![]() ![]() In the phase before balance is learned, it can seem impossible. 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. And it is so easy for the person who has learned how to balance the bicycle. When someone rides by on a bicycle, the balance looks so easy. ![]() 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. The experience of steering a car may give an inexperienced pilot some benefit when flying an airplane with a yoke. The aircraft gets steeper and steeper as the pilot gives the wrong input. 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. This type of aircraft controls differently than an airplane, just like a helicopter controls differently than an airplane. 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. that all could fit the microlight criteria). Again, ‘microlight’ is not a particular type of aircraft (there are airplanes, helicopters, gyrocopters, trikes, hot air balloons, etc. Microlight: outside of the United States, ‘microlight’ is the more common term roughly analogous to ‘ultralight’. 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. If a craft meets these definitions, it is considered an ultralight, and is exempt from many pilot and aircraft regulations regarding licensing and registration. 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.). Ultralight is not a particular type of aircraft. This third axis is controlled automatically. The design of the wing makes it self-correcting with regard to yaw. ![]() In a trike, you can only directly control pitch and roll. The flex is an important part of the design that gives it much of its directional and pitch stability, and helps it turn.Ģ-axis control: In an airplane, you control 3 axes–pitch, roll, and yaw. These laid the foundation for modern hang gliders and trike wings.ĭelta wing: this term comes from the triangular shape of the wing resembling the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ).įlex-wing: As opposed to ‘rigid wing’ aircraft, trike wings are designed to flex significantly. Francis Rogallo, an American aeronautical engineer ( to 1 Sept 2009) pioneered the use of folding wings for NASA space capsules and other aircraft using weight shift control. You may also hear the term ‘microlight’ and ‘ultralight’ which I will explain. Other terms that also describe WSC are: Rogallo wing, delta-wing, flex wing, and 2-axis control. The name ‘trike’ stuck with this type of aircraft even though most aircraft have a three-wheel tricycle undercarriage configuration. The name shortened from ‘hang glider trike’ to ‘trike’. This enables you to sit and roll rather than stand and run to launch your glider. As people added motors to hang gliders, they made three-wheeled carts that the hang glider sits on top of. Hang gliders are foot launched: your legs are the landing gear. These aircraft are also commonly called ‘trikes’, which is short for ‘hang glider trike’. Weight Shift Control (WSC): this is the FAA’s term for an aircraft with a hang-glider type wing. ![]()
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