Alltrikes

Many thanks, XC Triker!

... and so shall you fly Sally!

I'm still grounded with re-casted wrist/arm, but I shall fly again!

I've come to my decision, I shall keep my Antares trike!

hi sally, i may have confused you, but if you keep that front wheel controlled you WILL not roll over, if you don't keep it under control. i.e. pointed in the direction you are TRAVELLING, not necessarily the way the trike is pointing and keeping equal and firm leg pressure , not trying to deviate till you are down to a slow walking pace,then 'rollover junction' could be your next stop! you cannot swerve a vehicle that has a c/of/g 8ft above g/level safely, at above a walking pace. i'm sure your instructor went over the 'mains' being behind the center of mass and should touch first stabilizing the beast so that the front wheel doesn't have to correct but only to support and guide the potential wreckage during the slow-down phase.if you are fortunate enough to have an effective front brake DON'T USE IT, untill you,ve scrubbed off most of your landing speed, a locked nose wheel will skid and cause a possible visit to rollover city! if you visit the OTHER trike site on my video 'not a greaser' you can see that there was plenty of opportunity to wrap it into a ball, which woulda happened without strict adherance to not trying to steer other than as prosletised above! heal quickly and try to get a refresher before solo-ing again. hugs monty

yes, it was nice... my friend is an airbrush spreyer and he spreyed my trike. I have going to give him my trike to painting in half a March. I hope it will be very nice :)

I dont know really what hapenned there. He was good pilot. I borrowed him my trike... But investigation commision finded some turbulent wind because storm was goinig. Sure is only thing that he must be really terrified there and he freezen - he didnt any reaction and he lost speed and left turned he fell down. When he began reacted - he give full throttle, it was too late...

It's a nice one. the front looked like an airplane.

http://www.jozinko.szm.sk/Web/Fotogaleria/SkyGlider/DSCF0025.JPGThat was my Antares... :)

How did it happened?

hi Sally, I had the Antares trike too. But it was older type than your. Unfortunately my firend crashed and died there and my darling Antares with the SkyGlider wing was totally destroyed... I have Cross 5 Sport trike with Aeros Profi 14 wing
Jozinko from Slovak Republic, central Europa

Hey Sally, Part 103 is very cool. I love the floating, slow, almost hovering, feeling & maneuverability. I'm holding out for a nice electric one currently. I fly a bigger / faster trike for a couple reasons: 1) No one here to fly with often unless I take them in the back seat and/or I just like taking people flying 2) I like to go distant places sometimes. I had a Mosquito power hang glider harness once, but didn't use it as much as I hoped because only like 1 other person in CA had one, so I was always alone flying it. But you are out at El Mirage and there's plenty of people to boat around with-- it's a great area to do so, though winds can sometimes limit a 103's ability to penetrate back home. Although they are lighter, their landing gear is often less substantial for a hard landing and you can't have an instructor in there with you to get tune-ups and flight reviews with- you're on your own. But, all in all, I think part 103s are very cool, and lots of fun, and usually more flying bang for the buck.

Just a thought! I used to fly Part 103 Skycycle in 2004. I now fly 2-seater antares. I'm tempted to go back Part 103. The reason is that Part 103 trike is more closer to hang gliding.

Any thoughts??

Hey Sally Joe wanted to know if you could get his wing bag back to him.

I would guess it's about 1.5 football fields long

I was organizing some photos and came across one of my old trikes with a hand throttle and thought of you Sally. Unlike the old style hand throttles we used on Jetwings and Soarmasters, this one had adjustable friction. At first I did not think I would like it and anticipated changing it to a standard foot/hand throttle combo. Instead, I ended up really liking it. It was simple and killed two birds with one stone.

Thanks Sally,
Really liked the area near Ray & Carol's much better than the ParaToys "landing area." A bunch of us will definitely be down there with all our gear to join you next year. See you everywhere else in the meantime.

Hi XC Triker. Pat's wing is NW Pulse 15m with engine 503. I'll be going to Salton Sea next year.

No worries Sally. We missed seeing you there too. I got to fly Pat's M-Pulse (?17M?- what size was it?)- VERY flicky wing. I was so glad to have flown. That is definitely the best spot to camp and land. Now that we know that, we're all bringing our gear & campers next year!!

Hang in there Sally!
Blue skies ahead

Typo correction

Some wings have a *distinct* neutral position in roll...

Hi Sally,

I’ve flown most of Gibbo’s wings and own two now, with a third on the way. In thinking about your comments I’ll throw this out for you consider.

They do fly a little different, but I like them. Here is what I’ve noticed. They need a little more push out in turns to remain efficient (for lift) and in turbulence you need to stop at center and not let the bar drift past, which causes you to over-control which gives you the sensation of getting tossed around.

In order to have light quick handling these wings are less stable in roll than some others. This is always a design compromise. Some wings have a distant neutral position in roll owing to their net-dihedral (like the heavy flying Stranger at low/medium speed). This makes them feel more stable but as a compromise they are less nimble.

To maximize you flying pleasure in turbulence, just remember to go back to center and hold it. Otherwise you can easily over-control (slip past center too much) which makes you feel less stable. Note…most, if not all, of this is pilot induced. Try returning and locking on-center between control inputs in turbulence and see if you feel more comfortable.

You will enjoy the nimbleness of the wing…that was the design’s objective.

Chuck

Sally - Congratulations on 66 successful solo landings!

So sorry to hear that the last one didn't work out. I hope your hand heals quickly and you are flying again soon.

I have owned 4 Antares' (all used for training) and flown at least 6 others. I sold my last (N54BT) to buy my SLSA but in many ways the Antares was better for training. There is now only one in my hangar - 2 others that were there last month have "moved" down to Watsonville.

I never had steering dampeners on any of my Antares' but I did increase the steering friction on some by tightening the pivot bolt on the rear steering bar. Sergey showed this to me.

I agree with cburg that the Antares requires "stiff legs" or what I call "active neutral" where some other trikes will stay straight by themselves. Sergey built hundreds of trikes with this fork geometry. It wasn't an accident or a mistake - just a different design with different handling characteristics (demands). I would be very interested in seeing a picture of the modification Paul Hamilton made to yours.

I don't advise anyone to use the hand throttle for takeoff. Practice controlling the throttle in-flight and learn to keep the wheel straight at all times. It's easy to unintentionally move the fork when you change the throttle - learn to do it correctly.

The 2 links you posted are tragic accidents that happened in Antares trikes but they had nothing to do with ground handling (or Antares at all really).

Good luck and get flying again soon!

Doug Donaldson

Lots of people flew my Antares for check-rides. I warned them all of the Antares’s ground handling traits and highly advised them to use the grass strip. Those that didn’t quickly became believers and passed the word along.

It’s like a lot of aircraft, if you get used to it, you can handle it. But coming from another model can really get you…negative transfer and all that.

Like my twin Comanche, everybody (high-time multi-engine pilots) wanted to try to land it (BTW nobody did). Every time I had to take the controls when it started to wheelbarrow and nearly have a prop strike. Chuck Yeager had one and said no two landings were alike.

Point is you just have to get used to it. There are several factors that make the Antares less stable on the grounds when compared to other trikes (long story). Some can be mitigated and others have to be accommodated (short of a re-design).

First…if you don’t have a damper…get one. Northing has a good retrofit damper that has adjustable friction. I never had one until I started to let other people try to fly it.

The other thing is to keep stiff legs (not straight…but flexed muscles). I suspect you tilted your right foot forward for the throttle and relaxed your left leg a little too much starting the veering to the left. Once that spongy gear started a right lean it gets worse fast. If you use your foot throttle, you have to maintain very stiff legs.

*STIFF LEGS*… take offs and landing rolls.

Lots of people flew my Antares for check-rides. I warned them all of the Antares’s ground handling traits and highly advised them to use the grass strip. Those that didn’t quickly became believers and passed the word along.

It’s like a lot of aircraft, if you get used to it, you can handle it. But coming from another model can really get you…negative transfer and all that.

Like my twin Comanche, everybody (high-time multi-engine pilots) wanted to try to land it (BTW nobody did). Every time I had to take the controls when it started to wheelbarrow and nearly have a prop strike. Chuck Yeager had one and said no two landings were alike.

Point is you just have to get used to it. There are several factors that make the Antares less stable on the grounds when compared to other trikes (long story). Some can be mitigated and others have to be accommodated (short of a re-design).

First…if you don’t have a damper…get one. Northing has a good retrofit damper that has adjustable friction. I never had one until I started to let other people try to fly it.

The other thing is to keep stiff legs (not straight…but flexed muscles). I suspect you tilted your right foot forward for the throttle and relaxed your left leg a little too much starting the veering to the left. Once that spongy gear started a right lean it gets worse fast. If you use your foot throttle, you have to maintain very stiff legs.

*STIFF LEGS*… take offs and landing rolls.

hi sally i hope you wernt injured in your thump that must really suck to make a nice landing and do everything right and have a wobble bite you.iam not sure if it was you but didnt paul hamilton have a looksie at youre wobble and fix it i remember some chat on tps about it but i cant of corse go back and find it on tps.if it wasnt you than someone else had a big problem on wobble.from what i understand the wobble ocillasion gets quite severe as load transfers.i dont know what you could of done to prevent it but i hope you of corse didnt get banged up and i hope youre trike isint to bad sonya and i our lookin to fly with you at one of davids adventures.hang in there and dont let it get ya couldof happen to anyone.iam puttin my redback on the backburner and i bought a soaring trike skycycle with falcon 3 wing mainly because its closer to hang glidin flight but with the alternative to land on wheels go around and thermal soar power off and slower landing speed . you know my real love is hg but i will still keep the redback for when sonya wants to fly with me