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What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

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Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#121

Post by chrisweekly »

paulddraper wrote: post #117
grepfru_it wrote: post #73

Unpopular opinion but technically correct answer: you can fly any plane without a pilots license. In fact I just saw a Quora question with this exact question and the answer came from a 60 year old pilot that has been flying without a license for 30 years. If you never fly out of a major airport where an FAA inspector can ramp check you, who will ever find out? Please don’t do this.

I'm a private pilot. This is basically correct. If your airport is small and you never get in trouble with ATC or have an emergency situation, you will probably not get caught. However, if you do get caught, it is a criminal charge with (IIRC) up to $250,000 fine and 6 years prison time. Or worse, you overestimate your ability and die/kill people. I wouldn't take that risk. If you want to fly a lot, get a license. If…

> "E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license. :/"

What?! That's incredible. If more people were trying to get their licenses I bet the ACLU would fix that nonsensical bigotry and embarrass the FAA in court.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#122

Post by sugarkjube »

grepfru_it wrote: post #73

Unpopular opinion but technically correct answer: you can fly any plane without a pilots license. In fact I just saw a Quora question with this exact question and the answer came from a 60 year old pilot that has been flying without a license for 30 years. If you never fly out of a major airport where an FAA inspector can ramp check you, who will ever find out? Please don’t do this.

You can fly a plane without a licence just like you can drive a car without a licence. No problem at all. Until you're caught or in a crash.

You can't however, unlike a car, fly a plane without having been taught. If you try, you may be able to get in the air, but the difficult part is getting back on the ground alive.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#123

Post by paulddraper »

chrisweekly wrote: post #121
paulddraper wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a private pilot. This is basically correct. If your airport is small and you never get in trouble with ATC or have an emergency situation, you will probably not get caught. However, if you do get caught, it is a criminal charge with (IIRC) up to $250,000 fine and 6 years prison time. Or worse, you overestimate your ability and die/kill people. I wouldn't take that risk. If you want to fly a lot, get a license. If…

> "E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license. :/" What?! That's incredible. If more people were trying to get their licenses I bet the ACLU would fix that nonsensical bigotry and embarrass the FAA in court.

You have no idea how many professional pilots avoid seeking mental health treatment.

Because it would literally destroy their career.

Kinda scary actually.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#124

Post by pests »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #97
rlpb wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article doesn't really cover it but being able to fly without a license probably isn't the same as flying near a controlled (ie. towered) airport. If want to commute and aren't in the middle of nowhere you might find that flying in your local airspace does require a radio license in practice at least. Source: I am a licensed pilot but not familiar with flying in the US.

You can bet that people that fly these planes without a license also don't spend the time and money to get a radio license; that automatically prevents from flying to or from a towered airport. These ultra-light planes are practically big toys that you can fly over some empty field and relatively low altitudes. Powered parachutes also fall in this category.

I watch a creator on YT who regularly takes his paramotor (a powered parachute) across town and on longer trips. He also takes it up to at least 15k feet. That seems vastly more than empty fields and low altitudes.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#125

Post by operatingthetan »

paulddraper wrote: post #123
chrisweekly wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license. :/" What?! That's incredible. If more people were trying to get their licenses I bet the ACLU would fix that nonsensical bigotry and embarrass the FAA in court.

You have no idea how many professional pilots avoid seeking mental health treatment. Because it would literally destroy their career. Kinda scary actually.

That's a huge perverse incentive. Doesn't make me feel safer!

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#126

Post by sugarkjube »

digi59404 wrote: post #100
userbinator wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and the answer came from a 60 year old pilot that has been flying without a license for 30 years. More precisely, someone who claims to be one online.

FWIW, I’ve personally met someone who this exact scenario applied too. His father flew planes in WW2 then came back and flew crop dusters. As a kid his father would let him fly and taught him how. He never went and got his FAA License. He just flew small planes like Cessnas to/from private areas. No one ever bothered him or asked him for his license.

He probably didn't tell you the whole story.

Of course, if one has learned to fly, one can. And a license is just paperwork. But there is more to flying, like getting an aircraft, and getting insurance. Want to rent an aircraft? you'll not only need a license but also a check out. You don't always have to show your license, but sometimes they do ask. Also no license, means no insurance.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#127

Post by sonicshadow »

chrisweekly wrote: post #121
paulddraper wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a private pilot. This is basically correct. If your airport is small and you never get in trouble with ATC or have an emergency situation, you will probably not get caught. However, if you do get caught, it is a criminal charge with (IIRC) up to $250,000 fine and 6 years prison time. Or worse, you overestimate your ability and die/kill people. I wouldn't take that risk. If you want to fly a lot, get a license. If…

> "E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license. :/" What?! That's incredible. If more people were trying to get their licenses I bet the ACLU would fix that nonsensical bigotry and embarrass the FAA in court.

[flagged]

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#128

Post by godelski »

paulddraper wrote: post #117
grepfru_it wrote: post #73

Unpopular opinion but technically correct answer: you can fly any plane without a pilots license. In fact I just saw a Quora question with this exact question and the answer came from a 60 year old pilot that has been flying without a license for 30 years. If you never fly out of a major airport where an FAA inspector can ramp check you, who will ever find out? Please don’t do this.

I'm a private pilot. This is basically correct. If your airport is small and you never get in trouble with ATC or have an emergency situation, you will probably not get caught. However, if you do get caught, it is a criminal charge with (IIRC) up to $250,000 fine and 6 years prison time. Or worse, you overestimate your ability and die/kill people. I wouldn't take that risk. If you want to fly a lot, get a license. If…

> E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license

Not quite true. They just need you to be evaluated where you've been off medication for at least 90 days. But if you're on Adderall, you're shit out of luck. Which is pretty dumb since the medication resolves issues.

Other dumb things that will/can prevent you from getting your license: AIDS, diabetes, obesity (BMI >35), anemia, depression, gender dysphoria (they more recently updated for trans, but hormones or surgery can make it difficult), color blindness (not that impactful these days, and there are many types of color blindnesses), and many more.

Side note: I was working on my pilot's license before I went to grad school. No problems, despite a history of depression too. In grad school I got diagnosed and Adderall really made a big difference (even helping with my depression). So gotta make the choice of being able to fly or being able to do productive work which I'm passionate about. Private pilots are a dying breed, and the FAA is only doing things to accelerate this.

https://pilot-protection-services.aopa.org/news/2015/septemb...

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#129

Post by bagels »

pixelatedindex wrote: post #55
dylan604 wrote: post #52

When I was in elementary school (waaaay back in the 80s) I lived way out in BFE where there was a lot of undeveloped land around the school. One weekend, one of the students discovered a crashed ultralight in the fields surrounding the school, and then told his parents about it. There was an company a few miles from the school off of the highway that sold/rented ultralights, so the parents called them about it. Appar…

If I were a kid, I’d be livid to not get free flights. I always wanted to fly - I think the first time I ever got on a plane was in high school and I remember being glued to the window almost the whole time. Incidentally, I just learned about ultralights not needing a license last week and there are some really affordable ones for like 16K: http://www.uflyit.com/aerolite103main.htm There are more manufacturers here:…

Ultralights are one-seat by definition. I'm not sure most elementary school kids could handle actually flying one of those.

Re: What planes can you fly without a pilot’s license?

#130

Post by godelski »

sonicshadow wrote: post #127
chrisweekly wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "E.g. If you have been professionally diagnosed with ADHD, the FAA bans you from any pilot's license ever, even a student license. :/" What?! That's incredible. If more people were trying to get their licenses I bet the ACLU would fix that nonsensical bigotry and embarrass the FAA in court.

[flagged]

> that could impact their ability to fly.

This is the debatable part. I don't think people on their medications, properly dosed, would be impaired. It also depends how severe the issue is. The same is true for driving. All diseases are on some spectrum and having a binary classification doesn't account for the nuances of the situations. Just leave it up to the medical examiners, their licenses are already on the line.

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