Website of the Day - FlightStats!

 
Seems like the mashups keep getting better and better. I really love FlightStats because it works well for me whether I'm flying commercial, or flying myself. There is a TON of data overlayed on to one page. You can get everything from the airport information to the news about the airport to flight tracking to weather to a cup of coffee! You really ought to check out FlightStats:

The MOST important Flying Tool you will use this Year!

I think I have to buy Mick Balaban a Trophy or something... besides being the smartest and nicest guy around, he CONTINUES to send me incredible links to useful sites! This last one is THE BEST... BAR NONE!
It is called SkyVector and it is an online chart program that lets you use actual VFR Sectional charts to find and plot your course and flight plans. It has a feature when you "right click" on anything to show you the details of that location as well as let you add that to your route. Completely addictive, and absolutely indispensable. GO THERE NOW by clicking HERE:

Video of the Day - PPG Aircraft - A new way to fly!?!

Thanks to Yli for sending us this video. I had to repost it because of a small error in the embed code, but was blown away at how cool this new combination looks!

Ebay Trike for Sale... Bargain of the Year?

Not sure what's up but there is a pretty snazzy A/C Buggy 582 for sale on Ebay with NO RESERVE. Looks like a possible "out of time" situation with the N-number? The ASC Registration is A10CSP and the machine is in Seminole, Alabama. Anyone know the full story? Check it out HERE

Video of the Day #2 - Magpie Attack!

This one intrigued me so much I had to post it tonight. Two Magpie birds attack a hang glider in flight!

Video of the Day - Going down with the ship?

Video of the Day - And you thought Trikes used very little runway...

Find more videos like this on Trikepilot - Social Edition

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Trikepilot Social is Featured at Snap.com!

We were recently featured at Snap.com for our use of their product on our site. A nice post of a letter I sent to them. Check it out HERE

 

The "ultimate" Black Friday (shopping day) Purchase

Once again, hats off to my good friend Mick Balaban for an amazing find. Check out this ONE OF A KIND purchase for that "special someone" on Black Friday! Anyone got $80,000 you can lend me? LINK

New Widget to use on your Member Page

This one is called "Box" and can be found at www.box.net. It is a free upload and storage and sharing tool. It will allow you a quick, neat, and free way to upload and share "stuff" with anyone, create an RSS feed of that stuff, fax it for free, edit it, manipulate it, and generally do "anything" with it. The best part is that the "stuff" is all accessible through any place you put the widget. Thus, you can create a widget that you place in your trikepilot social page to share any types of files with anyone. This would be perfect to use for misc. things like checklists, pages from a manufacturer's manual, FAA documents, or whatever. Check out my sample BOX widget here:

Ahhhhh.... that "New Trike" smell... !!!

Juan Amestoy is the proud father of a brand spanking new Quik GT450, and he posted some awesome shots from the delivery room at the hospital in Thailand where the baby was born. I think he had twins because there is an identical Quik 912 right next to his GT450.... same father? Drunken night on the town?.. Either way, you can tell by the ear to ear grin that Juan is "seriously" pleased with his new machine. Check it out:




Kinda takes me back to March of 2006 when I adopted the first Quik baby to be brought over to America from England. I hired a Nanny friend named Paul Bass from Aerialadventures.net to help me with the birth. See my home movies here:

Aviatec Carbone

An interesting machine from France. Anyone flown one yet?

Equipment

• Ignition key with 2 magneto check
• Instruments switches
• Strobe light
• Battery charging light
• 12v plug
• Three on main wheels
• Digital Instrument Panel ALPHAMFD von Bräuniger
  
• Electric Fuel gauge and Visual gauge
• Compass
• Rescue Parachute
• Emergency engine stop
• Integrated fuel Tank 55 litre
• Travel Bags (Option)

Technical Specification

• Weight
• Max. Take Off weight 450 kg
• Empty weight 224 kg with Instruments - without Rescue
  system
• Max. Useful Load 226/213 kg.

• Performances (at max. Take Off
  Weight 450 kg)
• Max. Speed 135 km
• Vs0 61 km
• Min. Speed 65 km
• VNE 150 km
• Cruising Speed 80 – 120 km/h

More information, visit their website HERE

Some Seriously Cool Helmet Ideas!

From Icaro 2000, a hang-gliding specialty manufacturer are these full and partial shield helmets that might be "just the ticket" for those of us looking for an unusual and comfortable alternative to traditional Trike Buckets. Browse the site and get some ideas HERE

Video of the Day - Tustumena Glacier Trike Flight

Website of the Day - FlyingVideo!

Came across this little gem today. FlyingVideo, a UK based site that hosts a variety of flying videos, mostly trikes and microlights in the UK. They don't yet have a ton of videos, but what they have are pretty cool, and mostly by British pilots flying Quiks and GT450's, which is always nice ;)

Only downside is that they don't allow embedding of the videos, just links to their home page, which is a bit "old fashioned" in 2007, especially since many of their videos are "swiped" off other sites, including my pal Paul Bass' AerialAdventures.net ... what's the reason "not" to allow the videos to be viewed elsewhere as long as they have watermarks to the site?

Worth a quick peek!

Skybright Strobe Installation Detailed Instructions

Find more photos like this on Trikepilot - Social Edition
Check out photos showing complete installation. For written instructions, click on image and see details of each step.

New Features for Site:

Hi Gang. Hope you're having brilliant flying weather this weekend like we are in the Midwest of America. It's about 52F (around 14C I think) with bright blue skies..

I've been thinking about adding some new features to the site to make things more interesting. I would like your feedback regarding the same.

1. A "Review" Section of the more popular trike brands and features. Rather than it coming from me, I'd like the owners of each brand to come forward and talk about what they like/dislike about their machines, or machines they've owned in the past. We have a lot of new buyers and shoppers out there, especially with LSA coming to its conclusion by January.
   For example: Here is a really great picture by Paul Hill of his Tanarg parked on the ground with the wing on. I had NO IDEA that the Tanarg had such a COOL feature where the entire mast and fiberglass covers tilt forward in one piece...Awesome! I'd love to know more from Paul Hill or Bob Thompson or Wayne Bezner Kerr about how they like this feature or others on the Tanarg.
   

   

   
   
2. A "New Gear" Section where all the latest accessories are rated and reviewed... by the members. For example, the video camcorders, the headsets, intercoms, etc. Right now the reviews are all coming from me for the most part, but I would like to get a better degree of input from everyone. By indexing these pages, we can create a great resource for future shopping.
   


3. A "Marketplace" Section. This would be for buying, selling, trading, swapping, etc. Since everyone already has a place on their page to put up pictures, videos, information, etc., about their "stuff", the section would be a simple Index of all entries by the members of things they want to put out for consideration. I think this can be easily done with a little "tag" that I can offer to everyone that they put on any entry to their private page postings which would say "marketplace" and this would then allow the site to find and index these entries and put the links all on one page, with pictures, sort of like Barnstormers does now... but for free.

I'm open to any other new ideas or suggestions as well, so please SEND THEM TO ME so we can put them into action!

Another cool camera / camcorder idea for Trike use!

Thanks to Mick Balaban for bringing this cool little video / still camera system to my attention. It is called the Digital Hero 3 and it provides a 3mp still camera along with a 640x480 resolution video recording capability, all on an SD memory Card. Has a velcro wrist band mount and a waterproof polycarbonate enclosure. Price looks pretty great at only $139.99!!

I will try to get my hands on a unit for testing, but check out their website HERE or HERE
They also have a neat Social Network (kinda like ours!) where users of the product can post videos taken with the system. Lots of sports represented there, but so far no Trike Flying!

New Multi-Camera Solid-State Video System coming for Review!

I just got off the phone with Nick O'Kelly, the inventor of the "ReFlight" recording/camera system. His company will be sending me out a system for review next week and I will share the details with all of you here.

What intrigues me about this system is the price point and the removable flash memory card. The quality of the videos is about "average" for what we all expect from a bullet camera head, rather than HD quality... but, it seems the convenience of the entire package being permanently mounted in the trike with a removable memory would make it VERY easy to record each and every flight.

I will await the delivery of the product to say more, but for now, they have details at their Website and we will be featuring their product in our new marketplace section of Trikepilot Social. This will be a place on the site where vendors can market their products directly to our readers, while allowing direct interaction and feedback on the use, installation, and improvements of the product.

Obviously, we hope that anyone who might purchase the product would share their videos on the site as well ;)

I look forward to sharing more next week!

New Hand Shields ... Prototype Ver. 1 ?

From my pal, Steve Tweedt, an engineer by trade... comes this cool design for hand shields that wills surely get you faster service at the gas pump on the flight line! "Give me 10 gallons and make it snappy!!! GRRRRRRRRR!!"

It's official! Our New Logo is in place...

I combined the two ideas, and voila! I'm happy. It also is now a transparent background .png file so that any of you with custom member pages no longer have that ugly black background bar to ruin your webpages!

Man thanks again to Mick Balaban for sending me the logo to tweak!!

Hope you like ;)
spence

New idea I'm developing for Hand Shield ... comments?

Winter flying is just around the corner. I like to fly year-round, and have various "goodies" in my bag of tricks that allow me to fly in cold weather. Heavy coat, insulated pants and bib, heavy boots, heating coils for my body parts, full mask, balaclava, etc. The one piece of
equipment with which I'm not satisfied is the classic "bar mitt".

Perhaps I'm unusual in my preference, but I can't seem to figure out a good way to use the existing bar mitts. It seems that I'm always having trouble with them because I fidget a lot. I don't like to keep my hands nailed down to the bars or in one spot for very long. Since the bar
mitts I have from Airplane Gear are very "tight" to get into, the situation is even harder.

This has gotten me thinking. I love to tinker with designing new "concepts" and modifications...so why not a new twist on the OLD idea of bar mitts?

Rather than making the mitts attached to the bar...why not simply make hand/wrist deflectors that stay attached to the user's arms, yet provide the same wind deflection? Plus, these would give two surfaces to use for writing notes (airport info, radio frequencies, etc.) and
holding sliced-up chart sections.

I'm building a prototype now, but basically, think of a flat piece of polycarbonate (plastic) that is lays across the wrists and fingers and up to the forearm. It would be curled over the finger tips like the letter "J" with the fingers going into the curl when wrapped around the control bar. It would then have a "C" shaped curl facing down on to the forearm at the other end. There would be two straps, one would be a semi-permanent attachment strap at the forearm, so the device would not fly off in mid-air. The other would be a "loop" of velcro or similar (perhaps a soft but strong bungee material) that would fall into the nook of the first knuckle of every finger, so it could be squeezed against the control bar without interfering.

The idea is that one could wear whatever warm gloves they choose, or even thin gloves, but still be able to have full motion of their fingers and use of their hands on and off the bar. The plastic shield would deflect the brunt of all wind when the hands were on the bar. Also, the deflectors could hold a heated coils or similar to provide additional warmth to the backside of the hand/glove, in addition to providing those extra handy surfaces for notes and charts.

I will take pictures and make notes as my project progresses, but I'd like to hear from you guys as well. Any thoughts or ideas or preferences? What do you use for hand warmth in the winter and how well does it work?

Skybright Strobe Installation Update

Find more photos like this on Trikepilot - Social Edition


I spent the last couple days working on the Skybright Strobe installation on my Quik. I'm preparing a full installation "how to", but in the meantime, I've got some more preview shots of the installation.

The project has gone pretty smooth so far, the only hitch has been taking my time in figuring out how to make the custom landing gear leg mounts, the wiring harnesses, and the new switch array for the dash. When completed, I will have a landing gear light, quad strobes with variable pattern, and position lights on the wing tips, all controlled by their own switches. I've put the strobes and position lights on their own 10A circuit branch.

All of the hardware for my mounting design is off the shelf from Lowes Building Supply and requires only simple hand tools to customize.

I look forward to sharing the complete "how to" as soon as the installation is completed!

If "only" trikes flew like this!

Video of the Day - Teaser for ultralight trike event July 2006 Lapinlahti, Finland

Skybright Strobe installation "how to" coming shortly!

Find more photos like this on Trikepilot - Social Edition

Had a great couple days at Trikepilot Ranch. I took some time to tweak a turn out of my wing, then made the fast track over to the building-supply store for "bits and pieces" to cobble-together my latest creation -- a custom mounting bracket system for the amazing Skybright Strobe System.

I'm going to do a full "how to" shortly, but here are a few preview shots (click on slideshow to see detailed pics). I have two position marker/strobe lights on the wings, red on left and green on right, as well as two high intensity tubular strobes on the trike body. At first I was considering mounting the tubular strobes on the kingpost and belly, but after much head scratching, I elected to go with a little less conventional approach. I think that mounting aft of the cockpit at a slight projected angle (on the landing gear fairings) is the ideal spot for my trike. First, because it relieves any possibility of damage or dirt from being on the belly. Second, because it relieves any problems or danger from being up on the streamlined King Post...where the wires could get fouled or the strobe could come loose and damage the wing in flight. Lastly, because this position is visible from 360 degrees, with the strobe actually reflecting off the engine to make an even larger "target" from a distance.

All the mounting pieces were made from off the shelf components I found at "Lowes" and total cost for the custom brackets and pieces and stainless hardware was about $20.00 total.... not bad.

More details to follow!

Further "Origin of the Species"? The NASA Parasev

 
From our friends at BC Trikes I discovered this gem of information. I was always wondering where the first Trike Designs originated. Seems like it was NASA, circa 1962? Some evidence of the inspiration for the earliest Ultralight Trikes HERE

Triking Adventures - Over Everest! 2004

 
A bit of a classic, but I found this tonight while researching the Biman Enclosed trike for the forum question du' jour. It was the 2004 attempt to tow a hanglider behind a microlight trike to 30,000 feet over Mt. Everest. Just your usual "Sunday Flight" right?

From the website:

Crazy?  Can this be possible?  Two people thought it was perfectly possible, and did it on May 24 2004.  Despite some very marginal weather conditions and some last minute technical glitches the hang glider was towed to a point very close to the summit. The microlight pilot exchanged waves with a group of climbers who were standing on the summit as he flew over Everest!

British Microlight pilot Richard Meredith-Hardy and Italian hang-glider pilot Angelo D’Arrigo started preparing for this project in 2002.   It was a highly technical exercise requiring the development of a lot of specialist equipment to cope with the extreme conditions.  Very high takeoffs, (12,200 ft), temperatures of minus 25° C at altitudes where without oxygen the normal ‘time of useful consciousness’ is less than one minute.

LINK

Say hello to our friends in B.C. - Air Trikes!

A comprehensive site, put together with a great eye for graphic design. I came across BCTrikes while researching the Poisk (three seat trike). I was truly impressed at how well the site owners, Mikhail Gavrikov and Victor Okunev, have incorporated their online presence with the marketing of their trike flying business. They offer trike intro flights, trike rentals, and other services related to the world of trike flying that I've not seen anywhere else. That they are relatively recent Russian immigrants to B.C. is even more impressive... a ton of hard work has clearly paid off!

PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out their site... and give them a ring if you are going to be up there way anytime soon!

LINK

Incredibly comprehensive archive of Trike Designs

Microlight.org.uk is a virtual "Must See" website for anyone curious about the many forms that our amazing machines take and have taken over the years. Check out the Three-seater from Russia!
LINK

Website of the Day - Silent Family of Fully Enclosed Trikes

In my never ending quest to deliver satisfaction to the Trikepilot Social members... here is the Silent Family of Trikes, which are Fully Enclosed. This is in response to the recent forum post asking about whether a Tukan Trike (or similar) can be made more comfortable like a conventional aircraft. Although the site is in German, it is a good start and one can Google for more details on English Websites.
LINK

Website of the Day - Microlights in Scotland!

Sounds like a wonderful location to add to my list of places to visit (and fly!). Let's see... Thailand, Russia, Brazil, India, Scotland... better bring a big suitcase! Check it out... ;)

LINK

Video of the Day - Microlight Flight over Turkey

Website of the Day - Miles Hilton-Barber

A truly inspirational individual. Miles Hilton-Barber is Blind, but (with the help of Storm Smith) has undertaken adventures that most of us with sight would never dare. In particular, his microlighting achievements are remarkable. Miles is a popular motivational speaker who has an incredible attitude and zest for life.
LINK

Website of the Day - Nick's Micropages

A true "classic" is Nick's Micropages. It is chock-full of microlighting stories, adventures, forums, classifieds, etc. It's the "Craigslist" of the UK microlight scene. I love all the articles, but one of my favorites is the biography of Eppo Harbrink Numan, who made a gallant and successful effort to fly his microlight trike solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1990. Check out his story and the rest of the site...you won't be dissapointed ;)

 

Video of the Day - Why We Fly

LAST DAY TO ENTER EAA's VIDEO CONTEST - Today September 30, 2007

Sorry for the late notice, but EAA's Air Venture Video Competition ends tonight at Midnight. There is still time to take your favorite video from your collection and submit it for consideration. They don't say what the "prize" is for the competition..but I imagine it is something to do with having the video displayed on their site or at the Museum.

Check out the LINK to the contest rules:

Weekend Getaway - with a BRS and a side of strobes...

After almost a year and a half, today was the day that I was going to make down to Rob Rollison's place in Bloomfield, Indiana (Shawnee Airport, 1I3) to pickup my BRS 1050 softpack for N912Q.

I took off this morning at 10am from Trikepilot Ranch in Sawyer, Michigan and had gorgeous 75 degree weather, light 10mph winds at my tail, and 10 podcasts of "CarTalk" on my iphone to keep me busy during the flat stretches.

In SW Michigan we have gorgeous rivers and trees and Lake Michigan. In NW Indiana (and SW Illinois) we have FLAT FLAT FLAT... hence the need for a little audio diversion. Nevertheless, with no phones, no noise, and no one to talk to... it was a great time to let my brain take a rest from the stress of daily life.

With the tailwind I made the 238 mile journey in about two hours and twenty minutes, averaging about 93mph ground speed most of the way. Not bad for 4200 RPM and 3.5gph burn on the 912s. I dropped down on the deck for most of the central Indiana route, checking out the wheat harvest that is going on almost everywhere this week in the Farm Belt.

When I arrived at Shawnee, Rob Caya was waiting for me as he had driven down Thursday to book another marathon weekend of flight training with Allistair Wilson of Astratrike. Rob is advancing rapidly and I'm hoping he'll solo this weekend!?! He's already bought a slick Quantum 912 (white) and we're eager to get him back up to Trikepilot Ranch before the winter.

A great bit of lunch (had a "Manhattan".. which I learned is a Turkey sandwich on White Bread with lots of white gravy on top?), we went back to Shawnee to meet Chris Bailey from AirplaneGear who set me up with a new Skybright Quad Strobe kit as well as my BRS bits. The strobe has top and bottom circular white strobes, with two wingtip combo lights. The tip lights have red/green position, rear facing white LED position markers, and flashing white strobes. I saw these on John Keith's GT450 and they ROCK. When we came back to Trikepilot Ranch on our way to Cushing this summer it was about twenty minutes past sunset and John looked like a Christmas Tree he was so bright. Perfect for the hard-to-see trike in the brave new world of GA flying!

It was getting on 4:30 and I knew I had a headwind.. so I said my "goodbyes" and headed North. It was another blissful flight, with light winds, the sun setting on my port side and nothing but the harvesters and my daydreams to pass the time. Once again I arrived to Trikepilot Ranch just around 8:00 with the sun having just gone below the water line of Lake Michigan. Gorgeous.

I'll be posting photos of how the BRS 1050 softpack installation works out for me. This is my second softpack install, but last one was a bit smaller and I had some other details to work out. Likewise, I'll be doing a "how to" on the strobe installation, particularly how to make brackets to hold the wingtip units.

Microlight History

Early Microlighting in the UK, circa 1980's

Video of the Day - Microlight Basics

I'VE QUIT FLYING ULTRALIGHT TRIKES!!

Yes my friends, the day has finally come... I'VE QUIT FLYING ULTRALIGHT TRIKES FOR GOOD. That's it, done, finito, all over, never again! WTF? you say??

Well, the truth is... my little baby has become a big girl today and earned her N-number. American Quik #1 has finally been given her driver's license and stamped with "N912Q".

The process was actually incredibly painless. My DAR, Tom Milton, from Lansing Airport, was kind enough to drive up to the Trikepilot Flying Ranch today and complete my inspection and sign-off the paperwork.

The whole procedure took about an hour, including a bit of discussion over the FAR details and the recent modifications to the airspace restriction regs. All in all, it was a no-brainer once I had followed all the preparatory steps outlined in the EAA handbook:

1) Stamped and installed my placard to the base frame of the trike where it could be seen;
2) Applied my "N912Q" in 3" letters as well as my "Experimental" graphics in 2" letters;
3) Double-checked that all other warning and instrument and guage decals were in place;
4) Had my Weight and Balance completed along with my FAA Registration card and my engine/airframe logbook (from P&M);

Tom gave my machine a once-over, checked all the paperwork, and then signed my logs. A $400 check for time and travel and it was official. As soon as I have my Mode-C altitude encoding transponder I'll be seeing you guys at O'Hare Airport! ;)

Good luck to everyone else getting it done... it's a load off the shoulders.

Cold Weather Flying Gear - Part Deux! Thanks Rob Caya!!

My good pal Rob Caya keeps lobbing me underhand pitches... he sent me a link to this awesome site that specializes in selling action gear for outdoor sports (flying and motorcycles and snowmobiles, etc.)

Check out particularly their GERBER heated clothing line!

LINK

Sneak Peek! ... Is THIS the new Quik MkIII Dashboard?

From the secret testing grounds near Wiltshire England come these un-verified photos of what appears to be the NEW dashboard arrangement for the P&M Quik MkIII. While we cannot reveal our source, it seems that the dash has grown taller, wider, and a bit more squared-off at the edges, so as to accommodate a full-sized GPS right below the FlyDat.

We will keep you informed as we know more...

Website of the Day - SportAviationCenter.com

Today's feature is Sport Aviation Center from Samanth Moore out of Carson City, NV. She has an extremely informative site, with information about her background, the process of obtaining flight instruction, and some clever multimedia. Looks like there is terrific geographic terrain for sightseeing as well, should one want to take a visit for fun or instruction. Her prices are all clearly available as well as further details about the packages she offers.

I noticed that in her video (below) she's using a bar-mounted switch box with at least three mini cameras. I'm not sure of her setup, so I hope she will join us and provide some details? It reminds me a bit of my multicamera setup that I used in the video Jitka's Big Adventure, which was four bullet cameras, a home made switcher and remote pan and tilt mechanism. See the whole rig HERE.

From her site:
Samantha Moore has been flying since 1981. She started hang gliding and
quickly became a recognized personality in the competition circles.
After placing in the top five in several international events, Samantha
began flying powered trikes. She became an instructor because she
wanted to share her love for flight with others.

Thailand has an incredibly strong Aviation community

Juan Amestoy has joined us from Thailand, and Wayne Bezner Kerr has done some flying in Thailand before... I'm waiting to hear from Eddie Smith, who practically lives down there full time now. So, I decided to do a little research and I discovered that Thailand has a VERY strong Aviation and Microlight community. They seem to favor "clubs" over just open airports, which may be a way of supporting the maintenance and costs of the fields... (Juan?) With such incredible scenery, great food, and warm weather... mark me down for a trip to Thailand!

Check out the Thai Flying Club main page for more info!

LINK

INDIAN SUMMER - TAKING THE WEEKEND OFF TO GO FLYING!

No doubt I'm not alone... we average over 300 viewers a day on this site. Yesterday and today that number has fallen off the shelf. I can only guess it is because of this GORGEOUS weather we are having and the fact that everyone wants to get in the last of their "summer" before it is too late. It was 88 degrees in Sawyer Michigan Friday and Saturday and I put in three hours of pure bliss... flying 100 feet off the crystal clear Lake Michigan Water while skimming the beaches filled with "landlubbers" and wealthy people waving from their multi-million dollar homes on the bluffs. It just doesn't get ANY better than this. Forget the psychiatrists, drugs, alcohol, gambling, or any other vices... this IS the way for any restless spirit to get out of the trap of daily existence and be FREE!!!

Because of this self-induced hiatus, and the fact that I'm taking my kids sailing today on the big lake, I'm just giving a link to the site that inspired me to start Trikepilot.com back in 2000. It is the second of two sites by Jim McKay, the first of which was about his experience building a Quicksilver Ultralight. This one is about his "return" to the world of ultralight flying in his Trike, and how life is too short to "not" take advantage of our dreams of flight. The site remains an inspiration to me, and please take the time to visit his guestbook where you will see how he has been an inspiration to hundreds of others as well.

Enjoy the weekend and fly safe!
Spence

LINK

Flying the Falls High Definition African Adventure - Coming Soon!

From our friend, Mark Becker, in South Africa we have received notice that his latest adventure is called "Flying The Falls" and will soon be available on DVD (we'll have a full review here at Trikepilot Social). In the meantime, check out the dynamic scenery taped in High Definition... such a huge improvement over standard DV when looking at the wildlife and geography of the Nambian wetlands. Beautiful!

LINK

Best of John 'Ole' Olson - Stories from the Wild Blue Yonder

John Olson (or Ole') as he likes to be called, is an old-timer in the trike world. Having come from the Hang Glider adventures of the 1980s and 1990's, he has spent much of the last decade or so traveling up and down the west Coast and into Mexico where he has taught hundreds of students and acquired thousands of great stories. His website is LearnToHanglide.com and here is the page of his "best" stories. Keep in mind, John has a "spicy" sense of humor ;)

Enjoy!

LINK

WOW - Check out the slick new DTA "Combo"

I don't have any further info on this incredibly hot looking machine from DTA (without a front strut, just like the Voyageur). But there is a PICTURE GALLERY available and some other info.

Download Combo leaflet here (PDF)
Download full Combo Brochure here (PDF)

Prices from the factory in France including delivery are quoted as ranging from $28,700 for a Combo 503 to $46,200 for a Combo 912. Anyone had their hands on one of these yet?

Digital Photography Tutorials

This site includes tutorials on how
to acquire, interpret and process digital photographs. A great introduction for anyone who is looking to improve their aviation photography skills, as well as their post-processing editing techniques.

LINK

Website of the Day - Top 1000 Ultralight and Microlight Sights

A pretty deep catalog of links to sites about ultralights, microlights and trikes. Thanks to Rob Caya for the tip.

LINK

Microlighters in South Africa

Mark Becker turned me on to this great bulletin board from South Africa. Great way to compare points of view from a different part of the world.

LINK

Magic Trikes USA - Ace Aviation

Located in Casper, Wyoming, Magic Trikes USA was created by Dan Cooper to import, sell, and service Ace Magic Trikes throughout the United State. What I particularly like about this design is its portability (check picture above!). These are part 103 single-seat designs and a great alternative to LSA.

Ace Aviation started the design on the single seater Magic Microlight series back in 1999. It has been tested, modified and produced in India since then. Materials from Europe and America are used in the construction of the trike, air-frame and sail. The airframe tubing is certified for ultralight construction. John Penry-Evans who originally came from Wales in the UK has been involved in the aerosports industry since the 1970's. He directs all of Ace Aviation’s production work in India and together with a workforce of 18 skilled people keeps the standard of the finished product very high.

LINK

Wings of Madness - Alberto Santos Dumont

Today I saw a fascinating Nova presentation (PBS) on the life and accomplishments of Alberto Santos Dumont. He was one of the most significant pioneers of flight, though his accomplishments were initially overshadowed by the Wright Brothers.

Born in Brazil, he went to Paris in 1897 where he developed the first successful powered Dirigibles. Though a man of small stature, he became the hit of Europe for his constantly changing and improving designs. Ultimately, after reaching the end of the road with lighter-than-air machines, he moved on to airplanes. Working in part to acquire a 3,000 franc (in 1906) prize for the first to fly 60 meters, he designed and successfully flew the 14-bis to an immediate win.

After retreating to the countryside at age 32, his life took a tragic turn. WWI began and he saw the fruits of his hard work and hope for their peaceful use turned to non-peaceful means. This took its toll on his psyche and he went in and out of mental institutions for more than five years. Eventually, his family moved him back to Brazil for help. While in a sanitarium in his hometown, he saw military aircraft flying overhead and ultimately crashing during Brazil's civil war. The thought of brother killing brother with his invention was too much for him and he hung himself in his room that day. He was ultimately buried with the cause of death listed as "heart attack" in order to preserve his status as a national hero of Brazil.

The show is captivating and shows how incredibly similar some of his early machines were to our modern ultralights, especially his best design, the 1909 Demoiselle #20.

Don't miss this wonderful presentation on a PBS station in your broadcast area, or check the preview and details online.

LINK TO PBS

Wikipedia Article

Ok, one more video today.. just couldn't resist!

Alex Gore makes some of the best flying videos in the world... why won't he join us?

Well, I have to say that Alex is pen-pal of mine, but we don't see or speak to each other much. I begged him to join me in creating this website about two months ago because he is simply amazing when it comes to his video and web skills. His website at WindsandWings is one of the best I've ever seen.

Unfortunately, Alex has indicated to me that he is not into the "social thingy" and has, up till now, decided not to join us here. I figure that my only choice is to try even harder to get him to join by showing you one of my favorite videos from his YouTube collection. His editing is flawless, he has a great storyline, and the music goes with the flow. A master at work.

If anyone can help change Alex's mind (Abid... Larry...??) please give him a poke and tell him we're missing him over here. In the meantime, check out "Sky Rats Adventure"

Hey...isn't that Lucien Bartosik?

Anyone know where Lucien is these days? Bring him in and get him on board!

Video of the Day - Karl's Backyard Trike Flying!

A charming little vid from Southern France ;)

Trikepilot Social Featured Member - Rhett Dooley

Sometimes I stumble upon someone with a great eye for design. Today I found Rhett Dooley's Member Page here at Trikepilot Social. His choice of colors and graphite background are very stimulating and quite attractive. Rhett has also made good use of his photo slideshow, forum posts, and comments page. Hats off to Rhett... check out his page.

Tutorial #2 - How to Add A Photo to Trikepilot Social Postst

Find more videos like this on Trikepilot - Social Edition

Potentially the COOLEST tool I've seen on the Web this year - PERIOD!

Ok, so the story goes like this...

I'm talking to Tal Newhart today, and he sort of casually mentions that his "nephew and some of his pals" have launched this new website. Well, I'm thinking it is some kind of MySpace page, or whatever. Then, I go to the Website at Animoto.com and what I find there CHANGES MY LIFE FOREVER! Seriously, it is that amazing.

What they'e done is to create a site where you can sign up, add your photos (or have it get your photos from an online site such as Flickr or Picassa or Photobucket or Trikepilot Social), pick a musical soundtrack or upload your own, and then ask it to generate a unique music video (slideshow). While you are waiting for it to be generated and a link sent to you, the site gives you a ton of interesting toys and links to play with (obviously how they fund the site).

In a couple minutes, a link is sent to you with your completed video. Now, I've been editing my videos for six years or more, and have used almost EVERY video editing tool, including those from Apple. What Animoto has done here is REMARKABLE. The video comes back as if it were done by some high-priced producer in Los Angeles. The cuts, wipes, fades, drop-ins, everything..amazing.

So simple that anyone can use it. Below is a 30 second sample I made in about ten seconds of work. See if you agree that this is going to change videos on the internet:

Tutorial #1 - How to Add A Hyperlink to Trikepilot Social Posts

Find more videos like this on Trikepilot - Social Edition

Be sure to click on the Full Screen Button to view it larger!