There's no reason why we can't do this.

[Badland-F5 Pilot]

Tandem flight has been allowed in powered paragliding now since September 19th, 2018. Through the driving support of the USPPA, the FAA granted two person powered paragliding, both foot and two seat trikes/quads to carry a passenger. This is strictly for introduction training for those interested in powered paragliding. This exemption (9751e) isn't much different than the original exemption for ultralight airplanes that existed until January 31st, 2010. The demise of the exemption almost killed ultralight airplanes. The FAA's supposed plan was to have ultralight airplanes with two seats transition to E-LSA (experimental light sport aircraft). This became very burdensome and expensive in a sport that prior to the exemption was very inexpensive. More accurately is that some instructors were handing out certificates for two-seat ultralight airplanes like candy, to people who had no intention of instructing in ultralight airplane flight. Another type of thinking is that the FAA wanted to kill ultralight airplanes all together in favor of light sport aircraft. There are some other theories as well, but many are a bit far-fetched. Personally, I do believe that the FAA was trying to eliminate the ultralight airplane category and pilots. At the time, ultralight pilots were sort of the red-headed step-child for the FAA, not necessarily hated, but certainly not appreciated. This also seems to be a bit of the attitude today, though many commercial pilots are discovering that flying ultralight airplanes is very enjoyable, and does take skill.

Determining how Exemption 9751e has affected the growth and popularity of powered paragliding isn't easy to determine. Identically to ultralight airplanes, the FAA keeps no record of how many people are flying PPG. The best estimates set the current number of PPG pilots in the US at between 7,000 and 10,000. The past is even more difficult to estimate, but before the Exception 9751e was approved, the best numbers are that between 4,000 to 5,000 PPG pilots existed in the US. It is impossible to determine how much effect YouTube video's increased the number of pilots compared to the ability for instructors to use two seat PPG rigs. However, thinking about this, YouTube was created in 2005, so it's obvious that YT had an impact of some sort, but how long after 2005 did it take for PPG video's to show up on YT? Add in, once 2018 came around, a lot of those videos included tandem PPG flights! In my opinion, yes YT did increase the number of PPG pilots, but showing tandem PPG flight is what caused the large growth, doubling in from 2018 to 2025.

So why can't ultralight airplanes fall into Exception 9751e? The only reason I have heard, and it's hardly a reason, is that the FAA granted the PPG community the exemption because PPG aircraft fly slower than ultralight airplanes. Considering that both aircraft are not allowed to fly over densely populated areas, this seems to be a very poor reason for denying the exemption. Also, considering that anything that the FAA doesn't like is crushed under the reasoning of "public safety is our first concern" by the FAA, it would seem to me to be a lot safer to have tandem instruction, just like PPG's now enjoy.

So what does the PPG community have that the ultralight airplane community doesn't? Simply, they have an organization that is strong and fights to make PPG flight safe, enjoyable, and most of all accessible through excellent training. The United States Powered Paraglider Association didn't just offer support of the exemption, they authored the request, wrote the justification, and pushed until they received approval. Do you see where I'm going with this? There are several large ultralight airplane organizations, but they don't seem to be working together to improve ultralight airplane conditions of operation. I'm not sure exactly what they are doing. I've been hit up by numerous organizations to pay their annual fee, but I'm wondering, where is this money going? What is the money being used for? The two largest groups are the EAA and the USUA. I've seen or heard nothing from the USUA. I was told they were fairly strong many many years ago, almost went under, and now are making a slow comeback. I check their website from time to time, but have seen nothing change there in years. The other large organization is the EAA. I have seen some improvement in coverage for ultralight pilots in their Sport Aviation magazine. However, the board of directors has run good people off the board because the majority do little to nothing for UL's, to the point where it's easy to believe they also want ultralight aircraft to fade into history.

So, what do we do? I'm not sure, but I've spoken with several people who have been involved in flying (all types of aircraft) who do have some good ideas. Ideas that would help prevent the fiasco that helped to kill two-seat ultralight airplanes in the first place. I would love to see dual seated ultralight aircraft to make a comeback, and like PPG, not be burdened by the cost of making an ultralight airplane a certified airplane.

Simply, why can't we have the same training opportunity that PPG has? The video below is excellent in explaining the legality that PPG instructors are required to follow for their dual flights. This appears to be an exceptional model, and all that's needed is for an organization that says they support ultralights to actually do so.



What do you think?

Todd