eastmeg2

Hi Slarti, A low hour trike pilot friend (though with hundreds of hours previously with a HPL in R22's) was looking to get a RV12 kit and yesterday I showed him the Morgan Aeroworks website. He showed a lot of interest in the all metal Sierra-100 Cheeta optioned with the 100hp Rotax-912s. Removable wings for road transport was one requirement, do you know if the all metal Sierra-100 has that option and whether many Cheetas have been built with Rotax's rather than Jabiru engines? Cheers, Glen

Hi Rod, Great to see you on the forum. I still fondly remember when I flew my trike to Cooloola Cove in Sept 2004 and your kind and friendly hospitality back then. And I chatted with you at Natfly 2008 ( or 2009 - I forget ). I hope we'll see you at Temora at Easter. Kev, I took Rod for a fly in the Airborne Edge-X 582 Classic I had back in 2004 and I remember that Rod enjoyed it very much. Cheers, Glen

Although I've no formal 3-axis experience it's quite apparent that 3-axis requires a different approach to landing in difficult conditions than Weightshift trikes do. I'm just not sure that trike landing techniques should be discussed in this thread as the original question was clearly about 3-axis, so throwing weightshift techniques into the mix will probably just add confusion. But, I will list the obvious differences of weightshift trikes: 1. No vertical or horizontal stabiliser to get blown sideways/up/down during the landing roll. 2. Wing that can adjust Angle of Attack independently of the undercarriage. Can quickly change to zero or even slightly negative angle of attack upon touchdown. 3. Very strong undercarriage, including the nosewheel. Have heard 6g landing capability mentioned, for the Airborne trikes I'm familiar with at least. Not that I intend to test it. Cheers, Glen

Not to mention the "Fly-Market" where various 2nd hand bits are for sale each year. Last year I bought a Powermate Regulator there for $75 and they're about $250 new. It now lives on a single seater trike and is working well. That's just an example of the various aircraft bits that can be found there each year for both Ultralight and GA.:thumb_up: Cheers, Glen

Hi David, I've found that in really difficult conditions it's best to fly the trike down to the threshold and then fly along the strip just a couple of feet off the ground with sufficient speed to maintain control for the conditions, until a moment is found when the trike base stabilises and then put the wheels on the ground, dragging the tails wheels first to straighten up before landing the nose wheel if there's still significant yaw. However, in low-wind conditions and at big and open airports I still enjoy the stall-on technique. Cheers, Glen

What type of trike will be used? I didn't see any mention or pictures on the link provided.

The CFI I learned with was always adamant that the best way to land was to stall it on in any conditions and my scariest moment of flying was trying to land using the stall-on approach with reversing crosswinds and rotor. Ever since then I've used the "fly it onto the runway" technique if there's any wind particularly at small dirt strips surrounded by trees as it provides the extra control needed to counteract rotor and turbulence.

Hi David, Being weightshift control and having no control surfaces it's quite different from 3-axis, oh and the control is reversed compared to the stick/yoke inputs you would make in a 3-axis aircraft. Crosswind landings are done by dragging the rear wheels along the runway first to straighten the trike before letting the front wheel touch down. Flying one of these at 35kts you get a 40m turn radius with a 45 degree bank, making the 5,000m visibility required for VMC seem like a lot more than you actually need for one of these. The maximum allowable 60 degree angle of bank would likely produce turn radii less than 20m, like turning on a dime. Cheers, Glen

It's an Airborne Redback trike. It just goes to show how quickly you can change direction when you're flying that slow.

Hi Sue, Welcome on board. I'll side with you on the tricycle versus taildragger as long you you leave the yoke out of it.:thumb_up: Cheers, Glen

I've just bought this unbranded cheapie on eBay and hoping it will be delivered today so I can catch up with Slarti to have it converted this weekend. 4.3 CAR GPS Bluetooth FM Voice Navigate 4GB OZ seller - eBay, GPS, Electronics. (end time 15-Dec-09 20:13:47 AEDST) It seems to be pretty good vale for money at less than $130 including postage, but the proof will be in the "pud"ding, so to speak. Will post some more here when we see how it turns out. Cheers, Glen

Just finished my 2nd logbook and about to start the 3rd. Am beginning to wonder where #1 got to . . .

To look at calling a Trike a Powered Hang Glider from a cost point of view, almost 20% of the cost is in the wing which resembles a HG and over 80% of the cost is in the trike base unit containg the engine, cockpit and undercarriage. To mark the description I'd give 10% for the wing (half of the 20% applicable to the wing since HG's are half the weight and price of a trike wing and you'd have to be twice the weight and run twice as fast to use one as a HG). And I'd give 2/5 of the 80% for the base unit = 32% as the cost ratio of the power. Cheers, Glen:clown::pc strikes back:

I was sorely tempted to say something about the seating arrangement in a trike and an instructor who told me he once took a Miss Jennifer H:faint: for a fly, but I couldn't.

Having a reasonably good understanding of both modulation techniques, its like they existing in different dimensions from one another so an FM receiver shouldn't be able to make anything of an AM transmission because the frequency is constant, ie the frequency is not modulated and likewise an AM receiver normally wouldn't make anything of an FM transmission because the Amplitude of the signal is not modulated - only the frequency is. But, I've been around long enough to know that unexpected things can happen to create a result, so I called on the brains trust who has worked in microwave radio communications (40 years) including satellite traffic analysis and optimisation for over 30 years.:gerg: Apparently an AM receiver can make something of an FM transmission via a phenomenon called "slope detection" (Nothing to do with race), but there's no way for an FM receiver to make anything of an AM transmission which is what our friends here claimed to be doing. So my previous response is supported.:ilmostro: Cheers, Glen

Sounds mighty good. Am heading to KI late March and would be very interested to know of any Fly-In Vinyards/Wineries where we could stock up without having to get a cab.

Nope. RAA was supposed to be getting 600kg in lieu of 760kg and without having to register as LSA for that MTOW. Am yet to see any confirmation of that coming into force, or when it will.

I'm curious about the MTOW of the J170 as some parts of the Jabiru website say it's 540kg for kit built and 600kg for factory built. Is that really the case? Or does it have something to do with the introduction of the increasing of MTOW from 544kg to 600kg by CASA/RAA and has that happened yet. Rather confusing.

Thanks Guys, It really is a fun machine. It's able to fly circuits completely within the bounds of our 100 acres (400m x 1000m), unlike the XT. I've fitted a landing light and the old battery from my Honda road motorcycle. It could no longer start the 900cc bike but still has plenty to run a Landing light, GPS & Radio on the trike. I still have to work out how to mount the GPS and radio properly as I'm still carrying the radio in my top pocket, connected to my headset, though I've got ideas to mount it on the dash panel. The GPS will probably have to be something slim I can slide into my knee board. I've also fitted the side-saddle bags that Airborne make for the Redback & Outback trikes which are a tidy fit under the sides of the seat frame to give about 10 litres of baggage space on each side, which is very handy for taking drinks, snacks and tie-down kits etc along for the ride. I took the Buzzard for its first "Cross Country" on Sunday, if you could call it that since it was only 20Nm each way it's not technically an XC flight, but it was 40 minutes each way. The 1.5 hrs of engine time for the round trip only seemed to use 15 litres of fuel which is good for a 503 which now has only 7 hrs on the clock. Will try to get some updated photo's soon. Cheers, Glen

I've seen the base unit of that trike in the hangar at Yarrawonga and I can confirm it has a blue top 582. From recollection of looking at the importer's web site a few years back it was priced around the $30k mark. Can't say anything more about it as I haven't seen the wing at all. Rgds, Glen

Hi Ray, Having a passenger does tend to add about 2 litres per hour to fuel consumption. The speed you intend to fly at has a much larger effect. Assuming you intend to fly at the usual 56kts you should get 10L/hr solo and 12L/hr with a passenger. Those fat tyres might add 0.1 L/hr too. In the extremes, I've had 8L/hr flying solo at 43kts in company of Wizard winged Edge-X's close to sea level and I've had 14 to 15 L/hr flying 2 up at 65kts at 5000ft. Cheers, Glen

Nearly thought that was my old trike for a moment, but the yellow X (versus blue) and the oil injection bottle say it's not.

Here here . . . the path to future freedoms requires paying homage and kissing it.

Living in Sydney I can tell you that I won't be retiring here either, in fact I might altogether give NSW the flick 'cause it's such a Nanny State that every time someone complains about someone else doing something they make a new law = erosion of freedoms in a Police state in the end. Sydney has only one Recreational airport in the South-West extremity, if you could call it part of Sydney:baldy:, whereas Melbourne and Brisbane have several each:thumb_up:. I stay here for the job and Relo's though my other half has her eyes on Brissy. Cheers, Glen

I hesitate to read to much into it at this early stage as the HG, PG & Nano news is all about comps and gatherings, for which there have been none affiliated with HGFA, AFAIK. What I would like to see is whether the HGFA affiliated annual trike gatherings held at Wangaratta / Benalla continue to exclude RAA trikes for reasons put by the HGFA. Maybe the new (old) GM will address that.