Habu, it's different in the U.S.
To operate an ultralight all that is required as far as certification goes is a drivers license. FAR Part 103 basically lets airplanes that weigh less than 254 lbs empty and carry five gallons of fuel or less and is not capable of more than 55kts at FULL power in level flight with a stall speed of no more than 24 kts.
Obviously the definitions in Canada and the U.S. are different as none of the aircraft ccvi mentioned would be part 103 legal and thus would be labeled as "Expiremental".
In addition under 103.7 it says "Operators of ultralight vehicles are not required to meet any aeronautical knowledge, age, ore experience requirements to operate those vehicles or to have airman or medical certificates" So the mere fact you have to have at least some training in Canada means your sport is inherently safer than that in the U.S.
As far as my credentials right now im a certificated pilot in the U.S. with an additional 200-250 hours i would estimate since I was 12 and made my first flight in a powered parchute, with an instructor believe it or not. I never did look into becoming an ultralight instructor when i became of age mostly because we sold the powered chute and i hadn't kept a logbook. Time would be divided up between Powered Parachutes and two versions of the Quad City kit Challenger II and Challenger II Special, which is simply a slightly faster clipped wing version of the previous. A vast majority of the time was in the parawing, i'd say 170 hours, while i had a more accurate record of the Challenger since i paid by the hobbs-hour and that was closer to 55. As far as operating irresponsibly or unsafely? never in the parawing and only some minor hedge-hopping (if you would even call it that) in the Challenger. so 10 hours dual and was able to use the airplane solo.
Barring some unforseen event I've given up flying ultralights or homebuilts simply because I know too many names of people I used to know. In the last year and a half in fact two people from the AH squadron have had family members crash in homebuilts, as well as a neighbor was paralyzed in a crash involving landing gear failure of one of the mains and broke his back when the aircraft (loose definition) rolled.
ccvi...
I never said the landing gear looked not rugged enough, simply that the airplanes main landing gear were placed closely together and its more likely to roll if caught by a gust or is turned even a hair too sharply than intended. If you ask me though doing 150kts with aluminum tubing and stits around me...well i'll just say ill search elsewhere for my kicks.
If you DO want to get into it, you can purchase your own challenger II kit (i have no complaints about this airplane, well built and in its own right without being lopped into the "ultralight" can of worms) completed with good instrumentation and a BRS (Ballistic Recovery System) parachute for <$16,000 USD(2 place "trainer") and as little as $11,000 USD(part 103 legal) which can be assembled in less than 40 hours. I havent built one on my own but I did have a hand assembling one when it came to fitting control surfaces and that certainly wasnt difficult. Rental costs if you're lucky enough to have one around to rent or even borrow, will be less than $40/hr, and if you own one maintaining and if you so desire insuring one will be significantly less if you want to factor in fuel/oil only (it will run fine on regular auto gas) you're looking at 10 dollars or less an hour. Build a simple hangar in your yard if you're fortunate enough to have 500 feet of backyard and store it there, that will save you the trouble of needing to pay as much as 250-300/month on a hangar at an airport.
