Question - How to start one's trike flying career?

[Hotdog]

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking here for a while, and have done a lot of reading again as of late on microlighting. I fy a lot with PPL friends and have always been skeptical about garden variety aviation machines. One day, I saw the lines of an Aquilla trike, and then the itching and scratching started. I spoke to a friend who started on trikes, then migrated to a Jabiru, and now flies a lovely Cessna Cardinal. He referred me to Fanie Deysel at Skyriders, and I had an intro flight there. With my hair blown back I walked around with a smile for the entire day, and although I always thought I'd start flying doing my PPL, I am more inclined to doing my MPL on weight-shift trikes.

There is a wealth of information on our local forums, but would like to ask a few questions and would appreciate your input.

Say one has done one's MPL on a trike at a flying school, what normally happens after this? I would prefer having my own trike of course, but might not be the case for a while. Are there trikes available for hire & fly? Are there certain hire & fly benefits associated belonging to say club? How does hangarage and these things normally work? I have seen hangars where they get stacked in like sardines, and appears to have some First In - Last Out approach, which could really take a lot of time to get one's trike out, prepped and pre-flighting to catch the early worm.

How often do second hand trikes become available? Is it beneficial to enter into shared ownership with someone else?

And then without starting a debate, how does the Solo-Wings trikes compare with the Aerotrike stable?

Thanks

Fred

[Fairy Flycatcher]

Its usually a good idea to share a trike with a couple of people, depending on how often you are going to get around to flying.

There are many second-hand microlights available, but be careful where you buy, although 90% of the guys out there are honest and trustworthy, the control in the industry is not enough to prevent the 10% to take you for a nasty ride.

Speak to a lot of people. Many would not want to name on a public forum, and many will probably not give you honest advice until they know you better, but take your time.

Visit many airfields, pilots and get involved in "hangar-talk" Hangar talk is of more benifit to you than all your theory subjects put together.

My favourite South African trike is the Aerotrike Safari with a Stranger 14.8 wing, I own two, but they don't make it no more I own an Aquilla as well, but don't fly it as often. You don't have to stick to local though, and you don't have to have a 2-seater. Most of my flying (without paying pax, students), is on my own.

There is a GREAT Cosmos single seater I know of. Wonderfull all-round plane, and you can buy it for about 1/2 of a second-hand two-seater. Send me a pm if you want to know more.

[Spongebob]

Hi Hotdog.

I completed my licence recently at Skyriders so I am also relatively new in flying microlights. I am still busy working out some of the issues you are inquiring about. I do not yet consider myself "qualified" to give much advice but here goes. . .

1. Do your licence irrespective of having sorted out all the questions or not. This gives you some exposure and experience. . . and the thrills of flying.

2. Hangarage costs around R400 pm around Pretoria - the cheaper the more trikes packed into one hangar.

3. Hire and fly seems to be relatively scarce although many of the schools do offer it. Problem is that often when you would want to hire they have no A/C available due to student training.

4. Allthough I am very very tempted to buy a trike now I will rather wait a bit and get more exposure to different models and engine and wing configurations before committing myself.

5. I am seriously considering the partnership option, new or existing, as this makes both economic and flying sense to me (seems it is not good if trike stands in the hangar collecting cobwebs).

Keep the forum up to date on how your flying is progressing


Best wishes

P.S.


Any person with Hire and Fly available witihin easy reach of the east of Pretoria please pm me

[Dre'man]

I am in the same boat as you so will be monitoring this topic intensly.
I have already started flying, only 5 hours in and had a fantastic flight this morning with a couple of good landings .

Just keep flying and the rest will fall into place. The more you fly, the more you will be aware of trikes for sale and the easier it is to get advice.
You will also get to fly a few different trikes so will be able to make up your mind for your self. Cobra still stays in my mind as an awsome plane incredibly strong. I am not sure of the wing, I know it was large and flew very smoothly

[Morph]

I am not a trike pilot but I been around many of them long enough to perhaps cover one or two things here

There are a lot of trikes on the market. They typically tend to take longer to sell than 3-axis aircraft. Why, I don't know. But this does mean if you look long and hard enough you will find your baby and you can negotiate your price. Check on this forum in the Aircraft For Sale forum.

My personal opinion is to buy a lower end 2nd hand trike initially and learn to fly on this one. You can get trikes for around R40 to R50K. In the mean time you will get into the social scene with other fliers from your club, this forum or your airfield and take the opportunity to jump in as pax and get the feel for the different aircraft. Eventually you will formulate the idea of your ideal aircraft and then go and spend the big money if you have to.

BTW I am moving this particular thread to the Training Talk Forum as it is relevant to most guys starting out

[jacobus]

hi morph

i want to start with my mpl but i do not know where, so i was wondering if you can help me out!!!

do you fly the challenger?

it´s a nice plane, dockter meyer in Lichtenburg owns one as well, seems like a nice aircraft to fly!!!

thanks,

jacobus

[Morph]

Welcome Jacobus,

There are a number of schools close to you. Have a look at the Microlight Clubs, Training Schools and Flight Centres forum on this site for more information. Other wise the guys up at JHB can give you more detail.

Yes I do fly a Challenger. I have the short wing version which is quicker and sportier than the long wing. Either way they are great planes