HGFA Skysailor Magazine

26 SKY SAILOR January | February 2019 can change the angle of attack as soon as you land. It also allows variable touchdown speeds to match flying conditions. ➲➲ The pusher layout of the trike removes the pilot from the slipstream and minimises vibration. ➲➲ The trike has also been designed to be ideal for take-off from unprepared and short strips, hence this can also mean lower operating costs. ➲➲ Trikes allow the pilot to have better situational awareness when doing a precautionary or forced landing, thanks to the fantastic all-round visibility. So with these advantages over a conventional type of aircraft, we were sold on the trike, and yes, we’re still flying them today. Most people still think that the trike is a slow aircraft, calling them a ‘microlight’, implying that they can only be flown in microlight weather conditions. This is no longer the case. Our GT-Lite two-stroke trike has a cruise speed of 71kt with a 65-litre fuel tank. Our QuikR has a cruise speed of 80 to 90kt with a range of five hours, plus reserves. And what about the HypeR? Well I have been flying around at 100kt with a fuel burn of 9.04 litres/ hour, and its V ne is 120kt! It always amuses me when I make an inbound call, and another pilot calls me back, asking me if my time in circuit is correct. I just say ‘affirmative’. More often than not, the pilot will come over after we’ve landed and say, “I didn’t know trikes could go that fast.” Well, now you do! At Yarrawonga, most GA pilots no longer push in front of our trikes so they’re not held up by those ‘toy’ aircraft in the circuit, because they find that the ‘toy’ aircraft is every bit as fast as many of the GA planes. I have triking friends, who, as they grew older, ‘bought a heater and built a kit around it’. Even the problem of keeping warm in winter is minimised if you wear appropriate clothing. Nothing a cuppa won’t fix after a flight, and during the last few years, trike designers have put thought into windscreen and fuselage design to protect both the pilot and passenger from some of the discomforts of inclement weather. We choose not to fly in bad weather conditions, because, after all, almost by definition, a trike is a recreational aircraft. However, those sneaky conditions which sometimes catch you out on a longer leg of a trip away, are nowhere near as daunting as they were in our early days of triking, with the early, less sophisticated designs. The P&M Aviation aircraft we fly today are safe, fast and have proven performance, and that’s why I still fly a trike. QuikR 100hp engine All photos: Peter McLean The Advantages of Flying a Trike P&M Aviation aircraft lined up at Yarrawonga HypeR getting ready