Microlighters

Ask Morne at Morningstar - he had a similar experience. I can't remember what the solution was.

Does your trike have shocks on the rear suspension? CLU-less had a problem when he would take off and fly and suddenly there would be this thud. His shock was compressed from being on the ground. On take off it was sticky and stayed up until eventually vibration shook it loose and it would uncompress. He finally found this by watching a video recorded from his wingtip.

Gadget had a problem as well. Now I am not a trike pilot so bear with me. He says on the kingpost there are two plastic hooks. When the plane is on the ground the sail sometimes gets hooked onto one of these. After takeoff you do a turn and with the turn you get a "billow-shift" (have no idea what this is). If it is in the right direction the sail moves slightly and comes loose, giving that noise. He says this is caused if the spreader cables not tight enough

I have had similar, the safety cable was trapped..

He also mentioned he has an additional safety rope and that got trapped causing this sort of problem

I have them too.

Have several theories!

1. Had batton ropes thru the prop! Shortened the inner ones.
2. Pax feet "fall" off the footrests and hit the crossbar
3. Hangpoint shift
4. Real prop strike
4. The shock theory is new!

I had it on the ground last week sunday and while flying with Big D. Will monitor it.

Had the same experience on my previous trike. Then all by chance i actually saw what happened. Was defenitely the suspension that released after a while. Gives you n skrik though!

Also check the wires that tension the wing, as they run along side the tube, and sometimes get caught in a turn, then when you level out, they "snap" back into place. not ideal though, they should be on the top of the keel tube, and free to slide when you turn.
(this is on a aquilla, might be different on another set up)

WEll glad to hear the prob is sorted out.. :D :D i was taught, you rather ask or you might never be able to ask again...

Hi Folk.

A problem which occurs on rough strips (which it seems you have), and with the aquilla I wing is that while taxing, one of the spreader bar tensioning wires gets caught under the head of the 12.9 Cap Screw Jesus bolt. Dunno how this happens, but it does.

Now, if you take off without first checking this last little matter of importance, then you get a lekka 'skrik' anytime from just after take-off till about 10seconds later, when all of a sudden, you feel the wing shudder through the base bar (you actually feel it through your poep-hol as well), and this godforsaken 'sail klap' sound (just like you described).

This has happened to just about everyone I know around here.

So, just before you apply power for take-off run, look up to the Jesus bolt, and make sure the spreader bar cables are where they belong

Later,

David

Had the same and it was the wing sail hooking on the plastic hooks at the kingpost

Regards

Jan

Dubai

Yes it's very shocking when you are flying along and bang. I fly an Aerotrike Spirit 11 and as Morph mentioned I actually mounted my camera on the strut next to the left rear wheel and was able to determine that it was the rear wheel banging down. I tried all sorts of lubricants but it still persisted. The shocks on the Aerotrike consist of an aluminium tube that have a spring and nylon piston that give the shock absorbing action. After stripping the shocks i found that the nylon piston was very difficult to remove from the alumimium tube. It appears that due to the spring being very strong and the continious compression action of the piston against the spring causes the nylon to become compacted to the point that it starts to expand and stick in the aluminium tube. I am aware that nylon absorbs moisture an possibly this does not help the situation.
Hope this helps.
CLU-less