Ultralight Working Group
The Ultralight Working Group is a part of the Transport Canada’s General Aviation Safety Program (GASP). It focuses on improving safety in ultralight aviation through collaboration and communication between stakeholders. The group’s activities include promoting a safety culture, developing educational materials, and sharing best practices.
Purpose:
The Ultralight Working Group aims to enhance safety within the ultralight aviation community in Canada through communication.
Membership:
The working group is composed of ultralight pilots who are passionate about aviation safety. Meetings are held online, generally quarterly. The community is represented by pilots flying all types of ultralights, ultralight flight schools, aircraft distributors, pilots associations as well as Transport Canada staff representing different components of the regulator as required by the topics under discussion.
Collaboration:
It’s a collaborative effort involving ultralight pilots, ultralight instructors, ultralight aircraft distributors and general aviation associations represented by: the Ultralight Pilots Association of Canada and the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, and Transport Canada.
Activities:
The group develops articles for the Aviation Safety Letter to promote safety best practices and a positive safety culture.
https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/publications/aviation-safety-letter
Published Best Practice guides:
Broader Scope:
While focused on ultralights, the group’s work can also benefit the broader general aviation community. Current activities in this area include:
MoGas: During the 5 June 2025 Ultralight Working Group held discussions on ethanol in Mogas. A Mogas STC is invalidated with ethanol-contaminated fuel. Unleaded gasoline without Mogas is only available in limited areas of the country currently, ref: Gasbuddy.com
Medical Issues: Transport Canada medical reviews have left the impression that they are looking for potential or future health problems (related to family history) rather than current condition and current fitness to fly. Once you get to a certain age pilots get flagged for further medical evaluations despite their CAME sign off on their medical.
Consultations:
Transport Canada has held consultations to gather input on how to optimize the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) for general aviation, including ultralights. Current initiatives under consultation include:
AULA Design Standards discussion: UPAC has requested a change in design standards for advanced ultralights. Using the AULA regulations that are already there without the need of creating a new category to harmonize and allow more aircraft to be sold and flown as AULAs. Manufacturers currently have to lower gross weight of certain aircraft for the Canadian market.
FTU Authorized Person: Difficulties in finding qualified authorized persons to sign student documents, with some Flight Training Units not willing to sign off on ultralight privileges. This topic is under review by Transport Canada staff.