Southern Microlight Club of Victoria
New? second hand? which engine? what wing? which trike base? How much $? what do I get for the extra bucks? what are the differences? What do I look for? how do I work out what’s best for me?
The aim of this article is to help you understand the differences and to enable you to make decisions on buying your first trike. Now I don’t want to come across as a sales person for airborne so I’m firstly going to tell you this. We have just one trike manufacturer in Australia (Airborne) and as a consequence there are more Airborne trike’s here than anything else.
There are distributors here for other brands, Revo, P&M Aviation, DTA and Air Creation trikes and we are seeing more of these coming in to Australia. So most of us fly airborne trikes and if you are looking at the second hand market airborne trikes are mostly what you are going to find.
Our flying generally starts at a flying school and we are quickly made aware that if we are looking to buy a new trike we can do that through the school. Obviously the school will get a commission from any sale they make and with that there is an inherent conflict of interest. You may also be offered the opportunity to purchase a second hand aircraft that the school owns. This you may be familiar with, having learnt to fly in it. You may also be warned about the many perils of buying a second hand aircraft and you may find yourself wondering if this is all part of a plot to channel you into believing that the only option you really have is to buy a brand spanker or a second hand aircraft recommended by the school.
Now there are some merits in buying from the school as with a new aircraft your CFI will help you set it up and settle you into it. With a second hand one from the school there should be no issues with the condition of these trikes or neglected maintenance.
But what about the other options? Do the schools just have beginner trike’s suitable for training and a quick sale and will you be dissatisfied with this in a year or so. How do you decide? The three main components to mull over are the wing, engine and trike base. Let’s start with the wing.
Wings - Your choice of wing will decide how fast your going to fly, fuel economy, how turbulence will be handled and how easy it is to take off and land. Wings can be divided up into categories, slow, intermediate and fast. Or in AirBorne names Wizard/Merlin (slow 36-45 knots), Cruze/Streak2B (intermediate – 50-55 knots), Streak3/SST/Arrow (fast 60-70 knots) and the super fast wings from P&M and Revo are reaching speeds of up to 85 knots.
And now you have topless or strutted wing (no king post or top wires) – like the Arrow, GTR and Revo wings – which make them less draggier and easier to fit into hangars (as they are considerably lower in height). The P&M and Revo wings also have a quick wing fold system that allows you to fold the wing on the trike – so less room is required in the hangar – which can be an advantage when staying overnight at a different airfield.
Most wings are great to fly and have specific advantages and disadvantages.
A word on Wings and turbulence, Turbulence is a gust of wind or a thermal bubble that passes across your wing, all wings are affected by this. If you consider a large commercial aircraft travelling at 400 knots hitting a 15 knot gust of wind that's about a 4% impact and hardly felt inside this great heavy machine. Now consider your microlight traveling at 50 knots, same gust of wind and its a 30% impact. If this wind is coming directly towards you it will cause lift, if it comes from either side it will rock the pod and it might tip your wing requiring you to make control bar inputs to maintain straight and level flight. The heavier your aircraft including passengers, the faster you fly and the size of your Wings surface area are all factors that will determine how volatile your ride will be in turbulent conditions.
Your slow wing will get you off the ground very quickly and have a high rate of climb, these wings allow for short field take off and landings and are great for local area sight-seeing and aero-towing. These wings have a larger surface area (usually single surfaced wings) and catch more turbulence than the faster wings. Trim speed is 36 – 45 knots. As they fly slower you don’t need as much power to push them so a 503 or 582 power plant is suitable. With an engine out at 1000 feet a Wizard wing will glide approx 2.2km, Merlin 2.1km. You will enjoy the feeling of the wind rushing over you.
The Intermediate wings have a slightly longer ground roll due to the higher speeds needed for take-off and landing. With a smaller surface area (usually partially double surfaced wing) and faster speed they cut through thermal turbulence quicker. Trim Speed is 45 – 55 knots. A 503 is not really powerful enough for these wings, suitable power plants are 582 or 912. With an engine out at 1000 feet Cruze wings will glide approx 2.2km, Streak2B 1.5km.
Fast wings require more speed and runway and have a lower rate of climb, they cut through turbulence faster (largely double surfaced wings) than the slower wings and are more suitable for cross country flights. Trim speed is 55 – 60 knots for streak 60-65 knots for SST, these wings require a 912 power plant. With an engine out at 1000 feet these wings will glide approx 2.0km or less. Your aircraft will need a good tall windscreen with these wings.
Design determines how good the wing is. Some faster wings have now excellent glide ratios – even better than some mid wings. For example the Reflex Sports wing has as good glide ratio as the mid sized Cruze wing. Always check the manuals, usually found on the manufacturer’s website for the wing’s and aircraft manual. You will also find all the maintenance and TBOs in the manufacturer’s maintenance manual there.
You will most likely do your training in either a Wizard or a Cruize wing. These wings are good for training and initially you may be biased to purchase one of these for your first trike but a word of warning, most pilots move on from these slower wings particularly the Wizard as they get dissatisfied with being tossed around in turbulence and how long it takes to go anywhere. If you want to fly with other pilots you will get left behind. For many pilots the slower wings intimidate them so much that they just don’t go on any long distance flights and they wont fly in mid day thermals.
Engine - Options are 503, 582 and 912. The 503 and 582 are 2 stroke engines and 912 is a 4 stroke.
The 503 is an air cooled 2 stroke premix engine putting out 50HP. This is the cheapest and least powerful of the engines and although Airborne list it as an option for both Wizard and Streak wings it is really only suitable for the Wizard Wing in an X series trike.
The 582 is a water cooled 2 stroke engine, there are 2 versions, the Grey head engine and the Blue head, The blue head is a later design some with oil injection (best option), more reliable and 5 HP more powerf at 65HP The 582 is suitable for slow and intermediate wings available on X and XT series trikes.
Rotax recommend a TBO (total basic overhaul) at 300 hours for 2 stroke engines.
The 912 is a water cooled 4 stroke engine putting out 80HP, there is a 100hp version of this engine but as yet it is not available for Airborne trikes. The 912 is only available on Airborne XT series trikes with Merlin, Cruze, Streak 3 and SST wings. Both 912 engines, the 80 and 100 hr versions, are both now 2,000 TBO, older ones can be 1,500 hrs.
More power is generally better and the faster the wing and the more weight you carry the more power you are going to need. So for the slow and intermediate wings there is a price difference that needs to be weighed into the equation and that is an extra $15,500 approx for a 912 over a 582.
For that extra money you get the extra power, reliability and durability of the 4 stroke engine. Servicing costs will be reduced and over the longer term the 912 will justify that cost. Now a lot of pilots would struggle to put in 20 to 30 hours flying per year and then there are pilots who do 100 hours or more per year for who would totally be better of having a 912.
A few weekends ago I watched a 503 with Wizard wing take off and then a 582 with Wizard wing, the difference between the two engines became very apparent with the 503 needing more runway to reach take off speed and get off the ground.
The 912 is also more economical burning on average 10 litres per hour, compared to the 582 which will burn anything from 9 to 18 litres depending on wing and take-off weight. Two stroke trikes tend to come with smaller fuel tanks while 4 stroke engines come with larger fuel tanks. In short if you intend to make sizeable cross country trips – you would be better off with a 912 engined trike.
Inspect the log book - All trikes should have a log book that records the aircrafts history, records of any hard landings or accidents, regular maintenance and modifications. Previous owners will also be noted. If there is no log book your suspicions should immediately be raised and if there are missing pages or large gaps with no details more cause for concern.
Get it checked out - Ask a CFI or someone qualified to check out the aircraft for you and give you an idea of the general condition of the trike and what maintenance it may need. Get a quote for parts, labour etc and then weigh in these costs with the purchase price of your trike and perhaps negotiate a realistic price given the expense needed to bring it up to scratch. The good thing about buying a second hand trike for the right price and overseeing or doing any maintenance yourself is that it will give you reassurance that this aspect of the trike will be in tip top condition.
Also consider the options you can get on trikes. There are many different options.
Do your research carefully and take your time before buying. Ask around about trikes, the options, the radios - especially from those experienced fliers. Manufacturer’s often over state the performance of their aircraft.
Triking is a great sport – so ensure you are getting fair value and that the aircraft will do what you want it do – and you are likely to have a great time flying and meet some really good people.
Wing summary –
Wizard wing - 18 square metre wing slow wing with good lift – king posted and a top cruise speed 43 knots. Good for local flying but a poor cross country wing.
Cruze wing – 15 square metre wing , king posted wing that handles well and used by many Instructors in training schools. Around a 50 knot cruise, or mid, wing..
Streak 3 – 13.5 square metre wing, king posted that is very popular. 63 knot top cruising speed. Comes with a 912 Ul engine.
SST wing. First topless AirBorne wing. 65 knot cruise speed. Again comes with the Rotax 912 Ul engine.
P&M GT 450 – 13 square metre, king posted wing with electric trim. 45-70 knots. Very stable wing.
Quick R wing 11.5 metre topless wing with electrci trim. 50-85 knot cruise wing.
GTR – latest P&M wing. Again topless and with electric trim. 13 square metre wing with trim range of 50-80 knots.
Reflex 13 wing (all Revo wings are called Reflex wings) – topless 15 metre square wing with electric trim. Cruise speeds from 45-70 knots.
Reflex 12 Sports wing – topless 12.5 square metre wing with electric trim. Cruising speeds – 50-80 knots.
Reflex 11 Competition wing – 10.9 square metre topless wing. Cruise speeds 55-85 knots.
The aim of this article is to help you understand the differences and to enable you to make decisions on buying your first trike. Now I don’t want to come across as a sales person for airborne so I’m firstly going to tell you this. We have just one trike manufacturer in Australia (Airborne) and as a consequence there are more Airborne trike’s here than anything else.
There are distributors here for other brands, Revo, P&M Aviation, DTA and Air Creation trikes and we are seeing more of these coming in to Australia. So most of us fly airborne trikes and if you are looking at the second hand market airborne trikes are mostly what you are going to find.
Our flying generally starts at a flying school and we are quickly made aware that if we are looking to buy a new trike we can do that through the school. Obviously the school will get a commission from any sale they make and with that there is an inherent conflict of interest. You may also be offered the opportunity to purchase a second hand aircraft that the school owns. This you may be familiar with, having learnt to fly in it. You may also be warned about the many perils of buying a second hand aircraft and you may find yourself wondering if this is all part of a plot to channel you into believing that the only option you really have is to buy a brand spanker or a second hand aircraft recommended by the school.
Now there are some merits in buying from the school as with a new aircraft your CFI will help you set it up and settle you into it. With a second hand one from the school there should be no issues with the condition of these trikes or neglected maintenance.
But what about the other options? Do the schools just have beginner trike’s suitable for training and a quick sale and will you be dissatisfied with this in a year or so. How do you decide? The three main components to mull over are the wing, engine and trike base. Let’s start with the wing.
Wings - Your choice of wing will decide how fast your going to fly, fuel economy, how turbulence will be handled and how easy it is to take off and land. Wings can be divided up into categories, slow, intermediate and fast. Or in AirBorne names Wizard/Merlin (slow 36-45 knots), Cruze/Streak2B (intermediate – 50-55 knots), Streak3/SST/Arrow (fast 60-70 knots) and the super fast wings from P&M and Revo are reaching speeds of up to 85 knots.
And now you have topless or strutted wing (no king post or top wires) – like the Arrow, GTR and Revo wings – which make them less draggier and easier to fit into hangars (as they are considerably lower in height). The P&M and Revo wings also have a quick wing fold system that allows you to fold the wing on the trike – so less room is required in the hangar – which can be an advantage when staying overnight at a different airfield.
Most wings are great to fly and have specific advantages and disadvantages.
A word on Wings and turbulence, Turbulence is a gust of wind or a thermal bubble that passes across your wing, all wings are affected by this. If you consider a large commercial aircraft travelling at 400 knots hitting a 15 knot gust of wind that's about a 4% impact and hardly felt inside this great heavy machine. Now consider your microlight traveling at 50 knots, same gust of wind and its a 30% impact. If this wind is coming directly towards you it will cause lift, if it comes from either side it will rock the pod and it might tip your wing requiring you to make control bar inputs to maintain straight and level flight. The heavier your aircraft including passengers, the faster you fly and the size of your Wings surface area are all factors that will determine how volatile your ride will be in turbulent conditions.
Your slow wing will get you off the ground very quickly and have a high rate of climb, these wings allow for short field take off and landings and are great for local area sight-seeing and aero-towing. These wings have a larger surface area (usually single surfaced wings) and catch more turbulence than the faster wings. Trim speed is 36 – 45 knots. As they fly slower you don’t need as much power to push them so a 503 or 582 power plant is suitable. With an engine out at 1000 feet a Wizard wing will glide approx 2.2km, Merlin 2.1km. You will enjoy the feeling of the wind rushing over you.
The Intermediate wings have a slightly longer ground roll due to the higher speeds needed for take-off and landing. With a smaller surface area (usually partially double surfaced wing) and faster speed they cut through thermal turbulence quicker. Trim Speed is 45 – 55 knots. A 503 is not really powerful enough for these wings, suitable power plants are 582 or 912. With an engine out at 1000 feet Cruze wings will glide approx 2.2km, Streak2B 1.5km.
Fast wings require more speed and runway and have a lower rate of climb, they cut through turbulence faster (largely double surfaced wings) than the slower wings and are more suitable for cross country flights. Trim speed is 55 – 60 knots for streak 60-65 knots for SST, these wings require a 912 power plant. With an engine out at 1000 feet these wings will glide approx 2.0km or less. Your aircraft will need a good tall windscreen with these wings.
Design determines how good the wing is. Some faster wings have now excellent glide ratios – even better than some mid wings. For example the Reflex Sports wing has as good glide ratio as the mid sized Cruze wing. Always check the manuals, usually found on the manufacturer’s website for the wing’s and aircraft manual. You will also find all the maintenance and TBOs in the manufacturer’s maintenance manual there.
You will most likely do your training in either a Wizard or a Cruize wing. These wings are good for training and initially you may be biased to purchase one of these for your first trike but a word of warning, most pilots move on from these slower wings particularly the Wizard as they get dissatisfied with being tossed around in turbulence and how long it takes to go anywhere. If you want to fly with other pilots you will get left behind. For many pilots the slower wings intimidate them so much that they just don’t go on any long distance flights and they wont fly in mid day thermals.
Engine - Options are 503, 582 and 912. The 503 and 582 are 2 stroke engines and 912 is a 4 stroke.
The 503 is an air cooled 2 stroke premix engine putting out 50HP. This is the cheapest and least powerful of the engines and although Airborne list it as an option for both Wizard and Streak wings it is really only suitable for the Wizard Wing in an X series trike.
The 582 is a water cooled 2 stroke engine, there are 2 versions, the Grey head engine and the Blue head, The blue head is a later design some with oil injection (best option), more reliable and 5 HP more powerf at 65HP The 582 is suitable for slow and intermediate wings available on X and XT series trikes.
Rotax recommend a TBO (total basic overhaul) at 300 hours for 2 stroke engines.
The 912 is a water cooled 4 stroke engine putting out 80HP, there is a 100hp version of this engine but as yet it is not available for Airborne trikes. The 912 is only available on Airborne XT series trikes with Merlin, Cruze, Streak 3 and SST wings. Both 912 engines, the 80 and 100 hr versions, are both now 2,000 TBO, older ones can be 1,500 hrs.
More power is generally better and the faster the wing and the more weight you carry the more power you are going to need. So for the slow and intermediate wings there is a price difference that needs to be weighed into the equation and that is an extra $15,500 approx for a 912 over a 582.
For that extra money you get the extra power, reliability and durability of the 4 stroke engine. Servicing costs will be reduced and over the longer term the 912 will justify that cost. Now a lot of pilots would struggle to put in 20 to 30 hours flying per year and then there are pilots who do 100 hours or more per year for who would totally be better of having a 912.
A few weekends ago I watched a 503 with Wizard wing take off and then a 582 with Wizard wing, the difference between the two engines became very apparent with the 503 needing more runway to reach take off speed and get off the ground.
The 912 is also more economical burning on average 10 litres per hour, compared to the 582 which will burn anything from 9 to 18 litres depending on wing and take-off weight. Two stroke trikes tend to come with smaller fuel tanks while 4 stroke engines come with larger fuel tanks. In short if you intend to make sizeable cross country trips – you would be better off with a 912 engined trike.
Inspect the log book - All trikes should have a log book that records the aircrafts history, records of any hard landings or accidents, regular maintenance and modifications. Previous owners will also be noted. If there is no log book your suspicions should immediately be raised and if there are missing pages or large gaps with no details more cause for concern.
Get it checked out - Ask a CFI or someone qualified to check out the aircraft for you and give you an idea of the general condition of the trike and what maintenance it may need. Get a quote for parts, labour etc and then weigh in these costs with the purchase price of your trike and perhaps negotiate a realistic price given the expense needed to bring it up to scratch. The good thing about buying a second hand trike for the right price and overseeing or doing any maintenance yourself is that it will give you reassurance that this aspect of the trike will be in tip top condition.
Also consider the options you can get on trikes. There are many different options.
Do your research carefully and take your time before buying. Ask around about trikes, the options, the radios - especially from those experienced fliers. Manufacturer’s often over state the performance of their aircraft.
Triking is a great sport – so ensure you are getting fair value and that the aircraft will do what you want it do – and you are likely to have a great time flying and meet some really good people.
Wing summary –
Wizard wing - 18 square metre wing slow wing with good lift – king posted and a top cruise speed 43 knots. Good for local flying but a poor cross country wing.
Cruze wing – 15 square metre wing , king posted wing that handles well and used by many Instructors in training schools. Around a 50 knot cruise, or mid, wing..
Streak 3 – 13.5 square metre wing, king posted that is very popular. 63 knot top cruising speed. Comes with a 912 Ul engine.
SST wing. First topless AirBorne wing. 65 knot cruise speed. Again comes with the Rotax 912 Ul engine.
P&M GT 450 – 13 square metre, king posted wing with electric trim. 45-70 knots. Very stable wing.
Quick R wing 11.5 metre topless wing with electrci trim. 50-85 knot cruise wing.
GTR – latest P&M wing. Again topless and with electric trim. 13 square metre wing with trim range of 50-80 knots.
Reflex 13 wing (all Revo wings are called Reflex wings) – topless 15 metre square wing with electric trim. Cruise speeds from 45-70 knots.
Reflex 12 Sports wing – topless 12.5 square metre wing with electric trim. Cruising speeds – 50-80 knots.
Reflex 11 Competition wing – 10.9 square metre topless wing. Cruise speeds 55-85 knots.
Buying a Trike - What are the options article updated 24/01/2013