I've been kicking around this idea with Chilbert and others:
Could Ultralites serve as a postal service, EMS, or possible air force in the event of a zombie holocaust?
Anybody have any experience with these?
My light research so far has revealed:
Positives
1. They sip gas (could run on ethanol).
2. They're fairly cheap; and are often made of common materials.
3. Flight instruction is as short as 20 hours (?)
4. They fly slow and have short take-off and landing... sometimes as short as 100 feet.
Negatives
1. Sure look flimsy.
2. Strictly for daylight/good weather.
3. Good allocation of resources? Maybe not.
4. Availability? I don't know how many of these things are made.
Before I get too far along, this might require some government cooperation/intervention (maybe even an airdrop of one). But one could imagine that even a small fleet of these buggers could do a lot of good between widely dispersed survivor groups.
I'm just thinking that larger planes are going to require more av-gas, more repairs, and much more technical skill to fly. Helicopters (I think) require even more technical skill to operate?
Hypothetical situations:
A. "the country doctor" 10 survivor camps spread over 100 miles. Roving swarms of undead. One camp has a doctor. Fly him to other camps?
B. "air mail" Same spread-out camps. Somebody has a broken ----. Some other camp has the tool to fix it.
C. "Red Baron" In a coordinated air-ground offensive zed are lured into a draw, canyon, trap, where either the ground force or the Ultra-Light can drop explosives/incendiaries onto the massed undead (away from the camps). Verrrry old school... pretty much talking about dropping hand bombs a la WWI, out the window.
Any other ideas?
I messed with Texas. |
I actually was planing to build some a couple of years back. and if you go with the ones that look like gliders I think it would be best.
http://ultralight-airplanes.info/images/microlight-airplane.jpg
There are also some Helicopter like this one.
http://www.vortechonline.com/g1/grfx/grnd-air.jpg
There are plans to build your own, that are relatively cheap, but the materials will cost (lots of pipe).
Downside is not everyone can use them they are strict weight requirements, I believe for most of them you cant be over 200Lb. and it take some rather good skill to fly them.
But if trained and the resources are there it should be good thing to have I would think.
Ultralites are restricted by law so they can only carry 5 gallons of gase (this is in the US) this gives them a very short range. This mean that if landing site one is not an option you might not have enough gas to make it to landing site two. They can't fly in bad weather. If the engine stops your dead, this means that using old fuel or improvised fuel is very dangerous. I don't think that you would want to entrust your only doctors life to one. As for bombing I don't think they could carry enough to make a difference. I think that you would be better served to use the fuel that you would put into the ultralite to make some more bombs. A mail service might be possible but then again why would you waste a precious substance like gas on a luxury like mail. I think that they would be good for things like warning the other camp that you are under attack or that you have spotted a hord of zombies aproaching. They would be great for reconasance. You would be able to spat a horde from miles away and possibly give a few days warning to a camp.
Have a nice day!
I like knives.
I'm a cat! MEOW
Im sorry but I would rather use the Ultralight for mail ad reconicence instead of saveing the gas for explosives. and for the fuel tank you can put a bigger one on there im shure that the FCC and FAA wont mind once Z-day happens...
Will you hold me back? If need be I will leave you behind...
I was pointing out that neither would be a good option. As for putting a bigger gas tank on, I'm not so sure that would be a good idea. These craft are designed to carry a specific weight. If you start adding extra weight onto the craft in the form of fuel you may take away some of the alread laking reliabilaty. You would have a harder time taking off and manuvering, and you couldn't carry as much. And once again if your modifications caused the engine to stop while you where in the air then you would be pretty much dead. And after Zday there would be no weather service so you may run into an unexpected storm. I think that a small sea plane would be a better option. Then you could actually carry some mail. You would also be able to ferry passengers from one camp to another. Instead of bringing a doctor with limited medical suplies to the patient you cold bring the sick patient to the doctor who has ALL of his medical suplies.
Have a nice day!
I like knives.
I'm a cat! MEOW
Ditto. Heh. Sure beats sending someone by horse or bike. No telling how much mail is still going to be lost though. If you thought the USPS [United States Postal Service] was bad just wait until you start using the USAZAPS [United States After Zombie Apocalypse Postal Service].
What would be wrong with mail after Z-Day. Especially if an oil refinery [or two] were brought back into working order or never went off line to begin with.
Well if you had refineries then you would need to still be pumping oil. If you have all of the the resources for this then it would be a better idea to use a small plane and not an ultralite because they are much safer and can carry more.
Have a nice day!
I like knives.
I'm a cat! MEOW
If that's the case why even waste your time with mail? Just air drop a stupid radio, it would be a little safer and alot smarter than flying a plane in.
oh it'll get you somewhere, it'll get you bait
I'll do a general reply:
I noted that the Ultralites are limited to 5 to 10 gallon gas tanks. However, their overall load capacity would allow for some jerry-rigging. Even at 5 gallons the flight range is about 180 miles. That's a lot of zed ground you didn't have to deal with.
As for refineries... there is aviation grade ethanol. Will have to look for the link. If somebody succeeds in building the fortress/farm, you could produce fly-worthy juice with corn/fruit and a still. http://www.age85.org/
I'm not saying they're wouldn't be crashes from a catastrophic engine failure or two, user error, etc. But air mail (whatever is mailed) I think sure beats ground mail.
But still, does anybody know the availability of these buggers? Are there prime locations for Ultralites (like factories or favorite destinations)?
I messed with Texas.
I like the mail and radio ideas. Why not both? Communication is just too important not to have re-establish it in some way.
"They drew first blood not me..." (Stallone in Rambo: First Blood)
