Microlight Trike Weight Shift Control Aircraft

I have been asked a few questions about the trike and have decided to update the information about it...

The Wing:

The wing is an original Airborne Edge wing. It is the best wing they ever made in my opinion. It is higher performance, like the latest Streak wing, but larger so you can drift along at about 55 knots with the engine turning at about 4800 rpm. I bought a new sailcloth about 2 years before I stopped flying, so the wing has done low hours. The sailcloth is in very very good condition.

The wing has been in a hangar when not being flown. With the wing under full tension, I used to use a pully to gently winch the nose of the wing up a side wall of the hangar and then stand it on the end of its keel - like a big moth pinned to the wall if you can imagine. Then I would loop a rope around the end of each wingtip to take all the weight of the wing. Then I would de-tension the wing so there was no tension in the sail and it was totally relaxed in an upright position in the hangar between flights.

The left-hand wing tip was closest to the entrance to the hangar. There was never any direct sunlight on the wing at any time of the year, but the strong North Queensland indiret sunlight still managed to fade the left wingtip a little. Since I stopped flying, the wing has been zippered up in its bag in my garage.

The wing has enough years on it that it must be stripped down and all of the tubing inspected. I do not know in advance what the inspection will show. Also, Airborne do not manufacture the Edge wing anymore. I imagine you can still get individual lengths of tubing that may be required if any, but I do not know the answer to that.

The Seats:

The seats are the original seats which are made from a tough material and webbing. When flying without a passenger I would often carry a plastic 20 litre jerry of fuel on the passenger seat. Sometimes some fuel would get onto the seat - which I would wash off as best I could. The seats are still usable, but they don't look pretty.

I did get a guy in Townsville who makes swags to make a new set of trike covers at one stage. He made them from really tough vinyl-type material and are much better than those that come from Airborne. They are included with the trike. The point I want to make here is that such a person could also make a set of new seats which will look really good. The existing seats can be used as a pattern.

The Engines:

There is a silvertop Rotax 582 on the trike. It was bought new and has done about 20 hours. The original engine (also a silvertop Rotax 582) had an overhaul and has since done about 40 hours. It had a rebore and new pistons added. From that engine is missing the plastic disc that fits in the lid of the oil reservoir. A mate of mine helping me swap engines put it down and lost it :-(
That is a 20 cent item. Without it, oil comes out of the top of the reservoir. Otherwise the spare engine is just fine.

The Fuselage:

The fuselage has always been hangared with its covers on it. It is these days in my garage, but it was always at the back of the hangar (behind a Cessna Aerobat) nowhere near the sun. I have never scratched to duco on the trike and it has done no hard landings - that is literally true. The base tube is perfectly straight.

The cutout switches do not work. After the last two landings that I flew I had to lean back and turn off the fuel to stop the engine. Obviously those switches need replacing. You can get them from Haymans or Dick Smith.

The Trike Trailer:

Unlike the actual trike and wing, the trailer has been out in the weather all its life. It was too expensive to pay hangarage for it. The axle is covered in surface rust and needs to be replaced. The electrics need to be re-done. There are two metal ramps in good condition to roll the trike on and off. When you roll the trike on the wheels drop into a couple of wells so the trike is secure.

The design is ratty because it is hard to get the trike wheels back out of the wells, especially with the weight of a full tank of fuel. There needs to be a change to the design there - cut the back off the wells and weld on a bracket which can be swung into place and lock in the wheels. Because I didn't often use the trailer I just put up with it.

The Prop:

The prop is an Ivoprop - carbon fibre. Not new, but in very good condition. Also you can adjust the pitch on the ground.

General:

The trike wing attaches to the top of the mast with a hang bolt. There has to be a backup heavy webbing strap which acts as a safety backup to the hang bolt. A new backup strap needs to be bought from Airborne.

In the sale is included the spare reconditioned engine, a new exhaust separate from the one on the trike, a new cylinder head temperature gauge (never used), a mechanical prop balancer, a spare ground-adjustable prop pitch kit. If you come and pick it up, it includes a drum of Castrol Super-TT two-stroke oil.

I am not selling a new trike and I do not want to over sell it. I am not asking much for it, I have too much on my plate for flying for the next couple of years. It is sitting here doing nothing, so I have decided to sell it. I also need some space in my garage.

I have tried to convey the good and bad so you have the full picture.