Does anyone on here fly trikes? I have been looking at these for a while and they look like some sweet flying machines! You guys fly these in the backcountry at all? Looks like a lot of the "backcountry" strips I see pictures of people flying into they are doing so with tricycle gear aircraft. I cant see why a trike would be even better to fly out of these strips with. Looks like they have better performance at altiudes than conventional aircraft...What say you guys?

The big trikes that you could actually use to go X country land FAST. The other disadvantage to them is they are open cockpit, have no storage to carry anything, and landing in any kind of a crosswind is scary.

I spent a week at Alvord a while back and the little light ultralight trikes landed on the walking path up to the Hotsprings on the North End of the lake. I was impressed. I'd fly one of those into tight places.

I have a couple hours in the back of a big fancy Rotax 912 powered one and after about 30 minutes of 70-80mph wind in your face I was ready to land. Ever rode a loud bike with no windshield, a brain bucket, and no earplugs down the freeway at 80mph??? That's about what it's like.

I think there are several of us here who fly trikes. There are lots of different trikes and the experience flying them is different. I happen to fly an Antares trike with an Aeros profi wing. Cruise speed (with no bar effort) is about 60 mph -- some trikes cruise faster --esp. with small wings and with in-flight trim control -- up to a VNE of around 90 mph in some cases. All the trikes I have flown, including mine, will flair for a landing speed of < 40 mph. Is that fast? I mean a CAN land faster, but then I wouldn't be flaring properly. Take off and landing rolls are VERY short and, because there is little weight on the nosewheel, they are MADE to land off-field. My trike has over 450 lbs of useful load when fully fueled so a pilot and a passenger and all the camping gear you can cram in the big side panniers can go along with you if you like. I also have a full windshield -- no wind in our faces and we do not, in fact, fly with helmets. Just sunglasses and aviation headsets to the noise-canceling intercom and radio so you don't really hear the engine much. All in all a great, fun, flying experience and-- perhaps most important -- something I can afford on a High School teacher's salary. Trikes are trailer-able (setup and takedown are perhaps an hour) so you can take them on longer trips to fly from new places, and can be converted from wheels to floats to skis (although there is training required to get endorsements on your sportpilot certificate). Get the training and you can be certified to do the maintenance and inspections on them yourself.

Downsides? Of course. I don't fly long cross-country flights -- almost all are under 150 miles or so. Partly because this IS an open cockpit (sub-freezing temps and/or rain are no fun) so to fly long distances you would have to have reliable weather over a large area. These big wings that provide all that lift don't really like turbulence much (although cross-wind components of 10 knots or so on landing aren't really a problem unless they are gusting). So although people have flown trikes on huge cross-county or cross-continent flights, they certainly aren't ideal for that unless you have LOTS of time to do it in. And of course if you want to carry more people or more stuff or at night or in IMC, or go places fast ... you need another kind of aircraft altogether!

Bottom line for me is that at our local airport I know that I am flying many mornings and most evenings all spring, summer and fall for a few dollars of regular car fuel, while all those nice, more-capable fixed-wing planes languish in their hangers. Even on the most beautiful summer evenings I am only sharing the sky with some powered parachutes and the occasional hot-air balloon. So I figure there must be SOMETHING right about trikes!

I dug out a few photos of an Rotax 912 powered Air Creation that i took a ride in one time in Santa Ynez. After years of flying Quicksilver ultralights, the trike was still a thrill because it felt like riding a motorcycle through the air. I only got to fly it briefly but I'd love to try it again. I think the portability and storability is really cool.

I sent my friend Liza up for a ride too:

AvidFlyer wrote:I have a couple hours in the back of a big fancy Rotax 912 powered one and after about 30 minutes of 70-80mph wind in your face I was ready to land. Ever rode a loud bike with no windshield, a brain bucket, and no earplugs down the freeway at 80mph??? That's about what it's like.

Come on, man, aren't you a PPC pilot?! I've never flown an ultralight without wearing either good earplugs or an ANR system. Now that you have that hot rod, did you forget your roots?

Our Quicksilvers cruise about 55mph, and I do wear a helmet, but it's a Lynx system designed for ultralights. It's a lightweight helmet with cutouts for the ear cups of the Lynx ANR headset, and the helmet is open face but full shield. They're quite comfy and quite, and the headset boom mic (just like my Lightspeed) has good sound quality on intercom and radio transmissions.

It's a different outlook on flying, but no less rewarding in my opinion. It is a pure stick and rudder (well, not for a trike) flying experience that will never be bested by my Cessna for shear exhilaration of flight. I've let the relative wind cool my boys while wearing shorts on a summer day. I've turned the aircraft by hanging my leg out into the wind. I've looked between my legs at the ground.

Avid flyer knows the feeling too, I'm just giving you crap Joe.

Anything with a kingpost is a pain to hanger due to the tall height compared to a strut braced wing of any sort, not a factor if you tear it down everytime of course. Just a practical consideration there, learned by having similar craft, Pterodactyl ultralights (my choice way back) were a bit over 11' high! I don't know how many times I was offered hanger space on xc's and had to pass because it wouldn't fit! So.... a trike with a kingpost less wing would be much more practical.

Courierguy-

Those must have been some tiny hangars? I guess trikes with a kingpost are quite a bit taller than a normal 3-axis ultralight with kingpost, now that I look at it. We had some friends hangaring their trikes in our hangar for a while, but thinking back they must have had struts.

Edit: Yep, it was a Northwing:

pdshelter, can you buy Antares trikes anymore? They have a website but it is sketchy getting info on them...the website has not been updated in a LONG time.

Keep the stories coming guys. I am very interested to hear more about landing with crosswinds. How do you correct for it?

This seems like a very economical way to fly. I am not a rich guy and this seems like it would fit the bill perfectly. The guy I know at Meadowlake airport flys constantly. I just want to fly I could care less how I just want to be in the air!! Oh and I LOVE riding motorcycles that is why I thought this would be an awesome way to fly!!

Also you guys have any more pics or videos of what these things can do in the backcountry? I want to see what they are capable of...I would like to do a lot of Colorado mountain flying....No big rocks long props stuff, but I would like to fly in the backcountry and do some camping trips...

I used to fly a Quicksilver, too. It was *almost* the only ultralight at the airpark that wasn't a trike, with the exception of powered parachutes. Looking back, I feel that if I ever get back into ultralight flying again it would definitely be with a trike. The Quicksilver was amazing fun, but the controllability in any kind of wind at all with trees around was nill and it really cut down on the number of days flying was possible. The trikes on the other hand seemed to take off in just about anything, and as a result their were many days where all the trikes were flying but I was grounded. They may not be 3-axis, but they seem to be much more solid in turbulence, though I've never actually flown one so maybe I'm wrong.

Most importantly, they take off like a ROCKET. I can't imagine anything more capable for very small off-airport strips, though I've never actually seen one with tundra tires.

justine wrote: The Quicksilver was amazing fun, but the controllability in any kind of wind at all with trees around was nill

If I recall from another thread, you mentioned your Quicksilver had spoilers, which means it was either a very early vintage, or was an MX Sprint model, which has only single surface wings (like a kite.) I can see how that might respond poorly in roll. Newer MX/MXL Sport models have dual surface wings (full airfoil) and ailerons, and are quite capable in wind. They're also much more lightly wing-loaded than a trike, which is good for some things. I'm pretty confident i could land shorter and take off shorter (27 mph stall speed) with a 582-powered MXL than any trike.

I don't want this to be my version of "just buy a Maule" though. I dig trikes and think you are on the right path, Greenhorn. Check out those Northwings from WA.

Yeah I think these things would be fun for me for the simple fact that I love riding motorcycles. They do seem pretty pricey when you get into the ones with 4 stroke engines. You can buy a normal certified aircraft for the price of some of these things. The 2 strokes are cheaper, but I think it is one of those pay now or pay later things and I think the reliability of the 4 stroke will be worth the extra money...

1SeventyZ wrote:
If I recall from another thread, you mentioned your Quicksilver had spoilers, which means it was either a very early vintage, or was an MX Sprint model, which has only single surface wings (like a kite.) I can see how that might respond poorly in roll. Newer MX/MXL Sport models have dual surface wings (full airfoil) and ailerons, and are quite capable in wind.

Oh! I never realized that. Yes, it was an MXII Sprint, and It did have single surface wings. And ailerons would have been nice!

I could see how this would make a big difference. I remember one day the crosswind couldn't have been more than 8 knots. I attempted a takeoff and realized it was a bad idea as soon as I got off the ground. It needed full stick (rudder) deflections just to bounce it back onto the runway.

Antares trikes are available on the used market occasionally. I don't know if they are active retailing new at all. I understand the owner was not interested in jumping all the S-LSA hoops although I can't imagine why. Great aircraft, well engineered, built for stout and light and nimble but solid to fly. Not having manufacturer's support means that parts are hard to come by and no one will offer insurance for them (that I know of). Of course the Aeros wings are great and available new. I think some other manufacturers are catching on to the full windscreen idea (duh!) -- I, too, find it very tiring to have to fight 60 mph wind in my face even with a helmet when I fly others' machines.

Although there are lots of great, new, 912-powered trikes out there in the $50K - $70K range, it is still possible to find some great trikes on Barnstormers for $13K - maybe $25K that will give you a world of fun. Make sure it is N-numbered (unless it is a REAL Part 103 ultralight) and that the engine has been taken care of. In the world of 2-cycle engines that means it has been flown regularly, not sitting in someones hanger for the last 5 years.

Oh -- one other thing if you are just starting out. If insurance is important to you, check out what makes and models can be insured before you buy. Only a very limited subset of all the trikes flying out there are insurable -- again for reasons that make no sense to me. In fact I can't think of any other thing I might own that I CAN'T insure except my trike!

pdshelter, so can you even get liability insurance for them or are you completely on your own? I would have thought at least liability would be avaliable...I guess I see where hull insurance would be hard to get though.

So far, at least as far as I have been able to find, no one will offer insurance for Antares trikes at all. Insurance is available for very, very few E-LSA trikes of any kind. Things are a little better for trikes sold as S-LSA from current and established brands, but even then it is on a model-by-model basis. This is a really stupid approach of course. I mean I can go out and purchase car insurance for any vehicle ever made whether or not it was EVER road-worthy and whether or not the manufacturer is still in business. Here I have an E-LSA, FAA airworthyness certificate, all maintenance logged and done by an FAA certified tech, and I have an FAA Sport Pilot certificate and I can't even buy LIABILITY insurance? How dumb is that???

Maybe that should tell you something about them..lol Just kidding. They have a pretty good safety record as far as I can tell. Did you check with Falcon with the EAA? I wonder what the Powered Parachute crowd is doing. I got a million bucks on my Experimental taildragger with 20 hours TW time for $440 a year with Avemco. I was shocked when I got the quote.

That $440 must be just for liability? The insurance costs for my C150/150TD look like they're gonna take a leap- from $787 last year to (lowest quote so far) $891 this year. That's full coverage for $36K hull, and me with over 2200 hours TT 1800 t/w & 300 in M/M . Isn't it supposed to go down at some point?

Eric

Yes that's liability only. I prob should have some hull on it too but trying to keep the costs down. I dont' owe anything on it and I'm into the plane for barely 10K.

There was a very unfortunate Trike crash near Anchorage earlier this year, which killed a coworker of mine. The final NTSB report is out. Chilling, with several issues identified including the previously-identified "tumbling" phenomenon. Be careful out there.

http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=2 ... 022&akey=1