Lior

My ride today is a taildragger BushCat. Took me a bit of time to learn to handle it and manage its speed after flying Drifters for five years or so. It's a great cruiser and with VGs it's STOLly enough to give me peace of mind in short strips. So all in all I'm very happy with it!

I managed to clock some time in a local Savannah VG with dual sticks, and my impression compared to the split central stick is that the added mechanical linkages make the dual stick a lot stiffer and more tiring to fly than with the default arrangement. That said, on final approach I was using the rudder pedals more than the stick to align with the runway.

Hi, folks. It appears that this saga has come to a successful conclusion. At the behest / insistence of my syndicate, the Israel Sport Aviation Association and other pilots, Israel's CAA conceded that the flight manual used by a flying school here for Drifter 582s would be good enough to be the official flight manual, once a test pilot verified the data. So I took a CAA test pilot for a whiz a few weeks ago. He loved the Drifter flying experience and later approved the manual. So this means that our Drifter will pass its CofA inspection and its co-owners can get their licenses on it. Life rocks! Lockwood sent material that turned out to be an assembly manual, somewhat updated from the Maxair days. It had a flight chapter, but this was very short and lacked essential data. Thanks everyone for your attention and kind words.

Hi, thanks for asking. I have corresponded with Lockwood. They said that they had posted a manual to me three weeks ago (they accept PayPal these days). I'm still waiting for it. Will update the good folks here should things change for the better anytime soon.

Serial number is LA104. We tried submitting the A582 manual as a surrogate, but alas the airframes digress too much.

Based on inquiries made by my syndicate members, it seems that Maxair never manufactured any 582 powered Drifters and all thus powered aircraft in Israel are retrofits. This means that I have an aircraft that has never had an official POH written for it. This means that unless our CAA changes its mind, my syndicate members cannot take a written test on type familiarity and the plane will fail its next C of A.

How would I get in touch with this source? My Drifter is offline on account of a broken tailwheel spring too.

Dear Sirs, I have friends who need a printed manual for the Maxair Drifter 582 (not Austflight, not Lockwood Super Drifter) in order to be licensed to fly this aircraft. Such is bureaucracy. Does anyone know how to get one or know someone who knows how to get one, and if so can they share this info? This is somewhat a stab in the dark, but any information would be welcome. Thanks, Lior.

Transitioning from an ultralight to a glider is great fun, just for the sake of being up there with a nice view rather than flying from place to place with any schedule. I took gliding lessons last year in a Grob Twin, and when the conditions are good, you feel that you can stay up for hours. It's nice to encounter pieces of straw at 4000 feet when the thermals are really powerful! I hope to continue gliding later on once personal circs permit. Compared to owning an ultralight, being a member of a gliding club means less money spent on financing, but more hours spent on the ground to get others aloft, and more time to be with others who are like you. The logistics of cramming those sailplanes into the club hangar can be daunting at times!

Had flaperons on my Zenair 701. Lots of aileron authority for little deflection and the wing wouldn't stall even after the pitot and rudder had no authority left. That said, there are lots of variables for our little planes and I don't know how rigging a Drifter for a pair would work. A slightly lower stall speed would be nice but not essential. A wire braced Drifter has enough drag to land easily in any field you can safely take off from.

The Israel Air Force Museum can help answer your question. It's got 100+ planes outside in the desert all year round. The only thing left of the Mossie there is its Merlins.

Should have written first cousin once removed. IIRC newer Thrusters tend to be of the domesticated, tricycle landing gear variety, but we digress. Soloing with the Jet Fox was a trip - 100 HP carrying 390 kg of pilot and kite.

This was the specimen I learned to fly in: Hebrew nose art reads: Omni Horizon Flying School

Congrats on your experience. 20 kts would be fine for a first solo if there were no gusts or cross winds. I'll remember my first solo for time eternal: there was hardly any wind blowing down the runway. The runway of the strip was only 200 metres long so I had to go around twice before my first landing and subsequent dowsing by instructor and ground crew. The aircraft was a Jet Fox 97, a docile but sexy Italian plane that looks like the Thruster's long lost beautiful sister.

Dear folks, In order to extend my Drifter's range without resorting to thermals, I am trying to study the feasibility of carrying an empty fuel can with just 2% volume of oil in it so as not to affect weight + CG while taking a passenger (i.e. rear seat with a human occupant - no room for fuel can). Would the Alaskan Bushwheel Liquid Containment Bag be stowable anywhere on a Drifter without severe weathering? It measures 21.5*24" Currently my baggage arrangements are confined to a Maxpedition Operator bag suspended behind the front seat, without any ventral bins or anything like that. This bag gives me sufficient clearance from the rear control stick. So how would you blokes (am not sure if the term cobbers is used) recommend carrying an empty 20l can for filling up at opportune fuel stations on this cute little aircraft?

Thanks for the info - gives everyone the idea of sail delivery lead time.

People hereabouts still buy new Drifters because - well I don't need to tell you guys. Despite the existence of near-supersonic ultralights, there's something fun about flying a Drifter. Mine's got 1,500 airframe hours and 485 on its 582 - a new short block is waiting. Dazz, hope you are having fun at Boonah with your spartan aerial steed.

When I took flying lessons, helmets were mandatory on Ultralights. I ended up getting a pair of light plastic Mil-Force helmets for my first plane, the Zenair 701 on the left. Ripped out half the lining to leave room for some headsets. Most of the guys flying in enclosed cockpits did not use them. A few years later they relaxed the regulations and left helmets compulsory for open cockpits only. I quit using Mil-Force helmets as soon as I could and have not looked back. I put lots of faith in shoulder harnesses. Then again touch wood it has never been necessary. These days I fly a drifter with Flycom lids between my thinktank and the elements. Besides ballistic cranial protection, masking the microphones from any ambient noise is a huge plus on Flycoms - using them is actually fun.

Me and my 1994 vintage Drifter. After I bought two new Flycom Helmets costing about the same as the airframe, I started taking passengers. Inverted 582 visible in this shot. Intercom is not connected to the electrical system. Rear passenger has an instrument panel. Two 30 liter plastic fuel tanks with mirror on right main gear strut. Engine shutdown switch under front rear seatbelt anchor. Its austere instrument panel. Compass was bought from Ebay for $2.50 including shipment. The For/Steer table reads: For 090 Steer 270 and so on. One of my lady friends with whom I shared a flight.

We have about 400 active pilots sharing about half that number of microlight/ultralight aircraft hereabouts. I'd love to fly Down Under at some stage in my life, although I'm guessing that in Oz one is more likely to run out of fuel more quickly than aeronautical ideas compared to here.

Spot on, Sir Head. This picture was taken during a fly-in circa 2009. It's a Mecca of sorts for pilots wanting some interesting logbook entries and is frequently visited on weekends. People often stay overnight in the Bedouin encampent there before ascending Massada at dawn. . This shot of Massada was taken at 5:45 a.m., after my son and I got up an hour after the hikers who slept next to us. Israel is on the west side of the Dead Sea. After lingering for a few more minutes we were greeted by this sunrise. Altitude here is about zero feet ASL.

Steve, you're a tad off with the ALT. Look at the 10K hand.

My turn to play. Should be easy for you aviators, even without any external visual references:

Well my current engine has 15 hours of life left in it before I replace the short block. Prop here is a three bladed Warp Drive as we don't have the right way up Austflight engine mounts here. The idea of a trim tab is appealing, even of the ground adjustable variety. While I agree that there are great many variables involving power plant, even the Austflight manual does not have a drag / speed plot. That said, I'm not sure if best range speed and best glide speed (49 kts per the Austflight manual) are the same.

Thanks for the welcomes, folks. Some videos from a former owner of my plane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSwCkESX8Qo