It seems like in any other thread about racing on this forum someone inevitably says, ‘There should be a Part 103 class of racing.’
Given that a FAA-recognized UL isn’t allowed to do more than 55 knots at wide open throttle and any public event intended to promote aviation is going to have an FAA guy there, how exactly do you race the things? I suppose some dramatic climbing pylon turn to hug the tightest line you can, followed by a dive to the next pylon could be one way to cheat the level flight speed limit but my gut says there would just be piles of wreckage from all the mid-airs near the pylons.
Instead, if you wanted to try and promote UL flying maybe the answer is a modified STOL drag race. Spice it up a bit by having to pass the plane through a gate the width and height of a single car garage door opening then make it flight-ready in a prescribed amount of time before tech inspection then a side-by-side takeoff with another competitor: first in the air wins. After all, a lot of UL questions centre around ‘will it fit in my garage?’ and ‘how small of a flying field can I get away with?’
Given that a FAA-recognized UL isn’t allowed to do more than 55 knots at wide open throttle and any public event intended to promote aviation is going to have an FAA guy there, how exactly do you race the things? I suppose some dramatic climbing pylon turn to hug the tightest line you can, followed by a dive to the next pylon could be one way to cheat the level flight speed limit but my gut says there would just be piles of wreckage from all the mid-airs near the pylons.
Instead, if you wanted to try and promote UL flying maybe the answer is a modified STOL drag race. Spice it up a bit by having to pass the plane through a gate the width and height of a single car garage door opening then make it flight-ready in a prescribed amount of time before tech inspection then a side-by-side takeoff with another competitor: first in the air wins. After all, a lot of UL questions centre around ‘will it fit in my garage?’ and ‘how small of a flying field can I get away with?’
