Upgrading and Edge X Classic with Tundra undercarriage

[Bluey]

Has anyone ever upgraded their edge X or similar from the standard undercarriage to the tundra and is there anyone out there who flies a wizard winged tundra equiped trike. I would love to hear of your experiences as I am seriously thinking of upgrading my undercarriage to the tundra. Airborne say the configuration is not certified, however they sell a kit that is quite easy to install provided you cut a larger hole in the base of the pod to take the larger forks. Also has anyone landed a trike on a beach before? I do alot of flying over beaches and often the only place to land is the beach if an engine failure were to occur. Hence the desire for the tundra tyres. I hear that landing on most beaches on the standard undercarriage is very risky ie the rollover trick is easy to do

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Hi Bluey,

 

It's hard to understand how Airborne can say the Tundra undercarriage on an Edge X is uncertified, when that it exactly what the Edge X Outback is, which they're probably hoping you will buy.

 

I have seen Edge X Classics retro-fitted with Tundra undercarriage in the past and dont mind saying they look pretty good. As for beach landings with the standard undercarriage, it can be done with care and avoiding the soft bits if you have any choice. However I do know a trike pilot who had his 582 fail in his Edge X classic Streak wing at 500ft over the beach at high tide, so only the soft sand was available. With the standard undercarriage he estimated his landing roll touching down at 45kts to be just 20 metres, no brakes. Much to his credit he kept it upright.

 

In addition to that I've also seen heavier XT-912's with standard undercarriage landing on a beach, but at low tide on well compacted sand.

 

Cheers,

 

Glen

 

 

[John Raison]

beachlanding

 

g.day Bluey , I fly an xt912 classic and do a lot of flying over beaches on the gold

 

coast ,we do a lot of beach landings and because of that i run only 7-8 lb of air in the front yyre [recommend is 15] our home strip is crusher dust so slightly lower pressure seems ok,The main trick is try to hold the front wheel up as long as you can ,in other words dont land heavy,also try to land in the hard sand,I often carry old golf balls and drop them from 50ft to see how hard the sand is,if landing in the wet hard sand watch out for incomming waves they can be sneeky and catch you out:thumb_up:

 

Cheers and safe flying John:

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Hi John,

 

That's a good idea with the golf balls.

 

Bluey,

 

Something John probably should have mentioned is that if you're ever going to fly with only 7 or 8 psi of air in your standard front tyre, don't ever jam on the brakes or the tyre may roll off the rim and roll your trike over.

 

Cheers,

 

Glen

 

 

[Kev]

Bluey,

 

as Eastmeg2 states, there are Edge X Classics out there that have been retro-fitted with tundra kits. The bad news is that if you are HGFA, this would be a major modification (not sure about R.A.Aus), and unless you can get Airborne to authorise it (in writing) it will be illegal, and will fail it's Airworthiness Inspection come registration time.

 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's best that you know before you spend your hard-earned cash.

 

Safe flying

 

Kev

 

 

[Bluey]

Registration

 

Hi all:

 

Thanks for all your replies so far they have been very informative.

 

In regards to registration, it wont be a problem since you do the inspection yourself and just sign it off. This is done every 5 years. While it may be an illegal modification, it will make the trike safer provided that it has been done properly.

 

Regards: Bluey

 

 

[John Raison]

tire pressure

 

Hi all ,Glen is right about slamming on the brakes,you have to be carefull ,lucky for me my home strip is very long and i dont need to use much brake,if i,m not flying near the beach ie. inland i pump up the front tyre only takes a few seconds with a good bike pump

 

Cheers and safe flying John

 

 

[Kev]

Bluey

 

Good News :thumb_up:

 

Airborne Australia will soon be issuing an Approval for these Tundra kits on Edge-X trikes for everyone who has already installed this mod. I believe they will be contacting owners directly. It will be sent out together with installation instructions and drawings.

 

It is in progress at the moment and a statement will be appearing in the Soaring Magazine shortly for HGFA members.

 

Safe flying

 

Kev

 

 

[Bluey]

That's great news. Now we don't have to keep it a secret from the HGFA.

 

Regards: Bluey

 

 

[Bluey]

By the way, my instructor and I did the mod about a month ago. It was quite an ordeal to complete. I don't recomend it to anyone with an edge X unless they are really serious about it. Many little details including removing and re - attaching bolts in some instances took an hour or more because of the reduced clearance from the new forks etc. The finished product was in the end well worth it in my opinion. However, the instructor swore that the next person who asks for his help will have to do it on their own.

 

Another issue was the cost involved. Airborne charge a little over $2000 for the parts. The main ones are the new front forks, a wheel rim with drum brake and three tyres and one tube (for the front). How they can justify the $2000+ asking price is beyond me.

 

Bluey.

 

 

[aaron roberts]

Does anyone know if Airborne are going to issue an Approval for these Tundra kits on Edge-X trikes?

 

 

[Kev]

Aaron,

 

Yes, Airborne are issuing an Approval on a one to one basis for this modification.

 

Contact Ricky Duncan and request the Approval.

 

Safe flying.

 

Kev

 

 

[alf jessup]

G,day Bluey,

 

In regards to has anyone ever landed on the beach before the answer is yes plenty,

 

Plenty have been successful and 2 that I know of personally have been very unsuccessful as 1 was in last months soaring magazine.

 

How do I know this I was the one 4500ft above him heading towards Wilsons Promotory for a supposed lesiurley 2 hr flight which turned into a 8 hr + recovery after he went up attempting a beach landing in his 912 tourer.

 

Oh don't worry the other one down our was was a 582 outback tundra and he went the same way.

 

$3000+ later in repairs for both of the boys toys was enough for them to finally not do it again.

 

Both these flyers have landed on the same stretches of beaches many a time on previously hard pact sand with success and come out unscathed but it only took the one time and in an instant to turn ugly.

 

Me personally I don't think the feel good factor is worth that much money and embarrasment let alone all that salt and salt spray wanting to chew into the airframe and components.

 

Yeah it might look cool to all the chicks and ya mates when you plonk her on the beach and get out and give the tyres a kick but when it goes pear shaped it don't look that good.

 

Yep by all means if the donk quits sure put her down as it is the best option rather than into the trees.

 

Your beaches may differ to ours down here with the shifting sands but just be wary that it can turn ugly very quickly.

 

Cheers

 

Alf

 

 

[Kev]

Good one Alf - it says it all.

 

Safe flying

 

Kev

 

 

[alf jessup]

Kev,

 

Thats my view on it anyway, there will be plenty out who land on the beaches and have done so quite regulary and successfully and may continue to do is successfully and I wish them continued good luck but it only takes one bad one out of a 1000 landings to make it not worth while and that is my choice not to do so.

 

It's no different to pilots low flying or beating it up, it only takes one stuff up for it to all turn very ugly and even fatal.

 

We all I bet have taken a risk at some time when we have flown and got away with, some haven't as we see in the accident reports.

 

Me I am no fair weather flyer by any means with still and calm days the only days I fly I fly in varing conditions up to 15 to 20kts sometimes in my local area but over the years I have learnt the local weather and from what directions the winds are coming from and what the conditons may be like through trial and error & pleasure and panic on occasions.

 

Each to our own on what we do and I would never condone anyone for what risk they are prepared to take unless it was downright foolish and dangerous, I don't at all think it is foolish to land on a beach, me I am just not prepared to take that risk.

 

+ I don't like the idea of salt and sand finding it's way into the nooks and crannies.

 

Cheers

 

Alf

 

 

[Bluey]

crash landing on a beach

 

Hi Alf;

 

Just wondering what went wrong for the two who had the bad beach landing given that the tundra are designed to land on soft sand.

 

regards: Bluey.

 

 

[alf jessup]

Bluey,

 

From what I have been told by the induviduals concerned, the outback tundra pilot stated his forks collapsed because of a known crack in them which is total BS, he stuffed up and wasnt man enough to admit it was his fault (he no longer flies anymore these days and has sold up).

 

The second in which I was involved in said that when he noted the sand becoming soft he was below stall speed, he applied full power and had the bar out to the compression strut but the trike being a pusher configuration kept pushing the nose wheel deeper into the sand right up to to the bottom of the pod, it just kept on plowing until he realised it was no use continuing.

 

Little did he expect that when he came off full song at about 15mph that the trike would stop dead and tip up on the nose causing the wing to hit the ground and go "snap, crack and oh S#*t".

 

He fully accepted the consequences and outcome of what happened, he stuffed up and admitted it for others to learn from if they wish to learn.

 

Cheers

 

Alf

 

 

[Tracktop]

Bluey,for others to learn from if they wish to learn.

Cheers

 

Alf

And for that we are thankful and appreciative. :thumb_up: