Trike Flying Rush

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• Experiencing flight with a great trike pilot, Lucian Bartosik.
   
  

 

 

 

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• Watch Now!
   
  

 

 

 

 

[eastmeg2]

It's an Airborne Redback trike. It just goes to show how quickly you can change direction when you're flying that slow.

 

 

[Tomo]

I have to say they do look like a lot of fun!

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Hi David,

 

Being weightshift control and having no control surfaces it's quite different from 3-axis, oh and the control is reversed compared to the stick/yoke inputs you would make in a 3-axis aircraft.

 

Crosswind landings are done by dragging the rear wheels along the runway first to straighten the trike before letting the front wheel touch down.

 

Flying one of these at 35kts you get a 40m turn radius with a 45 degree bank, making the 5,000m visibility required for VMC seem like a lot more than you actually need for one of these.

 

The maximum allowable 60 degree angle of bank would likely produce turn radii less than 20m, like turning on a dime.

 

Cheers,

 

Glen

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

Just to add a little more to Glen's explanation - the "flight principles" are the same Ie increasing AoA still decreases speed & lowering left wing rolls the aircraft left etc. The control input to achieve these effects is reversed compared to a 3-axis though and yaw is achieved by the cunning design of the wing.

 

Whilst the cross-wind landing technique might sound limited compared to 3-axis control, the POH max x-wind component is typically 12kts which is comparable to a lot of smaller 3-axis types.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

And at the lower end of the speed possibilities for these aircraft the "rollout length" is small enough that for a lot of strips an offset of up to 45 degrees on the strip is fully possible before running out of tarmac, that is, touch down on one side of the strip and track for the otherside. In doing so you can usually minimise the crosswind component. While the POH does list a significant cross wind capability I get a bit twitchy using it if the cross wind is gusty as these aircraft arent that heavy. the more into wind you land and the strong that wind is, the shorter the rollout will be.

 

To put that in context, once at Gawler, due to an unexpected 582 engine failure, I landed down wind across 05, about 15kts of tailwind, fast because I was a bit too high on turning final (and yes it was!) and pulled up in the weat field to the side. rollout length around 65m for the faster streak wing.

 

....have I mentioned that I hate 2 strokes....

 

Andy

 

 

[skeptic36]

Here's some footage of a pilot in action ;)

 

 

Regards Bill

 

 

[bones]

Just got to ask why so high, man this is gyro heaven if ever i saw it.

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

I have always been a 3 Axis boy and I understand the weight shift opposite control concept. I am sure it would become 2nd nature when you get in to fly one just like going from a car to a motorbike...you don't think about clutch brake and accelerator differences you just do them instinctively.

Good analogy & you are absolutely correct. Plenty of people fly both types without any problem but you do need to do enough hours for both types to become instinctive. Get proper training & remember that you are still a novice with 20 trike hours even if you have 1000's of 3-axis hours.

 

With these high performance double surface wings you guys now have, what is the stall speed and how slow can you go safely in say 45 degree bank turn low to the ground, Can you trim them and fly hands off?

Like any plane design you don't get something for nothing & the high performance wings lose some of the low speed capability - typically they have level stall speeds of 35kt at 450kg MTOW = 42kt at 45deg. Trikes don't really spin as such but how much above this speed is safe at low level is really asking more about the pilots brain vs b&lls ration I guess

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

They were 90 degree angle of bank turns in that pylon race. Obviously only would be able to be maintained for a flick turn I would think evidenced by the noticeable nose drop. Pretty impressive in terms of maneuverability though. What speed would he have been entering the turn and what speed would he maintain in the turn?

The pylons are 600m apart so I guess the entry speed at close to 100kt - that particular trike has a Vne of 104kt.

 

The footage came from the world air games & like any international competition the boundaries are pushed as far as possible to win. Chris & Robbie are members of the British team & are hugely experienced - not everyone who has tried to imitate the event has had such a good outcome.

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

[Tracktop]

See Mcguiver ( forum member) at Somersby, nice and close to you

 

 

[drifter_driver]

I will second Ray’s opinion about Mcgiuver. He is a top instructor and uses new 912 powered trikes for training.

 

I got my ticket(weightshift) from him last year