Do I push or do I pull

Errol · Postby **Errol** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:51 pm

Had my first trike flight on Sunday, as an ex blik arrie driver mainly cessnas I found that the trke was flying me and not vica versa in other words i should have pushed when I pulled and pulled when I pushed. I was assured this was normal however.....

Does it get easier and if under pressureis the a chance of reverting to pulling to climb with embarassing consequences

I know I am not the first to experience this but is is hard to teach an old dog new tricks

Wargames · Postby **Wargames** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:53 pm

Hi Errol,

Stop seeing as a push or pull, but rather decide what you want you angle of attack to be. After a while it will become 2nd nature. Just keep it up, and you will never have so much fun in your life.

Regards,

Errol · Postby **Errol** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:58 pm

Thanks Wargames I know I will have loads of fun and am looking forward to next flight I suppose it does take a bit of getting use

to

Hak · Postby **Hak** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:47 pm

U will get the hang of it goodluck

Mogas · Postby **Mogas** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:13 pm

Its very hard to reset the "dip switches" once you have 3 axis behind you, and very common to take longer to solo than a brand new student would.
For what its worth, after 300 odd ppl blik fixed wing hours I took 12

hours to solo on the trike, this after soloing on the R22 in 10 hours.
One of the things I found most strange was nothing happening when I moved my feet in the air.
Something that helped me a bit with roll on the trike was to steer my car with my hands on the bottom half of the steering wheel.
Your'e not alone, just take your time and you'll find it just seems to click one day.
Mogas

RV4ker (RIP) · Postby **RV4ker (RIP)** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:40 pm

I can still hear my instructor swearing under his breath every time I use the RYDAAR feet and prepare to "flair" I saw foto's of it afterwards but he sat with his hands permanently just off the bars to prevent the FLAIR....

Took many many moons and then I let it lapse so now have to find a new destructor, since I doubt my old ones heart could handle it all over again

They land so short (which also threw me plenty) so take you time in flair and feel it down slowly and remember to try touch down with wheel facing the direction of flight and not to compensate for the drift with the feet

Enjoy

JCH · Postby **JCH** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:49 pm

I also came from the PPL side and it felt like I was never going to get this under the belt.
My instructor told me that it would take at least 4 hours to get the 3-axis out of my head. I think it took longer...

He insisted on doing low flying over the mielies on the road to Delmas to get me to concentrate and understand the concept of keeping up the speed below 100ft agl and get the hang of the directional control.

It also took me over 12 hours to go solo and I would not have been confortable before then.
Be patient and it will eventually come naturally without thinking which is Up Down Left and Right.

As long as you come to realise that microlighters are the most passionate aviators out there.
We do not fly because we have to get from A to B or... get paid to fly from A to B but... we fly because we still appreciate that we can and enjoy it!

Safe Flying

Errol · Postby **Errol** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:40 am

Thanks guys

I had'nt thought about correcting for drift before flairing out

maybe thats why these airies can land so short or is why mircolight runways are sooo wiiide !!!

bryan · Postby **bryan** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:58 am

Hi
Firstly .....STOP trying to fly the trike and fly the wing. You are only along for the ride and the wing is doing the flying.

Secondly... When +/- 1metre off the deck stop trying to land and try to continue flying without using power, the trike WILL land .

Thirdly....Relax and enjoy every moment I kid you not this is great fun, sometimes really scary and you WILL learn every time you fly,

Regards
Bryan Erasmus
ZU BFR

Bugwar · Postby **Bugwar** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 8:08 am

Did it the other way round. Started on trikes and converted to fixed wing later. Felt like an idiot because I could not taxi the plane propperly for about an hour. My instructor kept on saying: "Right is right and left is left."

And then there was the time when he said "full power" and I stepped on the right rudder

Brian Young gave me some good advice: when you get into the trike do not think flying, think AQUILLA/RAPTOR/??? flying.

Good luck, it will come to you.

topflight · Postby **topflight** » Fri Mar 26, 2010 8:06 am

And then there was the time when he said "full power" and I stepped on the right rudder

I wonder what the instructor thought of that....if it was me I would have probably started crying with laughter (but I am surely it was no time for jokes)

Dobbs · Postby **Dobbs** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 12:58 pm

Cato guys had more than a couple of laughs on me when converting from trike to 3 axis(Bushbaby) - the first couple of times before engine start, I would look back and shout clear prop

John Young · Postby **John Young** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 3:54 pm

Dobbs wrote:Cato guys had more than a couple of laughs on me when converting from trike to 3 axis(Bushbaby) - the first couple of times before engine start, I would look back and shout clear prop

Hi Donovan,

I remember that day like yesterday.

Why we laughed 'till we nearly broke something important was the 4 shut downs and climb outs to get the tail dragger manually / physically pointed in the right direction.

Now 1000 hours later and being a very competent and current pilot we can laugh.

Regards
John ZU-sEXY