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:

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

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!

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

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

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 ;)

 

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

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

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

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"

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:

Website of the Day - Trikephotos.com

 

Mark Brindle has a slick graphic site focused on his triking adventures in Australia. More than 6000 high-quality shots of his Airborne Edge, the incredible geography and scenery of Australia, and the memories he's had along the way. Check it out!
LINK

Website of the Day - Official Guide To Experimental Aircraft

A pretty comprehensive guide, though perhaps a bit dated insofar as LSA has kicked-in this year. Check out some of the trike links.

LINK