First time in a microlight
K and I went out to the airplane today to work on a few things. I wanted to add some air to the tires and put some petroleum on the primer in the hopes of making it move a little easier. K wanted to start work on some of the pockets that have not aged well. She removed one of the interior panels (held on by about 3 screws) and started looking into the best way to fix it. I also grabbed the GPS data card so that I can update it tomorrow.
As we were leaving the airport one of the co-owners of 35388, John, gave me a call. He was coming out to the airport to fly his microlight trike and was looking for a passenger to join him - I think I said yes almost before he could ask. K and I turned back toward the airport and before long John was pulling the trike out of the hangar. We donned helmets (that had cut-outs for headsets too) and cranked up the engine. We taxied out and soon we were off the runway climbing at what seemed like a really nice rate.
The throttle is operated by a gas pedal at your right foot. The control surface is adjusted by moving a horizontal control rod left/right or front/back. You move it backward to pitch down so that part is a little different than a control yoke. Taxiing was interesting in that your right foot steers to the left and the left foot steers right.
Riding in a trike gives an entirely different perspective on aviation. I described it to K as the "aviation equivalent of a motorcycle times 1000". With no significant cockpit to block the view you can see straight down to the ground, just past your feet. In fact, my feet were hanging off the sides for much of the trip - just dangling in the breeze. It would make a great camera platform on calm days but we were going up as the sun was starting to set so the light level was low (and all the recent thick haze we'd had was still in the air).
We flew over John's house, then my house, then some local grass strips, then over some marsh land, then up the Chickahominy river over a few crew boats, then over to a local RC airport before heading back to JGG for a touch and go and then a full stop (John made nice landings both times - with my feet still hanging out). Over the marsh land we were spooking birds out of the vegetation and watching a few blue herons leave their fishing holes.
It was flat-out amazing - a trike must be about as close as humans can get to natural flight.
As we were leaving the airport one of the co-owners of 35388, John, gave me a call. He was coming out to the airport to fly his microlight trike and was looking for a passenger to join him - I think I said yes almost before he could ask. K and I turned back toward the airport and before long John was pulling the trike out of the hangar. We donned helmets (that had cut-outs for headsets too) and cranked up the engine. We taxied out and soon we were off the runway climbing at what seemed like a really nice rate.
The throttle is operated by a gas pedal at your right foot. The control surface is adjusted by moving a horizontal control rod left/right or front/back. You move it backward to pitch down so that part is a little different than a control yoke. Taxiing was interesting in that your right foot steers to the left and the left foot steers right.
Riding in a trike gives an entirely different perspective on aviation. I described it to K as the "aviation equivalent of a motorcycle times 1000". With no significant cockpit to block the view you can see straight down to the ground, just past your feet. In fact, my feet were hanging off the sides for much of the trip - just dangling in the breeze. It would make a great camera platform on calm days but we were going up as the sun was starting to set so the light level was low (and all the recent thick haze we'd had was still in the air).
We flew over John's house, then my house, then some local grass strips, then over some marsh land, then up the Chickahominy river over a few crew boats, then over to a local RC airport before heading back to JGG for a touch and go and then a full stop (John made nice landings both times - with my feet still hanging out). Over the marsh land we were spooking birds out of the vegetation and watching a few blue herons leave their fishing holes.
It was flat-out amazing - a trike must be about as close as humans can get to natural flight.
Comments