Website of the Day - Raven Soaring Trikes (Trikosaurus)

Billed as "The Most Comfortable Trike You'll Ever Fly", the Raven Soaring Trike is an FAR Part 103 legal trike that is powered by a 28hp Hirth Engine. It is also an engine-less soaring trike.
 
It is basically the undercarriage and power unit, and can be used with a variety of wings. Fully transportable, quiet, and convenient. A nice alternative to the two-seat trainers and SLA machines more commonly in use. I can imagine that one of these machines would be incredibly relaxing to fly on an early Sunday morning with calm winds and the sun coming up in the East....

A brief description from Bob Corbo's article in Hang Glider Magazine:

Although first conceived in 1999 it wasn’t until the spring of 2000 that the first Trikosoarus™ as originally named, got airborne. What it is in one form is a rigid supine harness with a tricycle landing gear, and rigid connection to a hang glider, designed to be aero towed or roll launched. In its other form it’s the most fun powered micro light trike you could ever fly. Capable of both super slow powered flight (18 mph indicated airspeed with a 160lb pilot) and engine off soaring with electric restart. And the real neat thing about these two very different flying machines is that it only takes 10 minutes to convert from one to the other.

LINK

Thrust SSC Team - Flashback highlight on Bill Sherlock

My good friend, and former head of P&M Aviation, Bill Sherlock, was involved about ten years ago in a great project to exceed the speed of sound in a land vehicle. They succeeded. The first ever supersonic World Land Speed Record of 763.035 mph was set on 15th October 1997 by Andy Green in ThrustSSC, on the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.


Bill's job was to fly the a Quantum 912 over the course during operations - looking for incursions onto the playa and giving members of the media rides. Though Bill has since moved on to other interesting endeavors, the Thrust Site is still up and running and makes a fascinating read.

LINK

Origins of the Species? or.... Who Flew Before the Wright Brothers?

An interesting article describing the cast of characters who actually did "fly" at the same time or before Orville and Wilbur, but were never given the same recognition. Check out the video then visit the article

LINK

Got some vacation time? How about visiting some aviation museums?

Pretty cool site, and simpe to use. Just click on the location you are planning to visit to see a comprehensive list of Aviation museums. Includes details of exhibits, aircraft on display, and user reviews. Photographs on the front page would be nice, but overall a decent resource.

LINK

Air Show Collison Video

Two pilots were killed performing aerial acrobatics at an air show in Poland when their aircraft collided head-on above thousands of spectators. From Planenews.com

Not a helicopter, not a trike, it's the Airscooter II

The latest in my "Not a Trike" flying machine series... this cute little critter is like a combination of helicopter and hovercraft. It has no tail rotor, no collective control, and redundant engine and control functions. They promise a price below $50,000 as well. Sign me up!

Check out the details from their site:

By eliminating the need and complexity of swashplates, collective and cyclic control through a coaxial rotor design a number of benefits beyond conventional helicopter designs are immediately realized. First; enhanced, intuitive flight controls are achieved by simple motorcycle-style handlebars and the absence of a tail rotor. To gain altitude, simply throttle up like you would on a motorcycle, turn left or right on the handlebars for craft rotation and move the handlebar assembly as a joystick for directional control (including reverse). No pedal controls are necessary, which means someone without the use of their legs can just as easily fly the AirScooter. Handlebar controls represent the most distinguishable feature of the AirScooter. AirScooter's patented design also provides an amazing level of stability while in the air and during flight.

LINK

Video of the Day - Mission Wales

I simply cannot understand this Website? Canyonland Flyers LLC

Ok, so I'm about to do my "website of the day" and I find a new trike website that has very professional graphics, a logical layout, detailed information, and all the elements of a "winner!"

So, as I'm browsing the site, looking for some form of contact info... ANY form of contact info... I find the STRANGEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN ONLINE! A complete and total OXYMORON. The site has the following on their "Contact" page (click below to enlarge):

"Currently we are not taking any requests from the web. Thank you."

In other words... thanks for visiting this really great website, with tons of great info on how we can help you to train, visit us, sightsee, give us your money, etc.... but "oh, by the way" PLEASE DON'T CONTACT US IN ANY WAY!

WTF?

Can someone please contact ME to explain what is going on here because this is so absurd that it is making my head hurt! Who is running Canyonland Flyers and "why" are they missing the boat in such an obvious way here?

Thank you for your patience... my rant is over now ;)

If you haven't seen this, you have not SEEN flying!

I always thought that trikes were pretty "maneuverable"... man how wrong I was! One night last week I fell asleep in front of the television. When I woke up, there was the craziest sh*t onscreen that I had ever seen!! These guys were flying a closed-course of gigantic inflatable cones with small overpowered aerobatic airplanes at speeds over 200mph! Unbelievable!!

You have GOT to check this video, it's called the "Red Bull Air Races" and they have "legs" held in different countries. This video is from Porto Gaia in Portugal.

Maybe I'm old fashioned? More Paper Airplane fun!

Could it be that I'm having flashbacks to my youth? Perhaps it's because I have two young sons? Either way, I'm hooked on all these really cool paper-airplane websites. Found another one today, this one shows you graphic animations rather than youtube video. Seriously well done, and some neat designs too! Spend a minute and harken back to the early days when you only dreamed about flying a trike and had to use your imagination, and a bit of folded paper, to take to the sky!

LINK

Google Earth has a hidden Flight Simulator Feature!

It seems that you can actually find a pretty decent flight simulator built right into the free Google Earth! It requires a couple simple steps to find this "Easter Egg", but once you find it, a menu items appears for future use.

Full Details can be seen at Marco's Blog HERE

Video of the Day - Nice Triking

Ultralight Trike - These bloopers are hilarious

Website of the Day - Microlights in India!

From a few of our new members I have discovered that there is a thriving microlight community in India. Wow, we are finding trikes all over the planet! (still waiting to hear from our friends in Russia....?) Check out our membership map, with 3400+ visitors from 55 Countries!

The website to check out from India is called the National Adventure Foundation, and you can find them HERE

Website (story) of the Day - ShowTime at Sun 'N Fun!

From the LearnToFlyTrikes.com website:

A great little "I learned about flying from that" story about wet grass, brakes, and paying attention!

LINK

Do it yourself Videography Gear (mounts, brackets, and cranes)

Found this very interesting site today that gave me some inspiration for creating new trike mounts to hold my camcorders, bullet cams, and digital cameras.

Most of the equipment can be made from off-the-shelf aluminum and pvc, with minimal machining. Perhaps this might spark a bit of an idea in one of you as well?

LINK

Fear of Trike Flying? They can help!

Do you or your spouse have a "fear" of trike flying? Have you found cobwebs growing on your brand-new Quik912 because of lack of use? Well, maybe they have an answer for you HERE

From their website:

Many people develop fears as they mature and life seems more precious, while others may have experienced a bad flight. You may have a strong imagination, recently began a family, or feel a need to be in control. Young mothers often feel protective and nervous flying with their kids or babies. Regardless of how fears develop, those who suffer can experience sleepless nights, elevated anxiety, and fear of panic attacks. Friends and family often don't understand the problems caused by a fear of flying.

Concerns may include weather, turbulence, take offs, flying over water, claustrophobia, crowds, losing control (panic attacks), terrorists, hijackings, fear of falling, and fear of heights. Many times these worries are caused by a lack of understanding about what to expect during a flight. Most fearful flyers just need a little help in the form of education, reassurance, and guidance.

Flying under the Radar

As part of my ongoing "Not a Trike Video" series... check out this low level flying at 600+mph!

Wow! Trikepilot Social turns 100 (and then some...)

I must have put something into the water because you guys are amazing! We went from 70+ members to over 100 members in one day... Incredible! There's no doubt we are on to something here, as the number of visitors, contributions, photos and video postings is growing exponentially.

Look at our stats. We had been averaging between 100 to 150 visitors per day until yesterday and then the number shot up to 326!

Likewise, our monthly statistics below show that we are up to more than 3300 visitors a month with over 27,000 unique page views! Amazing.... considering that our Trikepilot.com "classic" site was averaging 1/10th those numbers. Clearly you guys are enjoying your daily visits back to the new site. I'm a proud pappa ;)

I want to thank everyone who has helped to make this social experiment a success and urge everyone to tell all their friends to climb on board. Put up a badge on your website or even use it as a signature in your emails. The more the merrier!

Cheers!
spence

Video of the Day - Flying Dreams

2007 Cushing Field Bivouac Fun Fly Results are In!

This just in from Mike Hudetz. Gene Dean is the flying machine!!
(Check out Dave Wallis' Photos of the event HERE)

Below are the event results – sorry for some missing last names.

Balloon Drop:

3rd Place Pete Loepert with a total of (sum of 3 drops) 47 feet from target
2nd Place    Shane Duncan with a total of 41 feet
1st Place Gene Dean with a total of 34 feet

Spot Landing

3rd Place Mike Hudetz and Spencer Forman/Rob Caya (912 Quick) with a total of 200 points
2nd Place    Jesse with Aqua/ Black 912 Clipper with a total of 250 points
1st Place Gene Dean and Shane Duncan with a total of 300 points

Take Off and Landing Race Against the Clock

3rd Place Jesse with Aqua/ Black 912 Clipper with 131.51 seconds
2nd Place    Gene Dean with 128.35 seconds
1st Place Scott Johnson with 124.60 seconds

It should be mentioned that John Kieth, flying a 912 Quick would have won this event with 121.01 seconds, but he failed to keep all 3 wheels on the ground for at least ½ second on his first landing. “Ricochet” landings are not allowed in this event. It has to be a complete touch and go with all 3 wheels on the ground for at least ½ second.

Mike