One of the funnest things to do when flying an ultralight is flying just above the ground. We're talking about 6 inches to a few feet here! There are quite a few areas near Oakdale airport to do this. The best places are not just a flat even pasture, even though they are some of the safest. The absolutely best places are those that have little hills and knolls all over so you can fly in between and over these. These hills are generally no more than 20 or 30 feet high. High enough that if you and a buddy are flying together, and each of you go around the hills on each side, you will lose sight of each other! There is nothing quite like this kind of flying, and nothing that makes you really feel like you are flying. Your viewpoint is that of 3 to 10 feet off the ground, and you are moving along at an airspeed of 45 to 50MPH. One thing you don't want this close to the ground is to be close to stall speed! If it is a windy day (20MPH winds) your groundspeed is still near 30, so it's much faster than running.

What really takes practice and experience, is knowing how much of a hill you can fly up without losing so much airspeed that you stall before you reach the top. Usually a new flyer will not get themselves in a position of trouble, being quite cautious at first. Once you know your plane and yourself, though, the fun really begins! You can fly in and around the land, climbing, then diving, staying very close to the ground.

My friends and I enjoy this type of flying, and we do it every chance we get, even during cross-countrys we'll take a little diversion to the surface! There is not a lot of trees here in the Central Valley, other than orchards, so there is much opportunity to fly low. If you ever get a chance to fly in an ultralight, ask the instructor about low-level flying. They'll probably have as much fun as you!