One of the main attractions of flying ultralights is they are low-cost, compared to flying their bigger cousins. And so it would seem that lower-cost ultralight friendly Christmas gifts would be possible. I’ve perused some of the more popular sites that all ultralight pilots should already know about, and come up with a list of possible gifts. I picked them out based not just on price, but also for their usefulness.
This is by no means an all-inclusive list, and you may have a bigger budget, so I encourage you to look at tools and training materials… you can never have too much of either of those!
Under $11: Forever Plotter
Under $30: Flight timer
Under $11: Gleim Flight Computer
Under $30: Light Weight Wheel Chocks (get 2)
Under $11: USUA Visor
Under $30: Understanding The Sky (book)
Under $11: EAA Logbook
Under $30: E-LSA Conversion Kit
Under $11: Pocket calipers
Under $30: Economy Safety wire twister
Under $11: Safety wire
Under $30: Mr. Funnel
Items that are always useful to the UL pilot: LED lights on a headband, or just about any good, small and bright LED flashlight; 5 or 6 gallon gas cans; basic tools, as well as electrical tool kits. Remember to “think light and small!� There’s usually not a lot of room in an ultralight, so small and light is very important.
You can also give an EAA or USUA membership, and select one of the magazines they offer. And if you’ve never seen your pilot with an “aviation map� (called a sectional), buy them one!
If you have a lot of money to spend, then every UL pilot should have an aviation GPS, like the AirMap 600c or Garmin 196. Even a low cost GPS — such as the Airmap 100 (and I flew an ultralight from Minnesota to Houston with one of these) — is better than none.
Happy Christmas shopping!