Pete Croney

I did this a couple of weeks ago for an hours taster course and wondered what sorts of costs are involved in owning and running one.




Me over Boscasle in Cornwall

Brendan Hughes

Pete - didn't you mean to type "I wondered what sort of performance modifications are available for them"?

MarkCSC

Wow fantastic picture!

Pete Croney

Mark

It is a fantastic experience and the weather was great on the day.

Bendan

Will you do the product testing for me? Not that I doubt my design skills or anything

Scrappy2

Awesome picture - think I must put that on 'things I HAVE to do' list

Nimbus

Seamus300 flies them. Not sure if he's still posting though. He's often flying near our gliding club..

chopper

A lot cheaper than flying helicopters.... I wonder how safe it is though?

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

my dad has taken a couple of microlights (or what was a microlight) on his wagon to the aviation test centre at farnborough. I think they had engine failures

Not wishing to put you off though. Nice phot Pete

steven

Beastie

iTrader: (2)

My brother does look here:

http://www.scottishaeroclub.org.uk/m...ght/perth.html

and me when I can.

Beastie

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

I thought that even if you did have an engine failure that you'd glide back to earth anyway. Same goes for autogyros.

Only problem is if it happens over water, oh, you were weren't you

F

Katana

http://www.velocityaircraft.com/

I don't know about you but I'd love to get my hands on this kit. I'm thinking about putting a Subaru engine in it.

davyboy

Seamus does indeed fly them at Sywell in Northampton.

He is not posting at the moment as he is on his honeymoon. Should be about on Monday though.

555 BOY

Yeah I fly both Microlights & fixed wing light aircraft, I've never owned a microlight but I've had/still got ownership of several aeroplanes.
The only reason microlights have a bad reputation is one of two things:-

- Some people who own them simply can't fly them/maintain them to a safe standard which often results in overpublicised DEATH !

- Rotax Engines where not known for their reliability especially with their early 2-stroke engines/gearboxes which often used to stop without warning resulting in either death if the pilot is in the above catagory or a near death experience if survived
The new 4-stroke engines are good though, even I risk mylife sat behind one occasionally

Subaru engines are often used in light aircraft although a little heavy, most aircraft engines are flat fours

WARNING !!! Flying is a very addictive past time which makes Subarus look cheap to run and VERY VERY Ecconomical ! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

555

Pete Croney

555 Boy

I realise that microlighting is really a fair weather activity, in reality how many days a year do you fly?

Its the costs of maintainence and hangarage that interest me. The aircraft themselves seem to range from c £4000 (5 year old) to £11000 (new). 4 strokes are quite a bit more expensive. People I've spoken to say approx £2500 to get your license, although it can be done for less than £2000 if you are a natural.

I have a good understanding of the weather and trimming theory from my pro sailing days, which is why I like the idea of doing this.

If it was risk free, it probably wouldn't interest me

I just dug out two more pics...

One is Padstowe harbour, through the clouds, the other is landing at Davidstowe, near Camelford.

Cheeky Jim

Don't they now make a microlight with a "proper" set of controls - I.E. stick and pedals to give you better control over the axis? Rather than the push/pull bar a la hang glider?

I used to fly my model aeroplanes at the local microlight club field - it was a fairly small club and wasn't that busy, so if anyone was going out or coming in, we used to get the models out of the way a bit sharpish - there is nothing like a 3ilb model doing 120mph for causing trouble!

Jim

Pete Croney

Jim

These are more like very basic aircraft and are called 3 axis microlights.

What I was up in is called a flex wing... a traditional open cockpit microlight.

3 axis machines are much faster, but also much more expensive. More a mode of transport, than an activity, I suppose.

Cheeky Jim

Can you fly them on a microlight ppl?

I did my PPL about 12 years ago (I was 17 at the time!) lack of pennies mean i am no longer current, but if and when i win the lotto, i shall defo be back at it.

I might look into handgliding - looks like fun.. can they take 16 stone lardy's like me though?!!!

Jim

Pete Croney

Jim, when I did it my weight had to be below 14st.

I guess you are looking for a 9st Instructor

555 BOY

Hi Pete.

Quick answers for ya, How many days a year obviously depends on how much time & money you have availably and more importantly the weather, the two usually dont coincide
I used to log approx 100hrs per year (3 axis & flexwing)with an average days flying consisting of 2-3hrs, so the maths shows an approx of 40 days per annum plus another 40 sat in the clubhouse waiting/praying for the weather to improve[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]
With regard to flexwings in particular the main factor is wind, if its blowing straight down the runway anything up to around 20Knts is acceptable however if its a 90* Crosswind...........It depends how daft/brave you are (5-10Knts). Take this into account when you choose somewhere to learn, the more runways the better

Maintenance costs are fairly low, I'd guess at budgeting for £500 - £1K per annum for a flexwing but bear in mind it is a rotax so anything is possible.Hangarage costs vary considerably, Cos I live "Up't North" its a lot cheaper in general than "Darrn Sarf" like most things and depends on whether you leave it rigged (Attached to the trike), Derigged (Completely dismantled)which takes approx an hour to set-up again or semi rigged (Wing & trike detached, wings often kept in hangar roofs). Typical costs are £60 per month rigged or £30 derigged

Buy this months "Flyer" or "Pilot" magazine for info on the new "National pilots license" which is going to alter everything as we speak or have a look on the BMAA (British Microlight Assoc)Website or the PFA (Popular Flying Assoc)

Hope that helps

555

Brendan Hughes

Pete, if your design is as good as your spelling of people's names, I'll stay on the ground TVM!

Pete Croney

Thanks 555

LOL and B(r)endan

Dream Weaver

Cor, they look cool - when I won the lottery that is on the list.

With regards the dying bit, if the engine fails, can you not just dump the trike bit and use the wings to handglide down to earth? That is a serious question BTW.

The trike could be on a parachute to lower it to earth, then you just glide down and thank your lucky stars.

Si

Dream Weaver

That should be "Win" the lottery - I havent done it yet (but when I do Pete, I will have 1 of everything from Scoobysport for my P1).

Si

Brendan Hughes

For those of us that spend most of our time on terra firma and not looking up, that suggestion is more than a little bit scarey

Dream Weaver

Pete Croney

Calling Seamus.

If you're about on Sunday, I've got a meeting near Luton so may pop up to Sywell afterwards. If you are going to be about, can I pick your brains for 15 minutes?

scoobyster

Take some lessons and you'll spend almost every landing at 0 throttle, so you know how to handle it when the engine dies. They tend not to glide quite as well as a bigger plane because of the high drag, but they don't turn into bricks - you can glide and stear, so long as you get the nose down to avoid a stall. My dad had a Thruster (fixed wing = proper joystick) a few years ago, he kept it at Mona on Anglesey, wasn't ideal on a tarmac strip as it'd never stop (no brakes !), plus some of the club members were a bit snobbish about a microlight being amongst their 'proper planes'. He does paragliding instead now, even more weather dependant and you have to carry the thing up a hill - but you don't have to worry about engine failures He loves it.

Seamus300

This thread has made for some interesting reading! For those of you that know me I finally bought my own, still a small way to go to get my license though. Once I've passed I'll happily take people up and scare the crap out of them (sensibly and safely of course) for a small petrol contribution.
Engine failures aren't the cause of microlight crashes as such, it is the choice of landing area, ie hedges and tree collisions after a misjudged approach (not generally recommended), the glide is slightly hindered by drag but the sail gives a lot of lift so as long as a steady speed is maintained then it isn't too scary (unless you happen to be crossing a large stretch of water or were at 300ft when it goes bang). Crosswinds, best avoided where possible in a trike, landing sideways (drift angle set) gets the heart going.

It's great fun, throughly recommended and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Cheers all, Sean.

Pete Croney

Scoobyster

I flew a Thruster yesterday. Great fun and a very safe aircraft to fly.

Best bit was having a Tornado go past approx 400m away, as we were taking off.

We were both at 200ft, me at about 50 knots, him at about 600 knots Awesome sight

dsmith

I bet he was more scared than you.

Microlights are so damned small you just can't see them till the last minute. Whe I was learning to fly a few years ago (at HM expense ) I did my final all round check before taking off (Cessna 152), just about to take off and a microlight puts it down a a few yards in front. Now it could have been me being a noob but I had the CFI in the other seat and it caught him completely by surprise aswell

Deano