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An ultralight trike or paratrike is a type of powered hang glider where flight control is by weight-shift. These aircraft have a fabric Rogallo wing from which is suspended a tricycle fuselage pod driven by a pusher propeller. The pod accommodates either a solo pilot, or a pilot and a single passenger. Trikes grant affordable, accessible, and exciting flying, and have been popular since the 1980s.
Trikes are classified as in Europe, and as light-sport aircraft in the United States. The aircraft are also known by other names, including 2-axis microlights, flex-wing trikes, microlight trikes, deltatrikes Deltacat ULM AVIATION: deltatrike or motorized . Motorized Delta plane term In the United States, they are formally recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as weight-shift-control aircraft. 14 CFR § 1.1: General definitions.
Publicity from the FleepPress release of the XV-8 'Fleep': August 14, 1961, by Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine. and the Paresev tests sparked interest in the design among several tinkerers, including Barry Palmer, and Sport Aviation of 1962 shown Jim Hobson of Experimental Aircraft Association (wing shown on US national TV in Lawrence Welk Show in 1962). An Australian engineer Mike Burns developed and used the boat-towed Rogallo-airfoiled SkiPlane starting in 1962 through the 1960s. A fellow countryman of Mike Burns, John W. Dickenson, made ski-kites and eventually partnered with Mike Burns to improve the ski-kite; he formatted a ski-kite that used what could be found in the 1929 George A. Spratt simple triangle control bar or A-frame with single-point pendulum weight-shift control.
An influence through John Dickenson's duplication of his device, The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum' Dickenson built a model based on the 'flexile wing' principle with a single hang point on an A-frame: who named his flexible-wing ski-kite the Ski Wing. Ski Wing Dickenson fashioned a water ski kite airframe to fit on a Rogallo airfoilArticle by Mark Woodhams, British Columbia Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association: Western Museum of Flight The Australian Ultralight Federation – History where the pilot sat on a swinging seat while the control frame and wire bracing distributed the load to the wing as well as gave a frame freedom to be pushed/pulled for weight-shift control.The swinging seat and control frame are two key control elements J. Dickenson 'imported' from ski kites into his successful Ski Wing kite/hang glider. Dickenson's Ski Wing turned out to be stable and controllable under tow,Stability and weight-shift control are flex-wing characteristics previously established and described by its inventor F. Rogallo and by NASA engineers in the Paresev and Fleep programs. unlike the flat manned used at Water skiing shows. The Ski Wing kite was first kited in public at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival in September 1963 by Rod Fuller while towed behind a motorboat. Australian manufacturers like Bill Bennett Bill Moyes Contributions by Bill Bennet as explained by the 'Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum': Delta Wing Phoenix VI , Delta Wing Phoenix VI , Delta Wing Phoenix Mariah M-9 , Delta Wing Model 162 , Delta Wing Phoenix Viper 175 , Delta Wing Streak 130 . and Bill Moyes,Moyes's story: [10], The History of Moyes: [11] ABC History – an interview with Moyes actively developed and marketed Dickenson's innovationsOn October 11, 1963, Dickenson filed for a patent, and a provisional protection was awarded for his application number 36189/63 but the patent was not finally awarded; the claims were not officially reviewed for priority and validity. to the world, which significantly fueled the hang glider revolution.
Although by the early 1970s many rigid wings were developed, none sold well, while dozens of flexible-wing hang glider companies were springing up worldwide, building variants of Dickenson's Ski Wing. In 1972, Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines published articles on hang gliding which further increased its popularity,Hang gliding articles on Popular Mechanics and Popular Science magazines: as the Sky Raiders hang gliding movie released in 1975.The Swallowtail hang glider was featured in the 1976 movie Sky Riders (filmed in Greece during 1975) starring James Coburn, Robert Culp, Susannah York, and Charles Aznavour. After filming of the action was complete, the Wills Wing team toured Europe and stopped by in England to win the British Championships at Mere, Wiltshire, in August 1975.
Francis Rogallo, Barry Palmer, John Dickenson, and others never made any money out of their innovations. Article by Mark Woodhams Profit to manufacturers of hang gliders and Rogallo-winged hang gliders came once organized and insured sporting events grew in popularity. Dickenson's adaptation and innovations eventually produced a foldable hang glider that dramatically reduced difficulty in control, storage, transport, assembly and repair. In addition, the flexible wing lends itself to design changes for possible improvements.
The crucial developments put together by the Paresev engineers, Barry Palmer, John Dickenson, Bill Bennett, Bill Moyes, Richard Miller, and then hundreds of other innovators gave success to the flexible-wing hang glider. "Order of Australia" award for contributions to aviation given in 1996
In March 1967, aeronautical engineer Barry Palmer completed the earliest example of a true weight-shift powered trike: the Paraplane; Palmer's trike Original video on YouTube it was controlled by a single vertical control bar as the Paresev experimental glider that inspired him. The Paraplane used two West Bend-Chrysler 820 engines of 8 hp at 6000 RPM, reduced to 4700 RPM for about 6.5 hp each, for a total of 13 hp. Each engine had a direct drive to a 27-inch-diameter two-blade propeller made of polyester and fiberglass. On March 24, 1967, Palmer registered the trike with the FAA as the Palmer Parawing D-6, serial number 1A, registration number N7144; no restrictions were noted.
The second Palmer trike, Skyhook (FAA registration N4411), in spite of its early date of origin, had most of the attributes of a modern ultralight, except it used a single-cylinder snowmobile engine, as the two-stroke twin-cylinder engines were not available yet. It was powered by a 17 hp at 5000 RPM single-cylinder JLO L297 two-stroke engine, driving a composite propeller designed and built by Palmer himself and driven by a 2.1/1 reduction gearbox. The engine had electric start and the craft had fiberglass composite spring landing gear. Airframe construction was bolted 6061-T6 aluminum thin-wall tube, with 6061 T-6 extruded angle. The craft took off, flew, and landed at around 30 mph. Palmer's web site
The commercial availability of Dickenson's hang glider made the Rogallo wing very popular, and prompted several builders during the 1970s to attempt motorization of their flexible-wing aircraft Some early powered hang gliders but unlike Barry Palmer – who placed the center of gravity well below the keel – most builders were mounting the engine to the wing, where a fine balance existed between applying too much power, causing the aircraft to overtake the pilot, or not enough power for flight. It was not until Roland Magallon took a long look at the Motodelta ultralight Motodelta – images (a hybrid Rogallo wing designed by Jean-Marc Geiser had a 'fuselage' and a rudder) that Magallon decided to replace the Motodelta's 'fuselage' with a simple tubular framework pendulum and dispensing with the rudder. Rolland Magallon Magallon is thus generally thought to have invented the trike because it was he who first marketed it. He called the first version 'Mosquito' and marketed it from October 1979 through 1981. The prototype had flown with a McCulloch MC-101A motor of 125 cc, delivering 10 hp at 8000 RPM to a direct-drive prop with ground-adjustable pitch. Later he offered it with a Solo 210 engine which produced at much smaller RPM. Roland Magallon's trike
The "trike", as it soon became known, quickly became popular in the UK and France, where it had been reborn. Trike technology still shows its hang gliding origins, though the wings are no longer converted hang gliders, but are designed for power. In fact, none of the commercially available trike wings can be used as foot-launched hang gliders as they are too heavy and too fast. Aerial Pursuits
On January 19, 2008, Mark Jackson from Altrincham, UK, flew over Kilimanjaro. In doing so, he broke the record for the highest altitude attained in a microlight, , and the fastest climb to (25 minutes). He also broke the British record for the fastest climb to (19 minutes). He did the flight with Eve Jackson. MEN news In 1994, an altitude record has been set by Serge Zin at Saint-Aubin at an altitude of 9720 meters.
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