First some definitions:
Weight Shift Control (WSC): this is the FAA’s term for an aircraft with a hang-glider type wing. These aircraft are also commonly called ‘trikes’, which is short for ‘hang glider trike’. Hang gliders are foot launched: your legs are the landing gear. As people added motors to hang gliders, they made three-wheeled carts that the hang glider sits on top of. This enables you to sit and roll rather than stand and run to launch your glider. The name shortened from ‘hang glider trike’ to ‘trike’. The name ‘trike’ stuck with this type of aircraft even though most aircraft have a three-wheel tricycle undercarriage configuration.
Other terms that also describe WSC are: Rogallo wing, delta-wing, flex wing, and 2-axis control. You may also hear the term ‘microlight’ and ‘ultralight’ which I will explain.
Rogallo: Dr. Francis Rogallo, an American aeronautical engineer (27 Jan 1912 to 1 Sept 2009) pioneered the use of folding wings for NASA space capsules and other aircraft using weight shift control. These laid the foundation for modern hang gliders and trike wings.
Delta wing: this term comes from the triangular shape of the wing resembling the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ).
Flex-wing: As opposed to ‘rigid wing’ aircraft, trike wings are designed to flex significantly. The flex is an important part of the design that gives it much of its directional and pitch stability, and helps it turn.
2-axis control: In an airplane, you control 3 axes–pitch, roll, and yaw. In a trike, you can only directly control pitch and roll. The design of the wing makes it self-correcting with regard to yaw. This third axis is controlled automatically.
Ultralight is not a particular type of aircraft. The term describes a set of criteria defined by the US Federal Aviation Regulations (254 pounds max weight, one seat, five gallons of fuel, etc.). If a craft meets these definitions, it is considered an ultralight, and is exempt from many pilot and aircraft regulations regarding licensing and registration. There are airplanes, helicopters, gyrocopters, trikes, paragliders, powered parachutes, and hot air balloons that all can be called ‘ultralights’ because they fit the FAA criteria.
Microlight: outside of the United States, ‘microlight’ is the more common term roughly analogous to ‘ultralight’. Again, ‘microlight’ is not a particular type of aircraft (there are airplanes, helicopters, gyrocopters, trikes, hot air balloons, etc. that all could fit the microlight criteria). In many countries the criteria is broader than it is in the US, so an aircraft that does not fit the ultralight criteria in the US may fit some other country’s ‘microlight’ criteria.
This type of aircraft controls differently than an airplane, just like a helicopter controls differently than an airplane. Airplane pilots sometimes assume that they will know how to keep the wings level in this aircraft, but without prior experience no one can do it. The aircraft gets steeper and steeper as the pilot gives the wrong input. The experience of steering a car may give an inexperienced pilot some benefit when flying an airplane with a yoke. But a hang glider trike will not give the same skill transference unless the pilot understands that the control bar on the trike is like the BOTTOM of the car steering wheel. It takes time to absorb this skill.
I often use the example of a bicycle. When someone rides by on a bicycle, the balance looks so easy. And it is so easy for the person who has learned how to balance the bicycle. The balance happens naturally, without effort or even conscious thought, but only after a person has learned to balance, and practiced enough to become proficient. In the phase before balance is learned, it can seem impossible. No amount of intellectual effort, concentration or willpower can help if you have not yet learned to balance. It takes repetition of try, try again until balance is learned. After enough tries, some success happens and the skill is briefly discovered. Very quickly, the skill becomes familiar, confidence builds and the wobbliness goes away. And then the balance is forever easy.
As an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) I conduct check rides and issue pilot certificates (licenses) on behalf of the FAA. Applicants often come to me for a check ride in a Weight Shift Control aircraft without really knowing how one works. Here are some questions to start your study of how it works.
If a conventional airplane needs a tail for stability, what gives a tail-less wing directional stability? Think archery for a moment: What would happen if you took an arrow, without any tail feathers, and shot it from a bow? (It would tumble end over end). What about throwing a tail-less dart? (It would likely tumble before it reached the dart board). A surfboard, water ski or wind surfer needs a fin at the back to keep it going straight too. So how is it possible for a tail-less wing to fly?
This video explains a lot. It is 23 minutes long. This Department of the Air Force film depicting advantages of the Northrop YB-49 flying wing design over conventional aircraft
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPIZMJv09DY
Posted 9th January by Michael Percy
Please send info on your Trike. I am a licensed pilot, retired, and no longer have my plane.
However, I NEED to get back in the air!……
Thanks, Ross
Hello Ross,
I emailed you directly with information and pricing. Let me know if you have additional questions.
God Bless,
Jordon
Please send the info on your amphibious trike with pricing and pricing info on lessons and licenseing as I’m in a position to stay busy flying clients from daybreak to dark on all the holidays along with other potential possibilitys.Can you include a rough estimate on busy all day flying of 20-30 min.flights and estimate of pricing photos and or vidieos of flights I’m sure most would want to purchase with such a beautiful scenic area.Thank you and God bless you all for your work giving people such a great unforgettable experience and beautiful view of life.
We have new and used trikes available, with and without floats. New ones with options can be $70,000 and we have used ones down to $6000. For used ones, let me know your wants and approximate budget and I will send you ones that fit. One vs two seats, land only, water only or amphibious.
Hi All
I am a retired pilot living in Asia
I need an amphibious model
We have new and used trikes available, with and without floats. New ones with options can be $70,000 and we have used ones down to $6000. New price list attached. For used ones, let me know your wants and approximate budget and I will send you ones that fit. One vs two seats, land only, water only or amphibious.
Hello I am interested in your amphibious aircraft would you please send me some prices on your new ones and also the used ones that you have also I will be contacting hanging over Havasu.com Joe and Anne up there to see if I can get some training to get my sport amphibious license I am a licensed pilot thank you
Interested in an amphibious model, 2 seater, maximum weight allowance….
We have them new and used. 500 pound payload. Standard fuel tank is 12 gallons. Extra 5 gallon tank can be added for a total of 17 gallons. 12 gallons gives 4.5 hour endurance. 5 gallon auxiliary that gravity feeds into the main tank gives another 2 hours. At 50 mph cruising speed, 225 mile range on the 12 gallons, and an extra 100 miles on the auxiliary tank for a total range of 325 miles. It is easy to carry an extra 5 gallon fuel jug that can be poured in after landing enroute. A pump could be rigged to get this fuel into the main tank if you needed more than 6.5 hours at a time without landing.
The Cygnet is so easily trailerable so you can also trailer to where you want to fly at 75+mph.
Hi I am interested in purchasing and flying part 103 category trike do you carry these new and used and do you offer training in same thanks
Yes we produce these new. We also have used ones from time to time. We have a network of instructors who provide training. I sent you an email with more detail.
Interested in an amphibious model, 1 seater, maximum weight allowance….
Hi Barry. We sent you an email with current price lists. The Explorer single-seaters are built to a strict weight limit to comply with the US FAA Part 103 ultralight regulation. If you are not restricted to that weight (254 pounds + 60 pound allowance for floats = 314 pounds = 143 kilograms) then we can build you a stronger, heavier version. We recommend a maximum pilot weight of 250 pounds (114kg) for the Explorer, but the more you exceed 200 pounds the less ideal the Explorer is. What’s better (often for similar cost) is one of our used two-seaters with Rotax 582 engine. The two seat Cygnet is not up against a weight limit, so we built it bigger, stronger, more comfortable, with more space to carry things, and more fuel capacity for longer flights.
Hi interested in wonderful aircraft please gime the price for 2 seats
Place in florida I goin in have discovery fly my zip code 34606
Hi Vespasiano
We sent you an email with the price sheet and information.
Best regards,
Michael
will like to know if the cygbet3 front seat is adjustable…..also do you sell……..A POH PILOT OPERATOR HANDBOOK….OR AOI AIRCRAFT OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS AT THIS TIME THANKS
I have an interest in your product. I live on the water in Shalimar and am considering an LSA seaplane, but would like to know more about your trike.