Looking straight down from 2000 feet

I was visiting Williamsburg, VA this week for work-related activities but got to take a break from the computer screen for a while when my friend John invited me to ride in his trike.


We went up a bit before sunset and cruised around the city watching soccer games and baseball practice from 2000' above.

When you ride in the trike you are out in the 65 kt wind so we bundled up with gloves and coats. I was plenty warm wearing all the gear John found for me, even with the temps falling toward 40 degrees or so.

Here's a photo of the view from the trike. With little cockpit to speak of (at least in terms of a typical aircraft) you can look in any direction you like without having your vision blocked by a bunch of sheet metal - including straight down! It's easy to imagine you are flying around on your own wings.


That crank in the image can be used as a trim for the aircraft. The prop and engine are mounted in the back, in a pusher configuration, so you have to be very careful to not let anything blow out of the cockpit, like a glove or camera - it would be heading straight into the prop.

And here's John's glass cockpit setup - complete with a PFD and MFD - this man knows good avionics!


I may not be able to claim it as PIC time, but I'm putting that 0.7 hours in my logbook none-the-less!

Comments

Callsign Echo said…
That thing is BIZARRE...was my first thought. But after a closer look I think it looks really cool. I'd love to have just a little bit less airplane between me and the sky. Great blog, btw! I love the pics of experiementals and unusual a/c.
May 11, 2009 at 3:46 PM
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