HGFA Skysailor Magazine

24 SKY SAILOR January | February 2019 B eing in the military, I’d also have to fill out countless forms and complete a number of briefings, just to get a Winjeel for the afternoon. My family used to say, “You fly every day, in bigger and faster aircraft, why is it so important for you to fly by yourself?” If you are a pilot, you’ll understand that being up in the sky alone for a while is just perfect freedom – all troubles of daily life remain below you on the ground. I could have gone to Moorabbin airport and hired a Chipmunk from Royal Victorian Aero Club, however, I wasn’t made of money,… and the military weren’t very happy about their pilots flying civilian aircraft either. Back then, there were nowhere near the opportunities to fly recreational aircraft that we have today. In fact, my nearest means of flying was a hang glider. That was how I started my recreational flying. We had a small choice of manufacturers – you could choose a Wings, Mad Eagle, Cowan, or Moyes hang glider – that was about it. There were also very few regulations – you purchased your hang glider, took it down the beach or to a hill, rigged it and ran like buggery down the slope. It didn’t take long to learn to fly, and if you didn’t break a leading edge or a king post, you weren’t trying hard enough! You’re probably thinking, ‘Why didn’t he go to a flight training school?’ There were none back then! If you survived your first month of flying, you could pass the technique on to someone else. This was fun flying. I even got the Met guys at the base involved. They would send me the weather forecast in the afternoon, to let me know if I should go to the Flinders Naval Base or west to the cliffs In 1972, I decided to look for a cheaper form of flying. Why? I didn’t own my own aircraft back then, and to get an aircraft, just to fly locally, was a bit of a stretch at the time. by Peter McLean – P&M Aviation Australia The Advantages of Flying a Trike Peter launches at Portsea, Victoria Peter on a Wings K2 Kestrel