> Maintenance is absolutely a possible issue, and due to their restrictions the engines are generally MORE needy than normal GA aircraft.
Interesting! How so?
> Part 103 compliant aircraft are meant to have limits low enough to be LESS immediately lethal, but they are still dangerous.
What do you have in mind?
Quite a lot of what worries me when I fly involves misjudging the combination of weather with the aircraft's capabilities & my capabilities. Time under the care of a good instructor helps a whole lot with that judgement: you get to see a whole bunch of conditions that are beyond your capabilities & struggle with them, without endangering yourself or the aircraft. And (e.g.) winds variable 13-23, 3G12 on runway 09 is not so trivial, even if your aircraft has a 15kt crosswind limitation.
Or---I fly gliders, and I've had it drummed into my head that you never ever fly between trees when you're landing in some random field, because there may be a power line and power lines are a great way to kill yourself.
There are a thousand things like this, that are more about environment & pilot than aircraft.
(FWIW I've flown power in the past, but mostly fly gliders now; still newish. Maybe that skews my perceptions a bit; glider pilots are pretty willing to fly in windy or gusty conditions, in search of ridge or wave lift, so it's not so uncommon that I'm standing there asking myself "sure, the much more experienced pilots are fine to fly in this, but am I fine?" This is really hard! I'm really grateful to my instructors for giving me knowledge & experience with which to make that decision, and for giving me good training to fall back on if I misjudge!)
To stay under the Part 103 weight requirements you are almost certain to need a small, air cooled, two stroke engine. Even the best of these fall FAR short of both the TBO and reported MTBF numbers. As an example, offhand the Rotax 582s were a 200hr TBO and were known for cutting out in flight if abused or not maintained very well.
As for them being less lethal, that comes down to the listed operating areas and the limits imposed by the construction of them. In reality they are just less lethal to non-involved bystanders; they will still kill their pilots quite easily.
Part 103 aircraft must have a stall speed under 25 knots and a top powered speed of 55 knots in level flight. I don't fly but I imagine aircraft designed for lower speeds could be more survivable in a crash. Also you need less runway to land
Well, one of the planes mentioned somewhere has a full-frame parachute, so as a worst-case kinda thing, maybe you have a bumpy landing?
It’s like other things you can do but maybe shouldn’t do, where you’re making questionable life decisions if you know nothing and still opt out of training. …though the people opting out are probably the ones who lack the self-awareness to note the questionable nature of that choice.
Yeah gliding is great. I started at 15 before I was even allowed to take driving lessons.
I did some GA motor flying lessons since but never really liked it. It's so incredibly noisy and do procedural. Gliding is much more seat of the pants and it's a sport to stay up as long as possible.
Also the low speeds and air brakes/spoilers make landing a breeze even out of field.
If I pick up flying again (I moved recently so I couldn't stay in the club) it'll be gliding for sure.
Maintenance is absolutely a possible issue, and due to their restrictions the engines are generally MORE needy than normal GA aircraft.