alf jessup

Thanks Glen,

Guess all I have to do now is just wait for it to turn up, I ordered it 4 weeks ago and they said 4 to 6 weeks, I will give them a call later this week and get a heads up on it as I am out at work now until the 19th.

Thanks again for the info.

Regards

Alf:thumb_up:

Glen,

Thanks for the info on that, I am still waiting for the chute to arrive as yet and it will be intersting to see if I notice a difference in the control bar position once I have fitted it, did it alter the trim speed of the trike with the nose pointing higher in the air with the wind catching more of the pod??.

So you found by adding 3 kgs total to the nose it changed the position of the pod, I wonder what 2.5 kg would do to each side of the nose cone brackets and whether the brackets would support the extra weight.

Thanks

Alf:help:

Evening Bla82,

Well I guess it is up to the individual as to whether you decide to fit a chute or not, I have flown over 400hrs without a chute in a trike and have just now ordered one from Airborne for my trike to which I expect to arrive within a month or so.

I decided that I would purchase a chute even though I have complete faith in my aircraft as a few months back I had a close call with 5 ibis birds whilst coming out of a turn when flying around my area, one of them missed my leading edge spar by less than a foot as it dived down as that is what birds will always do.

I did not see these birds prior to commencing my turn and had no time to react once I saw them.

Basically I think my life is worth the $6000 as I have the potential to earn a lot more money than that for the rest of my working life and I atleast owe my family a lifestyle as I am the main provider, I also owe myself a second chance at life if something unforseen was to go wrong, yes maybe the chute may malfunction and not go off but if I was going down and never had one I wouldn't know would I and I would certainly face a bleak outcome.

I would probably kick myself on the way down for not having one and if I did have one and was still going down I bet I will be cussing BRS for it not opening but I will have tried.

There will be pro's and cons for having and not having one, I have decided on getting one and that is my choice.

I do not think I will ever have to open it in anger but if I have to I will have that opportunity and if it works and saves my butt it will have been be a good investment, if it doesn't well I most likely won't have to worry about it.

Basically where I fly has a lot of migratory birds and I am sure an ibis would almost certainly bring me down if it hit my wing spar at 60 kts, I have already hit an ibis before on my motorbike to which it smashed my screen and broke a mirror off not to mention hitting me in the shoulder, and yes it hurt.

Basically I am buying one for the unforseen and unexpected, I am not buying one because I don't have faith in my aircraft or my flying skills, I do not plan on flying any different than I have in the last 400 hrs and I hope I never have to pull that red handle.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Alf

Ross,

For an XT like Kens in that photo it would take less than a minute to drop the wing down and about the same to put it back up by the time you remove the pip pins and replace them ect .

My old edge x used to take about 2 mins max each way to lower and raise the wing.

As for other brands of trikes I cannnot coment on.

Cheers

Alf

G'Day Pipross,

Heard a few good reports on Icaro helmets from a few of my friends who also fly trikes, as for suits the cheapest way to go to get good protection from the cold is a freezer suit like they use in supermarket freezers, they are light in weight and not bulky and keep you quite warm in winter and not overly hot in the summer and they cost only around 150 aud.

I have had one for about 4 years and it works well and looks quite smart.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Alf

G'day Bluey,

My first trike was a edge x with a streak 1 wing with a 582 blue top, I weighed about 105 kgs when I had that. The manual stated that max pilot and passenger weight was 100kg per seat so I guess I was 5kgs over the recommended weight for the seat. I flew about 180 hrs in that machine and had no problems at all or with rate of climb 2 up but always made sure I never took anyone weighing over 100kgs in the rear seat.

As with any type of aircraft any additional weight will reduce your rate of climb but I had no problems most days 2 up of maintaining around 700 fpm climb under full noise unless it was a warm summers evening then I would lose a couple of hundred feet per minute but that is the norm for most aircraft anyways.

There are a few good second hand 582's around but I would look at something with as least hrs on it as possible as what price do you put on yourself, these days some people are getting up to 800+ on the blue tops before rebuilding them ( recommended by rotax for a new crank is 300hrs),

I guess when you look in the incidents in some mags you will see engine failures in some instances of 582's at under 200 hrs but any engine can fail at anytime even the 912's. basically with the 2 bangers you need to make sure the fuel lines, the carby intake rubbers are in good nick you filter your fuel with a mr funnel you change the spark plugs every 25 hrs even if they look good, also use a good brand of 2 stroke oil

, I used penrite TC 40 when I had mine but I don't think they make that anymore.

2 strokes work a darn sight harder than the 4 strokes but in reality they have far less moving parts than a 4 stroke so less things theroretically should go wrong, but they are critical with air leaks, egt's ect.

I ended up buying a 912 on the basis that would be wearing out the 582 as I average well over 100 hrs a year and the 912 has a TBO of 1500 hrs, the other advantages of the 912 is the fuel burn is about 5 lph less and the plugs only need changing every 200hrs and it flys 10 kts faster than my old one plus it has a range of almost 700 kms compared to 350 on the 2 stroke, I change the oil & filter on the 912 every 50 hrs as I think oil is cheap.

I guess it depends on how much you are willing to spend and what sort of flying you plan to do, mid you the 582 is still a capable touring aircraft as I flew a few good trips in mine minus a passenger as I carried 20 lts in the back seat.

Just make sure as with any aircraft you are looking at has a up to date log book and all the numbers add up, if it doesn't just walk away no matter what the seller tells you, you can get a fair idea of it's condition just by looking at it, also if you are too not sure get someone who is into trikes to go look at it with you, normally your instructor can do this for a small fee.

As you will be the one handing out your hard earned it pays to get the best your money can buy.

Hope this gives you a bit of insight.

Cheers

Alf

David,

Welcome aboard, your never to old for this stuff, it will keep you young at heart, go and enjoy as many hrs as you can as life is to short to be sitting on the ground.

Cheers

Alf

Pipross,

You may find by removing the 2 pip pins in the the compression strut and and pulling the control bar well forward that might just give the king post enough room to go in the barn as it will be atleast a 45 degree angle or more which should reduce the height considerably, pain in the butt but worth a try as it will be heaps quicker than laying the wing down.

Cheers

Alf

First XT 912 trike built by Airborne

If it was a model the tree it flew behind must have been a model too, I think it was the real thing, hope they got out of it ok.

:hittinghead:

Human Nature

We are all human, there are people out there with the won't happen to me or get there itis, or I have flown in these conditions before and made it, some of them also make it in the accident reports as we all know, some also make it home and do the same thing again and again as there number is not yet up. and there are the ones that have a healthy respect for breathing and access the conditions and make a sensible decision to stay on the ground.

One thing about being human is you don't know another persons next move is, I have worked as a safety officer offshore and investigated incidents where experienced people have done the job a thousand times over and done it right and the one time they changed the way they did it bit them on the butt.

I once heard a fair comment, if you had the choice to work with humans or tigers which would you do?, me I would take the tiger as it has only one thing on its mind, and that all it wants to do with me is eat me. So I only have too look out for that, people well what are they going to do next?? who knows.

cheers

Alf

John,

I think the accident you are talking about was just over a year ago, an aero commander enroute from essendon to shepparton carrying spares for another aero commander with 2 pob, broke up 37 nm from essendon.

you can find the report in the atsb site

www.atsb.gov.au got to aviation safety click on it got to accident and incident reports , you will find it on the lower half of page 3, the full investigation report is there to download.

hope this helps

Alf Jessup

Great job Motzartmerv,

You's followed the basic fundamentals of flight training, fly, fly and fly the aircraft first and foremost, i'd say it would have been easy to get distracted from the task of flying the aircraft with all that noise and not really knowing what the problem was, sounds like it was a good decision once enough height was gained to turn back and shut the engine down as things would have been getting warmer in the engine bay let alone the chance of some nasty fumes seeping into the cockpit.

Guess it is all in a days work for a 1000 hr raffy, you both probably didn't even break out into a sweat, maybe just raise the odd eyebrow.

Flying is full of surprises and each flight is different and a new experience.

I was 2 hrs into my microlight training and we had a engine failure at 300 feet a 1/2 mile past the threshold, my instrustor took over and landed safely in a paddock, it was probably one of the best experiences I could have had so early on into my training as it showed me that engines can and do fail without notice or warning and landings are not to be feared after such an event just good airmanship and decision making is required.

Cheers

Alf

G'day Glen,

Yep I remember you and I certainly remember the bad trailer experience, yeah I might try on doing a trip up your way in the near future, I just have to work out which way to go, costal or inland via Mt Beauty.

you getting much flying in these days??, I have only flown once this time home as it has been blowing it's butt off, I think I might get a few hrs in this weekend as it looks pretty good the forecast.

I hope to fly a bit this weekend as I have to go back to work on Tuesday for 2 weeks.

Cheers

Alf

Ross,

They are quite capable in crosswinds to 15 kts and more, you just have to remember when flying a trike to fly the wing and not worry where the base is pointing as the base will follow the wing anyway, they will crab like any other aircraft the only difference is you have no rudder to kick it straight but a dab on the control bar to the direction you want to go will soon straighten it up on landing.

I get into the habit of minamizing the crosswind component by angling my approach to the runway (right side to left ect) if I do not want to use the into the wind runways and my airport, you can pull up in under 100 metres in a trike so crosswinds dont give you too much trouble, you will find the more hrs you get the more comfortable you will feel flying them as when you first start you will feel every bump the air has to offer as they have quite a large wing for not alot of weight.

Cheers

Alf

G'day Ross,

Not much I can fault with flying trikes other than you will be more limited with the weather in a trike, I fly a XT 912 and limit myself to about 20 kts of wind on the ground as that is where they are the most vunerable.

I have flown in 50kt winds at altitude with no problems. as for safety sake I might sound a bit bias but it is very hard to get yourself into trouble in a trike as you cannot spin them, the stall is a mush and they stall basically at around 35kts ias at mauw depending on the wing. the only thing you have to be conscious about is the angle of departure in the event of a engine failure, steeper than 45 deg you run the risk of tumbling if you don't play your cards right, mind you 45 deg is pretty steep and there is no need to get near it as you would be climbing like the space shuttle.

I have got over 400 hrs in trikes so far and have had no near misses or frights of any kind, as like any type of flying you have to treat it with respect especially the weather. there will be pros and cons with it, if you like tootling along at 60 kts and enjoying the scenery by all means give it a go, if you like riding motorbikes definetly give it a go as it is almost the same but the view is better, no cars cut you off and corners are an optional extra. I have a airborne XT 912 which cruises at 60kts and has about 7 hrs endurance (far longer than my bladder) and is a quite capable touring machine if you don't mind the speed.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Alf

Thanks for the welcome Chris and for the invite to drop in oneday, I have done a few x/c trips in my trike and Bathurst would be a good one to do.

I will log your coordinates for future reference and let you know if and when I plan a visit.

Cheers

Alf

Hi all, I just landed on this site, I trained in fixed wing back in 86 but never completed my ticket due to the recession we had to have, got into flying trikes 4 years ago, have now over 400 hrs in the book and love every minute of it. I currently own & fly Airbornes first ever XT 912 built (001).

I work 2 weeks away offshore every month and fly as much as I can when I am home.

Looks like a pretty good site.

Cheers

Alf