"Topless" Trikes from GibboGear!

A unique player in the Trike market is GibboGear (Mark Gibson), who for many years has created a specialized niche by offering "topless" wings. In other words, wings that have no kingpost and wires to support the wing while on the ground or during negative loads. These wings are also known as "strutted" designs, because the two lower struts serve to carry both the load of the wing as well as to handle the positive and negative "G" forces while in the air.



GibboGear seems to be moving in the direction of many in the lower-price market, by specializing now on some new Part 103 legal machines and wings. This may be a good move for them as it would be otherwise hard to sell a lower priced SLSA or ELSA two-seater when one considers the high-cost of certification, and the individual ownership costs of obtaining a Sport Pilot certificate. It seems logical that many Ultralight Trike pilots may simply shift into one-place Part 103 legal machines and avoid Sport Pilot altogether.

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Mark is also marketing a slick line of LSA aircraft that also utilize the "topless" wing design, called the "Manta Ray". To be quite honest, I have to check with Abid Farooqui and Mark to understand whether there is any cross-marketing going on as these machines are incredibly similar to the Apollo line being sold by TampaBay Aerosport. More info on the Manta Ray HERE