It is relatively easy - and risky - to get behind some planes' controls
In the 20 years Will Tennison has flown his 1963 Cessna 172 off the grass strip at Airport Manatee, he has known six pilots who have crashed and died.
All were flying ultralight aircraft.
For Tennison, it's not difficult to figure out why the lightly regulated aircraft crashed.
"We've had people show up here to fly ultralights who say they have 150 hours on a computer," the veteran pilot said. "They find out it's something entirely different when they get up in the air."
Five light aircraft have crashed in Southwest Florida during the past six weeks. They were all non-standard aircraft, either ultralights, experimental or amateur-built craft.
Three of the five pilots were more than 70 years old, including two octogenarians.
These days, older pilots can choose to fly under sport aircraft rules, which restrict them to daytime flying and good weather, but avoid the necessity of taking a yearly physical.
Ultralight pilots need no license at all.
The recent crashes have left some critics asking: Is this combination of lax licensing and do-it-yourself aircraft creating a safety hazard?
Hands-off attitude
Ultralights, in particular, draw little scrutiny from any government agency.
Federal Aviation Administration regulations allow them to be built and flown with no registration, as long as they carry only one person, five gallons or less of fuel, and can fly no faster than 62 mph.
Their pilots are told to stick to non-urban areas.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board, the main investigative agency for air crashes, also takes a hands-off attitude with the aircraft.
If the plane has no number on its tail, there is no federal investigation.
Most of that is left to local investigators.
But the Manatee County Sheriff's Office does not investigate an ultralight crash as it would a car accident - an inquiry aimed at showing cause and who was at fault, spokesman Dave Bristow said.
"Our determination has to be whether it's anything other than accidental, like the pilot was poisoned," Bristow said. "It's almost like working it backwards. If there is a death, it's a death investigation. If there's not a death, we're writing it up, but we're not investigating."
A spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association acknowledges "there is a gap there." As result, there is no real database on such accidents, said Dick Knapinski, the EEA's director of communications.
"We are working with the NTSB right now to really narrow down the causes of crashes," Knapinski said. "Much of what we know on ultralight accidents is more anecdotal and experience-based than anything else."
NTSB records for Southwest Florida during the six-week period of the five crashes follows this bureaucratic course.
Out of the five, only two had tail numbers and were flown by bona fide trained pilots: the amateur-built Skybolt that plunged into the Gulf of Mexico off Lido Beach on Dec. 19 and an amateur-built Seawind 3000 that crashed into trees on the New College of Florida campus on Jan. 12.
"For the most part, we do not - if they are not an N-registered aircraft - we typically do not get involved," said Aaron Sauer, a Wisconsin-based senior air safety investigator with the NTSB.
The NTSB's guidelines are not written in stone, but do reflect the fact that the agency has only 45 investigators covering 1,800 crashes per year.
A divisive issue
Until two years ago, the NTSB rarely responded to the crash of an experimental aircraft, meaning one that was amateur-built and then approved and registered with the FAA.
"We kind of changed our tune on that," Sauer said. "We had seen a rise in the usage of those kind of aircraft. Over the last two years now, we have pretty much been responding to those accidents as well. Before that it was very limited."
Under existing rules, pilots must get more training when they upgrade - for example, moving from a single-engine Cessna to a twin-engine plane, or from a piston plane to a jet.
But there are few hard and fast rules when a pilot goes the other direction, or "downsizes."
The Oshkosh, Wis.-based Experimental Aircraft Association says it has been pushing for more "transition training," said Knapinski, the group's spokesman.
A "two-seater" or an ultralight "have different flying characteristics. It is important to get that understanding as people move back down the ladder, too," Knapinski said.
The issue of these smaller planes is a divisive one among pilots and mechanics at Airport Manatee, a small, out-of-the-way operation with a grass strip, no control tower and small hangars with few walls.
Don, a pilot there with 40 years of experience who declined to give his last name, has seen the difference between aircraft.
"A wind gust that would buffet my Mooney would flip an ultralight," he said, referring to his Texas-made single-engine plane.
Tennison - the 20-year Airport Manatee veteran who started flying at 12, sitting on two phone books next to his father - said he has flown the cheaper, less-regulated ultralights. He does not think much of them, or their lack of scheduled maintenance.
He says it is hard enough for him to keep his traditional Cessna well maintained given Florida's humid climate.
He has a theory about the spate of recent crashes: "It's the pilots. A lot of them were pretty old."
There are two distinct camps at Airport Manatee - traditional pilots and ultralighters.
One group rarely speaks ill of the other.
Dan, an FAA-certified mechanic who also declined to provide his last name, was helping Don install a new radio in his 1969 Mooney four-seater Monday morning.
"They're flying lawn furniture," Dan said of the ultralights. "If it was up to me, I wouldn't allow them on the airfield."
Ultralights and small two-seaters lure older pilots who still want to fly but know that they would likely fail a traditional flight physical, said Don, the pilot.
But Dick, a non-FAA certified mechanic who works on ultralights, said some of ultralights are extremely airworthy. He pointed to a Challenger, a small one-seater powered by a snowmobile motor with aluminum struts supporting canvas covered wings.
"There are more than 4,000 of these flying - it's safe," Dick said. "These recent crashes are most likely attributable to pilot error or fuel issues."
RECENT ACCIDENTS
JAN. 27
Paramedics airlifted an 82-year-old man to Blake Medical Center in Bradenton on Sunday morning after his experimental ultralight aircraft crashed.
Authorities said the pilot, Eugene Massa, was alert and talking. He was the only person on the plane. Massa told authorities that he left Airport Manatee, north of Palmetto, and after reaching 300 feet, his aircraft had engine problems. It crashed in a cow pasture in Hillsborough County.
Federal aviation officials were on the scene investigating.
JAN. 20
Randy R. Roman, 47, of Palmetto escaped injury after his blue Rotax 447 ultralight lost power and crashed in the 3200 block of Mendoza Road in north Manatee County.
JAN. 12
Pilot John Ardoyno, 70, of Hayward, Wis., died after his Seawind 3000 left Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and crashed in a field at New College of Florida. His passenger - William Shaun Jackson, 63, of Ann Arbor, Mich. - died days later at Tampa General Hospital's burn unit.
DEC. 31
James Richard Clendenon, 82, of Bradenton died after his ultralight experienced mechanical problems after leaving Airport Manatee. When he attempted a landing in a field, the ultralight hit a rut and flipped, killing him.
DEC. 19
A pilot flying an experimental Wragg George Skybolt with a Lycoming engine crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off Lido Beach. The pilot, the only person on board, was not seriously injured. The pilot took off from Venice Municipal for a pleasure ride to test the aircraft. When his plane had problems, the pilot considered landing on Lido Key but ended up crash-landing in the Gulf. The plane was "amateur built" in May 2003 and has valid airworthiness certificates.
PRIVATE AIRCRAFT
What are the differences among ultralight aircraft, light sport aircraft and experimental aircraft, and who is qualified to pilot them?
2A
TYPES OF PRIVATE AIRCRAFT
Ultralight - Maximum capacity is one person and five gallons of fuel. Top speed 62 mph. Restricted to flight in non-urban areas. No pilot's license required and no registration required for the aircraft, just a driver's license.
Light Sport Aircraft, or LSA - A relatively new FAA category, these seat two and weigh no more than 1,320 pounds loaded for takeoff. Maximum speed of 132 mph. Fixed landing gear, non-pressurized cabin.
A certified private pilot can fly an LSA or an ultralight. But someone also can qualify as a "sport pilot" with fewer hours of training than as a regular private pilot and without the need for a physical exam. As a sport pilot, you must operate only in the daytime and in clear weather.
Experimental Aircraft - An aircraft that is amateur-built, and then submitted for inspection to the Federal Aviation Administration. It gets an N-number on its tail as a registered aircraft, along with an airworthiness certificate. Regular private pilot rules apply.
Once the aircraft passes inspection, a pilot must fly 25 to 40 hours of test flights in specific non-populated areas to make sure all components operate properly. Only after that can the plane carry passengers. The aircraft also is subject to inspection by an FAA-certified mechanic every 12 months.
Pilots must earn and maintain the same federal pilot training and ratings as those who fly traditional factory-built aircraft such as Cessnas, Pipers and Beechcrafts.
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