask him about that location just now.
Yup...It should.....Any time I need to justify why you dont need all that BS training and license mumbo-jumbo...I come here....So many people w/ no balls nowadays...!!!!
@@offswitch1 good idea but why not spice it up a bit and fly upside down.... or maby turn the propeller inside out and fly backwards... thatl be cool...
This is that 'special' kind of stupid that makes the Human race better one step at a time. That 'Told'ya I could fly that shit' was an energy that echoed from countless generations past. Well done.
There is a British equivalent to this video with some kids in a Range Rover towing their clueless friend in an Ultralight into the air. It has an equivalent comment, too: “Rich young idiots with no regard for self preservation are a part of what made this country great” 😂
Mad props to ya bud. Flying is pretty easy. The landing is what they never warn about. I did this same thing. No training, watched a ton of videos here, bought a quicksilver and took off in front yard. Everyone thought I was going to die. 22 flights, accidental flying under powerlines, and one flopped landing. I'm here to congratulate you. Here's to doing what you know you can do!!
Some will call him stupid and some will say he's lucky, but no one can say he's gutless ! I've been a pilot for a long time and won't judge. I understand the desire to fly, even when it's not affordable. And, I've alway wanted the thrill and satisfaction of building my own aircraft and putting it in the air that first time. There can be no better feeling. That said, no safety lectures here, just a big congrats to you and a thank you for the smile I still have on my face. Safe skies !
I had a friend that had no training, one day he hit a down draft pulled back on the stick and stalled, spun it into the ground broke his back and both ankles. Training is a good thing.
Larry Davis I think he mentions his friend above, training might’ve been good! Obviously his balls made it out ok however a broken back.......not good !
I'm a pilot and i will admit im impressed... i think back to my first flight and i dont care who you are, once you take off alone the first time, the reality that you will have to land hits you hard. this guy held it together and got it done. I wouldnt recommend it though. A few flight lessons would be a great investment. The moment something abnormal occurs... your ability to figure it out on the fly, wont be enough.
As an ultralight pilot myself (American Aerolights Eagle) back in the day, I'd have to say you had a combination of some mechanical aptitude and a truckload of luck. You nearly ground looped on landing (hard turn causing opposite wing to dip or strike to the ground), but recovered, and it looks like you had good weather. Turbulence is another beast altogether, as is too slow of speed, which can cause a stall and then you are nosing into the ground if you altitude is too low. But, it looks like you got the hang of it. Rock on!
Yep, after WWI there were hundreds of Jenny's left over, you could get them dirt cheap, farm kids would get them and teach themselves to fly, and barn storming was born.
+Chainsaw look up richard pearce he's a kiwi guy who FLEW (about 1km or so usually) in 1901 in nz making his plane with 3 axis controls (with aerolons not shitty wing warping) and a trike landing gear (used now in aircraft today) out of no.8 wire and bamboo
+Erin martin Try looking it up yourself.. "It is claimed Pearse flew and landed a powered heavier-than-air machine on 31 March 1903, some nine months before the Wright brothers flew their aircraft.[1] The documentary evidence to support such a claim remains open to interpretation, and Pearse did not develop his aircraft to the same degree as the Wright brothers, who achieved sustained controlled flight.[2] Pearse himself never made such claims, and in an interview he gave to the Timaru Post in 1909 only claimed he did not "attempt anything practical...until 1904".[3]"
I took ultralight flight training years ago. Taking off and flying around is easy. I had no problem with that. It was those damn landings I had a problem with. Finally nailed one and the rest were easy. Main thing to remember is Don't go up on windy days. Those little engines don't put out enough power to allow for safe moves and landing in strong gusty winds. Loved the video.
+Indiana Joe What hospital bills? That's kinda the point. Let me ask you... how many people have not flown... BECAUSE of lessons, and their costs? Life is a daring adventure, or it is nothing at all.
Indiana Joe Yeah... but he *landed*. No hospital bills. Can the Wright Brothers make the same claim? How come the Wright Brothers are heroes, never criticized for doing something dangerous even though they had numerous crashes? How come this guy gets criticized, NEVER crashing? Look, he had a plan, executed it, and it went as planned. This means he knows a LOT more about this subject than you do, right?
Ryder Spearmann I fly a little plane too. I have flown mine hundreds of times, even with an engine out, no problem. So, no, not really. He looked iffy as hell to me. Just a matter of time.
Of course it looked iffy. ** How was your first landing? ** I'll bet you a thousand bucks that he didn't expect a perfect landing. Literally... I well make this wager with you. But he expected that his landing, while not perfect, would be adequate. And it was. This means that he had a plan, executed it, and it went as planned. Now that he's made hundreds of landings (we might suppose)... and can do a perfect landing at will. He's at a point where he's gaining experience. Nobody is saying that people don't benefit from formal training. But not everything, nor everyone... need formal training. Ever notice how all the billionaires never finished college?
Man that brings back memories! I did virtually the same thing in 1992 (no flight sim in those days). I flew with a guy for an hour and a half, but he wouldn't let me land or take off (the challenging part). A few weeks later I took off by myself, no spectators, in a wet hayfield with a hill coming up pretty quick. Full throttle, front wheel was throwing water in my face that I could hardly see. I popped off the ground and flew around for about an hour before attempting to land at a private airstrip with a half mile runway. I was all over the place on my first attempt (wind was picking up). On my 4th or 5th attempt I set it down. Things improved quickly from there. I saved some money by not getting flight lessons, but in retrospect it was a whole lot of stupid and naivety. A guy can get killed very easily in a situation like that. To anyone watching this video and thinking "I can do that".....don't do it. Don't risk your life just because there is a decent chance you would survive flying without instruction.
If you don't get training and are lucky to survive and learn to fly, I bet you will also "save" on maintence either by skipping it altogether or doing it yourself. Sooner rather than later you will loose the engine and will inevitably crash and probably die.
I feel kind of ambivalent about this video. I am an ultralight paramotor pilot, a helicopter pilot, and a fixed wing pilot, so I certainly understand the dream to chase flight, and I commend you for achieving your dream. However, we no longer live in a world where aviation needs to be as dangerous and pioneering as it once was (in the early 1900s). A few flight and ground lessons from your local airport could have taught you the fundamentals of flight that could have helped you understand the dangerous phenomenon that a flight sim might not accurately convey. Have fun with that thing, but remember: just because you can doesn't mean you should. When everything's perfect, you can fly for your entire life and never have a problem. But, when you, the aircraft, the environment, and/or the operation aren't familiar, you may not have the tools necessary to get yourself out of the fix you're in.Good luck!
LOL love the final quote "told ya I could fly that shit" this is amazing guys. I love the friends cracking up in the background the whole time as this guy risks his life doing this death defying flight with zero training lol
pull the motor off the Zturn, put it on the plane... then back on the mower... Roadkill Style. Doggie was wondering... You gonna be back @ chow time?? or do I need to find a new forever family. LOL
Amazing! Not least the fact that over a span of 8 years, no-one have said "No way that was his first flight !!". After watching, I checked the video title again, and noticed it says "First ultralight flight". So the guy was at least a competent GA flyer, who simply awarded himself a new rating on that ultralight. This underlined by the only wobbly bit of the flight was when he stuck it and the taildragger-like looping tendency surprised him. But he kept it straight. Great video!
Dude, I got a tear in my eye when you went into the air-flying. That was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Your flight made me wonder about who gave the Wright Brothers flight lessons or certified them to fly.
That was HILARIOUS!! Way to go!! I've been flying (with a license) for 35 years and this always scares me to watch these kinds of events but I have to give you credit where credit is due---you did a great job. I've always wondered what it would be like to be called to the front of a 767 or 737 for them to say (ala Airplane) we need you to land this thing. I think I could do it given the proper procedures, flap and speed settings. You did a heck of a lot better than most 1st time ultralight self-taught flyers!
when i was a kid in the fifties a man down the street built a baby lakes in his garage. when it was finished he got it down to our local airport and did taxi testing. he had never flown a plane before. one day he took off and landed and it wasn't rare to see him flying around in good weather for years to come.
Well done! I was flying UL in '06 also, and had a friend with zero UL hours take to the air in a Weed hopper. Like you, he did alright. A memorable event ! Thx for stirring the memory.👍
I was impressed with the first take off. BUT--the second one not so much. A turn immediately after take off is bad news if you have a decrease in power or engine failure.
I’ve never even been trained as a pilot on a real plane and my only experience of really piloting has been from playing Flight Sim X, but even my novice ass still really cringed in horror while watching him dip his wing down and almost cartwheel that plane lol
I did the same thing in a Hummer. Bought the plane, bought a book, practice taxing, then unplanned take off with an uneventful landing. I was hooked, Flew ultralights for 20 years.
And you never got any pilot training throughout ? Plus, that accidental flight was taking you to an airfield for a turnaround, all while you kept your wings parallel throughout, with absolutely no PIO ?? Sure ....
I did the same thing with a Weedhopper back in the 90's. That's pretty common around here since the Weedhopper was popular in the area and no training available. Like other had done, I took the wings off and would practice barreling down the runway controlling the nose with the stick. Also, a farmer had a two seater and took me up for a flight to know what to expect. When I switched to flexwing trikes I took proper lessons for about 20 hours. I'm glad I did.
Good on you Yank and for any one with a negative view remember Orville and Wilber didn`t have pilot licences.And to nutsackmania I agree.Andy Jacobs Nottingham ENGLAND
Wright Brothers took it one step at a time, learning from each attempt. Many other wannabee pilots and designers were not so methodical and fortunate and paid with their lives. Even one of the Wrights (Orville I think) crashed a plane while demonstrating it for the US Army. The passenger was killed and Orville was seriously injured.
I’ve been flying for many years. Yup i was very concerned for this fella but good job man, you flew it haha. Weather was definitely on your side with that plane
I don't know how wise it was to take to the air without at least some instruction, but I have learned to fly an ultralight at Kitty Hawk in San Antonio with only 4 hours ground instruction and have flown several single engine aircraft for years now. Flight simulation teaches you quite a bit and is good for brushing up on your skills. Good job landing that craft just wouldn't recommend it LOL!
To me the man is a hero, never flown before , despite a fondness for low altitude, power-lines, low passes over main roads he took it up and brought it down safely,( well brought it down). Greetings from Oz. Davox.
Absolutely briliant. Can't tell you why exactly , may have your choice of music, the enoughs , enough to the grass cutting and fk it I'm off ! attitude but every single hair on my body was standin' up on end. Top shelf !
grats! as somebody have said earlier, it's the approach of how it was common on the dawn of aviation, in the ww1 and even later. then, the teachers of that time sometimes were lacking too, i recall i have read a memoir book how some guy was taught to fly by an instructor which stayed on the ground and could turn the plane to one side only anyway (right turn iirc), so he suggested his students to try to mirror it if they wanted to turn to the other side :3 i wouldn't call your flight a flight with absolutely no training though, flight sims which you admitted you had played are a kind of training too... some of them like x-plane can simulate flying an ultralight pretty well. so it's... with inadequate training :3 btw, depending on the country, some countries like usa allow flying planes like that one which you piloted (i.e. very small one seaters) without any license
Nice Job, glad it all worked out for you, when I was younger I know if I had had the resources I would have done it too!But the title it a little misleading, "NO TRAINING", I think you meant no Formal Training. as you said, "Played the flight sim so much". I've seen guys who wanted to fly RC helicopters but know better without training. They bought a sim, played it for hours on end, days, doing stunts and normal flying. Then went out and purchased an RC Helicopter and flew great. Flight sims can't replace formal training but they can give you enough experience that IF all goes right you can do what you set out to do. I agree with you when you implied, "Take all the necessary Precautions". Yep the world needs folks to take risks, to step out on faith and risk it all, granted if they are willing to pay the price of failure, and take the necessary precautions for sure. I'm with the NANNY STATE. "LIVE FREE!" Just make sure if you fail no ones home, property or life is in danger. Well thanks for the post and good luck in the future Jason, hats off to ya! Best Wishes n Blessings Keith
This message is for those who may get dangerously inspired by this video please take it in good spirit Back then when there were no avenues for hobby flying training it was ok to go it and risk everything. (just about ok) I did too ... I had no way to get up in air finally somehow got myself a trike microlight and went up in the air and taught myself to fly ... after many close calls and promised myself never to repeat such a stunt ... went to an instructor and got cleared within 1 hour of training. (by this time I had logged in about 45 hours of flying without any close calls (I even mastered dead sticks) flew for a good 25 years and due to some personal financial reasons have put that on hold. Nowadays its quite the opposite there are so many who would help you learn... so many good small flying clubs , and YES ... SO MANY AWESOME FLIGHT SIMS .... looks like the flight sim served a very wrong purpose. There is a good old saying There Are Bold Pilots And There Are Old Pilots But There Are No Old&Bold Pilots. A strong word of advice if the flying bug is up you and just not letting go ..and you are a mechanical oriented person and have fantastic sense of space and speed. INDEED use the flight sim it is truly amazing NEXT go to someone and get AT LEAST 5 Hours (i know this is insane ... but the least) of instruction flying even if you are in the "joy ride" seat ...get some real situations demonstrations done. AFTER THAT ... something I appreciate this video is get a vary basic and easy to fly machine like a weedhopper or such extremely simple machines ... which fly in only like the safest weather... and are inherently super stable. It takes a total idiot to kill these machines. Please fly safe ...
I'm no pilot, but I thought in the last part of the video when he took off again, he started accelerating on the corner before the straight - he's had training, for sure!
Having flown for 10 years myself & knowing what I know now, I wouldn't risk flying without training. There are so many things that could kill you, things you can't possibly know about without studying meteorology & the physics of how an aircraft actually flies. There are old pilots & there are bold pilots, but there are no old + bold pilots ;). Cheers, Shaun
Honestly this says more about the forgiving nature of the Quicksilver ultralight than it does about anything else. Flying isn't difficult... but landing without bending or breaking something is the hard part.
Do me a favor, if you ever are on a plane and they ask for anyone with flight experience, STAND UP! For someone with 0 hours of flight training to manage airspeed, and have a landing like that? Simply amazing. I've never flown an UL, I fly small aircraft (Cessna, Piper, etc.) and I couldn't imagine just figuring it all out the first time around. Simply amazing!
Damn good flying. That thing jumps in the air. The landings will get better with time. Then again, any landing you walk away from is good. Any landing you can walk away from and reuse the plane is fantastic.
That was crazy and could have gone very wrong. You lived to tell about it and now you have an awesome story to tell. Nothing ventured , nothing gained. I am happy for you although I don't know if it was balls or stupidity.
From someone with about 300 hours is several different kinds of ultralights... Training is all about how to handle the unexpected. Keep flying without it, and your life expectancy is rather short. Anyone thinking about trying this - get your affairs in order, and say goodbye to those you love. Many, many people have been killed trying to learn to fly without training. The Wright brothers had no choice. You do...
It's about time somebody had something sensible to say like this .I've been a private pilot since 1983.. one of the 1st pioneers system flight stars .. Fuck my training kicks in if I lose aileron
at least he was just flying over an unpopulated area at low altitude. When you go to get your drivers license they don't teach you how to react when your tire falls off either. And that's when you're likely surrounded by dozens of other vehicles on the highway. If someone wants to put themselves in danger, as long as they're not endangering others unnecessarily, that's their choice. People carry guns without having ever used one in a real life high stress situation. The list goes on. If you want to put yourself at risk in the name of trying something thrilling, and you're not endangering others, who cares! I cruise around my rural area, up to ~7000 ft sometimes in a Kolb. I also hang glide. SAFELY. But, I started the same way. Many, many hours in flight sims, and then just going for it at low altitude in a huge field in the middle of nowhere. If you have your private pilots license or sport pilots license, that means you could pass medical (or in the case of sport, SHOULD be able to pass medical), and can get up in a plane training. Some of us cant, and since 103 means you're getting a single seater...welp, there's only one way...go for it. Again, I'm not saying "don't train". Just saying to learn, read, get in a sim and log many hours, use critical thinking to determine the outcome of every possible fault and emergency. But you you can't "train" for those things outside of theory and a sim. This guy said he logged lots of sim hours, and you dont know his entire story. As far as we know, he did learn and this was just his first solo.
@@Burlehmangus Like all of us, he has a responsibility to those who love and care about him, especially any partner he might have. And that goes double for any children he might have, not to mention his employer, and anyone to whom he is financially obligated. I thoroughly believe in doing what you love, even if it is dangerous, but we all have many obligations to others, which means that we are ethically bound to do what we love as safely as possible. And simulator training in no substitute for the real thing - not even close.
All I could think was, "I'd rather be on the ground wishing I was in the air, than in the air wishing I was on the ground!".. best advice I ever got.. Huge kajones!!👍
I got my ultralight license after few weeks of theory and practice training. Now I’m certified ultralight pilot and love to fly with my trike. The only flights prior training were as a passenger. I could only wish this guy all the best…!
The Wright Bros were very methodical studious engineers, they read all they could find about other's attempts at gliding and airfoil designs. They developed their piloting abilities and concepts of wing warping to achieve the ability to turn an aircraft through building and flying a series of unpowered gliders, developed the propeller and a light-weight engine that drove two propellers via chain drive. Their story is worth reading, To make light of their achievements as two "wild and crazy guys" is not realistic at all.
Man please, they had no flight lessons and no one to train them. If anything, they learned what not to do from the failures of others. But no one taught them how to fly a plane.
3:10 the relieved and incredulous laugh you laugh when you realize it's over and your friend/sibling managed to not do anything stupid and nothing went wrong with their "plan"
This reminds me of when i got my first quicksilver ,asked the man how he learned to fly he said he just took off , so i asked him how he figured he would land it and he said (I figured I would figure that out when I got back) he did because he was talking to me so....
The guy was lucky. He obviously has a lttle natural talent. Unfortunately he is on his way to learning as ll kinds of bad habits. Hr should at least get some instruction in flying techniques and the rules. There are rules for ultra lights. I've seen too many self taught aviators out there not obeying the rules because they don't know them. They get in the way of landing small aircraft, fly where they are not supposed to be potentially causing an accident. Then there are the ultra light pilots that got some instruction and know the rules and are safe flyers. This guy has the potential to be a hazard not only to himself but to others if he doesn't get some instruction.
Hahaha, Fair play mate! you nutter! imagine if you got an engine failure on your first flight with no training! i guess once you've had the training you're aware of all that could go wrong so it scares the shit out of you, I just kept thinking you were going to get a power on stall, but i guess on the ultralight its all pretty self-explanatory. loved this video, reminds me of the old avaiton videos with their crash test dummies... I mean test pilots ;)
Al Quieda certainly did - it's BS mate you don't learn winds, meteorology, emergency scenarios, CRM, engine management, pre flighting, crosswind operation, spin and stall training, upset recovery training, aircraft structural stresses and stress management, engine out training, the physiological effects of flight in varying scenarios and situations...none of that gets even touched on in flight simulation spo to think you can fly because you did it well on your computer is like thinking you're a good lover because you have a stack of porno mags under your bed ! I hope no one kills themselves or seriously injures themselves as a result of this video and comments like this..makes us who spent our lives saving and working on flying training feel sick to our stomachs that this attitude even exists
I had to fly sim hours as part of my training as well but ABSOLUTELY NOT IN LIEU OF TRAINING AND BY NO MEANS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTUAL HOURS, THEORY AND EXPERIENCE -commercial simulators (not store bought home PC types) are utilized for recurrency, proficiency, procedures and familiarity training but cannot and will never be a substitute for real training - NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU SWEAR OR CONDESCEND! What's your logbook total then and how many types have you flown, I have my suspicions? Your attitude is indicative (sorry I'll use smaller words) of the problem I spoke up against and I could quite easily find thousands of real world pilots who would 100% back me up. Uneducated it certainly was not I am a qualified pilot and aircraft engineer with two own designs being developed and a logbook indicating not only type rating and hours as PIC on type but also several types built from scratch....pal.
No hate mate, we share a common passion in fact more than you think... I spent a lot of time developing my own foot launched rigid wing and was dead set on building it without that pesky certification and flying it without training, I mean it can't be harder than flying a powered aircraft or launching my parachute off a ridge, my whole business brand is based on the idea of being free to fly freely by any means so I totally get and admire your drive but if I misunderstood your meaning here how many young passionate wannabes will too? There are thousands who dream of but can't attain flight who I have no doubt would see this as admonition to strap themselves in to a complex machine and try fly on determination, a dream and sheer passion...you know as well as I I think that 9 times out of 10 it ends badly and unfortunately in our chosen obsession bad endings are really bad, almost always final. Try see it from my point of view RU-vid is seething with DIY airplane builders and aviators and the attitude of I can do it myself is something that must be vigorously and vehemently opposed thats where I was coming from - I still think a disclaimer would be the responsible thing to do here
i did the same thing 40yrs ago, the take off was good but the landing was a little tight ass, a little rain started so i headed for the field, nosed it down, nowhere did i read that if the Dacron control lines got wet they would stretch, i was nosed toward the ground, i popped my seat belt off and pushed back a few inches from the prop, it started to pull up, i hit a little hard but nothing bent up. rock on youngster.
