Buying an ultralight claimed to be legal

Will the ultralight aircraft you're shopping for be legal to fly? Many sellers are presenting inaccurate or outdated information about these planes not requiring FAA registration or pilot licenses to fly. It is not illegal for them to sell craft which cannot be flown legally, it will be illegal to operate these craft in the air and the pilot will bear sole responsibility for this. There is a critical Jan 31st, 2008 deadline for starting paperwork for converting many of these craft to a legal status and many buyers are mistakenly believing "N-numbered" or "N-number applied for" means the craft is registered and will be legal, which is untrue. Unfortunately the market (including okay) is seeing a flood of these unregistered craft as it begees apparent that
it may be difficult to impossible to make them legal and sellers are not being honest about the problems.For definitive information, Google "DAR Sport Pilot" and find one to call. Right now. DAR=Designated Airworthiness Representative, someone officially recognized by the FAA to inspect. They're cool and will take time to explain things but CANNOT do things not spelled out in the regs, not even if you've got a real sad story or slip them $50.Is it really an "ultralight"?If an "ultralight" has 2 seats, over 5 gal of fuel, or weighs over 254 lbs, it is NOT a legal ultralight. In the past there was an exemption for two-seat trainers to be flown legally but this expired forever on Jan 31st, 2008 and will no longer be applicable. The FAA introduced an alternative program called Sport Pilot several years ago which includes these 2-seat "trainers" as well as "fat" ultralights which are too heavy or carry too much fuel. MOST "ultralights" are too heavy.Does it need to be FAA registered? What's this about a deadline?You MUST transition this type of non-ultralight craft by getting an N-number and file the Application for Airworthiness with the FAA by Jan 31st, 2008, then get an Airworthiness Inspection and thus it begees a certified "ELSA" craft. If the Application made the deadline, it's possible for the buyer to get the Airworthiness Inspection on his own. If this craft is not registered/Applied for by this deadline, it begees very problematic to fly it legally in US airspace (more on this later). You will need to be sure it is going to pass inspection in terms of maintenance and some very specific legally required labels before the inspection, and plan on about $300 for the initial Airworthiness Inspection. YOU DO NOT NEED TO FLY THE CRAFT as part of the inspection.My seller says "N-numbered" or "N-number applied for", are we ok?Not necessarily. Assuming he didn't try to file as an ELSA after the deadline (pointless), this could mean one of several things:1) It's got a usable ELSA N-number, but you still need to get the Initial Airworthiness done.2) It's got a 51% Experimental Amateur Built airworthiness- this is "different" to work with.3) It's got an Experimental Exhibition airworthiness- this may be ok or it may be problematic to operate under. There are limitations on where it can fly from. There are 4 subgroups of ExExhib and the certificates work differently for different groups.4) It could be classified as any of these three, BUT all 3 need Annual Inspections so it may already need a new annual inspection. Who can do this inspection changes depending on the classification of craft.ALWAYS know what classification of aircraft you're buying, and research what ramifications this will have. Any of the 3 possible categories can be operated by someone with a Sport Pilot license provided it meets the basic limitations of a Light Sport Aircraft (all ultralight-type craft generally do, but look up the checklist, go through it, talk to a DAR).ALWAYS look up the N-number with the FAA. Sellers have actually have pictures "sample" (fake!) N-numbers before that don't have anything to do with the craft they have. This will give certificate type, legal owner, and status of Airworthiness:http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_inquiry.aspIs is true I don't need a license?If it were a true ultralight, technically yes but it would be foolish to simply try to fly it without a number of hours of formal training. People have tried to teach themselves, very high likelihood of crashing the first day, sometimes they do takeoff and land ok, then within a month or two they end up in power lines or crash because no one told them about say rotors downwind of ground obstacles; things you NEED to know. Only a licensed instructor can give you instruction in a 2-seater for pay. Anyone can give you ground instruction or instruct you for free but free, uncertified "instruction" is often sort of like when your uncle who never had anything but a gasoline Ford and swears he can fix any car hears your diesel Jetta is broken and wants to gee over and fix it for you. It's not going to end well.If it is not a legal ultralight as described above, it will need to be a Sport Pilot plane and you will need a Sport Pilot license to operate it legally. Getting a Sport Pilot license is easier than getting a normal pilot's license. You do NOT need to get this license prior to getting your new plane N-numbered and getting its Airworthiness inspection; they do not ask to see you fly the craft. There is no deadline involved in getting your Sport Pilot license. What if they don't have N-number/Airworthiness Application dated before the deadline?The deadline was just that- a deadline. There is no chance that anyone will "cut you a break" if you have a reasonable excuse for not having it geplete, in fact, there is no way the paperwork would be accepted by the FAA even if they promised to file the Airworthiness Certificate for you.Some people say you can use the "Experimental Exhibition" category to fly it, and you can certainly get this certificate, but there are liabilities: they would most likely give you Group IV and for the most part that Group can only takeoff and land in only ONE location. You must file paperwork with the FAA for operating it anywhere else. There may be difficulties finding someone willing to provide the required annual inspection since the normal Sport Pilot inspectors cannot legally provide an inspection for this classification. There are a limited number of DARs authorized to issue Experimental Exhibition certificates.If this craft has an N-number, BE SURE that you have all the necessary paperwork from the seller to legally declare yourself the Registered Owner of that craft with that N-number. Otherwise, it's impossible for you to get it inspected. And, you don't own it.