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On the Mosquito the p ilot is
the landing gear, he is attached via a harness to a wing and the powerplant – engine,
reduction drive, prop, fuel etc are attached to both him and the wing. Once up and flying
he lays prone as he would in a conventional hang glider. The craft is powered by a 15 hp
Radne Raket 120, 2 stroke engine. For more information on the Mosquito contact Traverse
City Hang Gliders at 616-922-2844 in Michigan.
The other trike was a unit that could be used as either a flying trike under a hanglider
style wing - or it could be converted into a powered parachute - by removing
the hang glider wing and installing a chute. Thus you had  the best of both worlds. An
added advantage of this unit was that it could be folded up. It actually fits into the
trunk of a car!
For more information
For those wanting a 'homegrown" version of a powered parachute that
can be converted to a "trike" the people from Buckeye had their little
"Buckeye Brat" on display. The "Brat" has a little more power, as it
is offered with the 447 Rotax engine. Empty weight comes in just under 200 lbs, whether it
is a powered parachute or a trike. For more information contact Buckeye Industries
16095 linden Rd. Dept. UF Argos, IN 46501. Telephone 219-892-5566
Another trike was actually a flying boat. It uses a a trike based fuselage mounted into a
rubber boat, the kind that you see on white water rafting and jungle expeditions. I
actually saw this style of craft several years ago while filming video footage of the Sea
Rey. It came out of nowhere, touched down taxied up to shore and then took off again.
During the show there were two of them flying one was the standard trike while another
based on a nearby lake would fly over for the manufacturers demo and evening fly-bys.
Apparently the boat can be removed or installed in about half an hour, thus you have a
flying boat or a standard trike. Next step - an amphibian?
You meet a lot of good people in this industry, two rank in the top
10 on my list are Carlo's, the manufacturer of the Aventura line of ultralights, and Bob
Bailey who along with Bill Moyes produce the Tempest ultralight glider and the DragonFly hang glider tug. This year Bobby and Bill introduced a new and very
revolutionary trike at Sun N Fun - The Silent Racer. This apparently is a
trike motor glider/glider tug. The trike section is an enclosed cockpit which also
encloses the engine and pilot. In flight the gear retracts into the body of the craft and
for soaring the prop collapses into something that, as Vern Peckham, the
voice of ultralights at Lakeland said "looks like a squid."  A
couple of other things you noticed from the ground was that the craft made very little
noise, and cruised through the circuit at incredible speed.
The Silent Racer is designed by Helmut Grossklaus, and is a 2
seater, powered by a Hirth engine using a belt drive. The Silent Racer can also be used as
a glider tug, with towing being done through the center of the prop shaft.
For more information contact:
Moyes America 1795 40th Aven. Dept. UF, San Francisco CA 94122 - 415-753-9534 |
