IS IT BAD TIMING TO START MICROLIGHTING NOW(summer winds)

[mario.kruger]

Hi all,my name is Mario got my medical, radio licence,found a cheapy plane quicksilver mx II restore it got a ATF and landed at old PHILL in Bapsfontein like you okes call him that was end Oct. now its Feb. only have 5 hours in log book BECAUSE the weather is BAD always to windy for a single surf.. is it a "moeilike" time for students in summer

my hart brand om te vlieg..... wil graag hoor van manne wat leer vlieg het ,Hennie ek het gehoor jy't ook n quick gehad?

[SkyJunkie]

Hi Mario
Welcome to it ... and join the clan!
I signed up last year at Centurion with Flo Momberg. Despite not being a morning person AT ALL, I absolutely LOVE this sport and I have been up at 4 am more times than I can remember, dashed out to the hangar, done my pre-flights, suited up ............ and settled into a cup of coffee and a chat for 2 hours!
There are a number of us that share the same frustration, but we're heading to winter now and I'm assured the days are beautiful and calm. We'll get loads of hours in. (If we can face the cold!!!)

Hang in there. Fly safe.

[C205]

Hey Mario
I also fly a MXII and we have flown several hours in the past two weeks alone - not so far from you, in Witbank. Flew on Sunday in beautiful conditions without a bump (a little wind) when the rest of the local microlight fraternity were safely tucked up in their hangars.

Ask Henni about the MXII and strong wind We bought ours from him and he delivered it to us in quite an exciting flight last year.

I think the problem is chicken instructors that are scared of the wind!

[RudiGreyling]

Hi mario.kruger,

Don't wait, there is always an excuse, and every new pilot I talk to always feel they have learned to fly the worst time. Time is valuable, you cannot affor to loose the time and wait for better weather. Just GET in the AIR!!

Winter is cold again, and cold fronts every couple of days and, and, and....
Summer has fog in mornings and thermals and wind during the day, and and, and..

Bottom line is just get you MPL the soonest you can. We all remember standing eager to go for instruction and then the WX not playing along. Remember instruction in bad weather helps later on, you only want good WX for the first couple of hours so you know how to control the plane and how it reacts to your inputs, without external WX influence. Later you want the 'bad' stuff to learn to fly in it and correct the plane accordingly, with the comfort of a safety pilot, your instructor.

Regards
Rudi

[mario.kruger]

Thanks for all the posetive comments I am more than willing to fly,but it's my Phill.. that is holding me back,im still doing dual training,so cannot fly on my own.maybe tomorrow morning 4.00 ill get good news for a change.

[mario.kruger]

Nog n vraag? where can I get up to date weather 4:00 in the morning is there a sms service avalable?

[C205]

Mario
Yip my SMS service is called the instructor. BTW how are you enjoying the MXII? A docile, easy-to-fly machine, that 'waffles' into turns. Its a bit of a 'going-nowhere-slowly' machine that stays fun to fly. Just need to find some kind of electric starter that will fit.

There is never a 'good time' to start. Just hang in there, it'll all happen in time. The reward is those beautiful, quiet mornings when you can watch the sun come up 500ft above ground.
We've all had our share of 04:00 wake-up calls when nothing happens and a loooooong day lies ahead.

My son said to me the other day: "mom, I love it when you fly. You always get home in such a good mood, I get away with anything" - I think that sums it up.

[mario.kruger]

c205
I love the mx all I want to do is just be there in the sky.flying the plane feels quite strange because of all the rudder input jou have to be on it all the time otherwise you drift of the runway very easily..well that is my experience in the 4 hours..landing!!!!!! dont ask? always flair to quickly,practise it for hours on flight sim.but with the adrenilin pumping what a mess,one day I'LL get it and hopefully its stays forever.I'm very keen on learning an listening so pleese spit it out!!!!!!

[C205]

Mario, unfortunately don't have that much experience on the MX, went solo on a trike, still busy with a conversion. I think Henni is the person to give the advice, he has a couple of hundred hours on the Quicksilver.

Not sure how accurate our airspeed indicator is, we watch the RPM counter more. We climb at about 6500RPM, cruise at 5 500, then reduce power to about 3 500RPM on the final approach and round out. The MXII cruises at about 40MPH and stalls at about 27MPH which doesn't give you a big range. It survived a couple of 'crash landings' during training.
Landing any plane is a matter of practice, you have to get your eye in and get the feel of the plane. I remember battling on the trike as well - I took quite a few hours to learn to land.

Our MXII hardly needs any input from the stick flying straight and level when its trimmed right. Entry to the turn is interesting, but once an angle of bank is established, it seems to stay there. Do you fly with the spoilerons (pedals)? We have disconnected ours and I see our POH recommends initial training without them.
Taxiing is another scenario altogether, since the front wheel does not steer.

Finally, my partner in the MXII is a CPL with over a 1000hrs, including on the King Air, and he thoroughly enjoys the little plane.

Good luck with your training, just hang in there and remember the more often you fly, the quicker it all comes together.

[mario.kruger]

c205
I bought my mx in spares without wheels so I built my own steareble nose wheel that is connected to the rudder, spoilers are on the stick,I don't have any trimming devices.503 sc/se .Not much but it will keep me smiling for quite a while.

[Henni]

Hi Mario,

Only discovered your post now. I'm amazed to hear that Philip is hesitant to fly the MXII in less than perfect conditions. If I had an instructors rating, I would have helped all I could.

These type of microlights can certainly be flown in windy conditions, but you must have courage and faith in your flying abilities.

Biggest problem with crosswinds is the plenty of dihedral - the wind really gets in under the upwind wing easily. It's not a serious problem once you get used to it though. What will happen is you'll start your takeoff roll applying full spoileron and some rudder, but the moment the wheels lift, it will immediately weathercock right into the wind and you might end up flying 45 degrees to the runway, close to the ground in a split second only. Once again, no problem if you expect it.

Landings are made in the same way - crab at any required angle (sometimes 60 degrees or more to the runway) & straighten with rudder just before touchdown.

I have flown in conditions where brakes alone would not stop backwards movement as the wheels slipped on the ground. In these cases, the passenger had to get out and hang for life onto the upwind wing tip whilst manouvering on the ground.

What about trying to arrange for instruction very, very early in the mornings like at daybreak - mostly very good for microlight flying for at least an hour or two. Good luck with the training and hope to see you solo soon.

Henni

[old no 7]

Hi Mario,
I'm also a newbie doing GPL out of FABB (brakpan)
I'm also constantly looking to the skies waiting for a break in the clouds.
I find the following site quite useful:
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/68363.html

Good luck with the flying.

[C205]

Henie talking about training on the MXII, how does the plane stall? Would like to go out and try a stall or two in the next flight? According to the book its quite predictable with a pre-stall shudder. Does it tend to drop a wing?
Thanks
J

[Henni]

Hi J,

It all depends how you enter the stall. When I was much younger and more brave, I used to do snap stalls for fun and then the wings drop very significantly. However, they drop evenly without rolling to any side.

However, if you enter gently into the stall, you'll notice nothing apart from loss of altitude. This happens mostly if you land too slow and more up elevator does not help with the flare.

With that much dihedral, wing drops are not very likely. However, because you are by now used to use the rudder for ailerons (even moving the stick from side to side for rudder control), you are very unlikely to agrivate the stall & wing drop by trying to get out of it as you will be using the rudder which is the proper way to do it. (Others have to concentrate to NOT use the ailerons in this situation - you dont!)

Best is to get plenty of altitude and enter into a few stalls very gently - you'll soon get the feel for it and it's nice to have been there! Please note, I'm no instructor and if your instructor teaches you different, you HAVE to go with what he says, PERIOD!

I would not recommend this, but I've even read long ago that if the aircraft should end up in the inverted state, because of the dihedral, it will upright itself eventually, even without you doing anying. They are really docile and safe aircraft to fly.

Happy to hear you are coming along and enjoying the MXII!
Henni

[Henni]

J,

To put your mind at ease I'll repeat this true story on this forum once again.

Back in the early eighties, I purchased a MXI. I had 1.5 hours total flying instruction in my life, done long before this on a Cessna 172.

After taxying a few times from a field on my plot, I got into the air inadvertantly. With not enough space to land, I kept everything as still as possible until I had some height.

At about 1000ft above ground, I could only remember my instructor drilling stalls into me and I wanted to practice stalls. Pulled the nose up to about 30 degrees under full power, and then cut the power completely.

The next thing I was staring at the ground with nothing between me and it. I could not help but let go of all controls and grabbing a pipe on each side of me (as if that would help to break my fall )

I sat, frozen in this position for at least three minutes or so. In this time, the aicraft leveled from the 90 degree dive by itself and after a few oscillations was flying straight and level, even with me still clinging to a pipe on each side.

So, go out and practice your stalls, Don't attempt full power stalls at first. Best is to cut the power and then very slowly pull back on the stick.

Hope the above ease up on you uneasiness about the situation.

Regards,
Henni