Though I am a pilot, I have never had the opportunity to fly in a trike. We did that on Saturday, and it was fun. Like riding a motorcycle in the air. My daughter went first. Then I went. About 45 minutes each ride. Very smooth and calm, and it felt "safer" than I thought it would.
Now if the engine failed, would you be in control enough to glide to a landing? Or just drop due to the weight?
Nothing changes on the flying part... you just can't go up anymore. If you're over an open field, or your airstrip, no big deal. In fact, it's a very good idea to practice engine off landings in any type of ultralight (reduces sweating). It's actually a lot of fun. Glad you and your daughter had good flights bushpilot
Looks like fun! My mother worked for Cessna when I was growing up and she was small aircraft pilot (I helped her study for the tests for new planes that she wanted to get certified for). I got to fly with her on a regular basis so got to enjoy the small craft experience .
My first reaction was Not I! but then after looking at it, I realize that it isn't much different than a Cessna 150 in size and probably power. I just don't like the openness of the "cockpit". We flew our Cessna 150 across the Rockies to the prairies and back and up and down the coast for a few years. Didn't bother us back then but I wonder if it would now. I prefer not to fly in a small plane again as we will be wanting to sell everything and buy back into it again. AA - Aircraft Anonymous. A very additive hobby.
Open cockpit isn't much different than closed once you get off the ground. Got to be a passenger in an old wood biplane that was doing aerobatics. Don't really remember the openness being an issue. Course that was 40+ years ago when I was a teenager too.
Probably not. It really wasn't a big deal, and I am scared to climb ladders. Engine out would have been a non-event, we could have easily landed safely. Always keep open options.
The open cockpit was not a big deal. As you said, in size and power, about the same as a 150. In performance, this ate the 150 for lunch
Both Campinspecter and I have height issues when it comes to roofing and ladders but flying is a whole different thing. I think it is because you are in a car like cabin and the reassuring throbbing of the engine. We have had a few heart stopping mini-seconds when the engine missed a beat. Not a lot of open fields or highways around here to land on.
Many years ago I took a cheap introductory flight in a 2-seater ultralight, which was basically a couple of lawn chairs hung under a fabric wing, with a big motor on the back. There was this tiny little improvised airstrip out among corn fields, where these guys were trying to sell plane kits and lessons out of an old barn. I got the better part of an hour of ground school, and then a good long time in the air because the weather was bad and they didn't have any other customers waiting. The thing I found most surprising was how deafeningly loud it was; even though we were sitting right next to each other the instructor and I wouldn't have been able to speak without the headsets we were wearing. I doubt they're still in business, but it was great fun. More recently, not long before I left Ohio, I got a ride in a small but fully enclosed experimental plane built by a neighbor in his garage. We looped around town looking at landmarks, and cruised out over Lake Erie for a while. That was also great fun, and further confirmed my impression that flying is a really cool hobby -- one that I might've taken up myself if circumstances had been different.
Yup... most ULs were way too loud... the prop and 2 stroke combo makes a lot of noise. Looks like the trike in the pic had a Rotax 912 four stroke, which is a lot quieter and far more dependable.
That is what it had, and the noise wasn't that bad. It had a reduction drive as well, which brought the prop tips down to a reasonable speed, which makes a huge difference as well.
It sure does. Many of the early ULs had tips going faster than the speed of sound and you could hardly stand being within 50' feet of them, much less flying them. That 80 hp 912 engine is pretty amazing. It's 100 hp and 115 hp turbo big brothers are even more impressive. The Rotax 115 turbo is the engine used on the US Predator drones. I'm sure you had fun with the climb rate of the trike. Be careful... as Woodwidow said, it's addicting.
bushpilot, glad you enjoyed it. I had considered purchasing one of those a few years back. I could have lots of fun in one of those.
