Mike Trike

Amen to that! What's your surname sir?

Hi Laurie! Mike Coburn here! Just to refresh some memories. That might have lagged somewhat over the years I was signed off by the Vic/Tas Regional Office at least 6 Months prior to the above get together. I was checked out by the then Sport Aviation Inspector Major Mike Tonks who was very supportive and a great bloke. To achieve this I had many years of experience operating in the open at regular GA Airfields like Penfield, Riddels Creek and Tooradin. I only ever operated at airfields where it was safe! All the owners were terrific guys who were again very supportive of what was then a very new aviation form. Because of the multi year intransigence of local manufacturers who refused to move on legalising trikes I imported a UK section S microlight Pegasus Q and got the manufacturers to send their data package to DOA with a request to certify my aircraft and us! I got Pegasus Aviation to register the aircraft and it came to Australia complete with G registration numbers on the wing. But that wasn't my most important contribution. After operating in the Open & in considerable risk for many years, proving both the safety and suitability of these two seat weight shift aircraft for all kinds of users and especially as a two place classroom for foot launch hang gliding students I finally breathed a sigh of relief that I could finally get on my feet! Then the phone rang... One Chris Brandon congratulated me on getting legal and asked that I throw it away! His pitch was that the Federal office of DOA was willing to go with a centrally organised training & certification setup but I'd have to agree to toss my hard won certification in so the shown scheme could happen. So my conundrum was this: If I tell Chris to get stuffed (soundly commercial response) I would remain alone as the only HGFA CFI for trikes in Australia; If I go with Chris ( a man I didn't trust ) I would allow the wider uptake of trikes throughout Australia and the possibility that dual seat hang gliding instruction would gain ground via legal means. What would you do? Well, as you can see from the get together photographed above - I chose the latter! You can work through what my contribution to the sport was.

I miss Charles Ligetti! He had personality with a capital P. He used to fly the Stratos a lot round Riddells Creek and Penfield Sunbury. We had a lot in common. I was flying a very early 2 seat trike, the 2nd or 3rd made by Ricky Duncan of Airborne Windsports. It came over the fence at maybe 30 knots. And Charles had one of the quickest, if not THE quickest ultralights around. Both were white! His death was a massive loss to Australia. My only recall of the incident was a prototype with less dihedral - a bit quicker - testing the stall or stalling at a level too low for recovery. We tended to blame the department for such incidents because of the ridiculous regulations we had to fly with (or ignore) at the time - including height. (Not the fault of the real working people at DoA - just their dickhead masters) My apologies if I got the incident wrong. There was a lot of gossip about the safety of the aircraft, but, it flew fine on all the days and weeks we flew together. It's 2011 and I did a search for Charles Ligetti. Take that as a complement Charles! I'm sure you would have been popping ultralights into orbit by now, had your (and our) luck held.