Microlights

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Microlights

There are two kinds of Microlight, a few subdivisions but I am talking about either Flex Wing or Fixed Wing - so what's the difference?

Flexwing or Weightshift (also known as Trikes). The wing is based on the hang glider design and there is a three wheeled pod with seats underneath with the engine and propeller attached.

There is a braced triangular control bar that the pilot uses to pivot the wing around the ‘hang point’ assembly thereby achieving control in roll and pitch.

Rigid Wing or Three Axis. They look much more like conventional aeroplanes with a tailplane, fin & fixed wings - they can have open or a fully enclosed cockpit. These aircraft are controlled in all three axes (roll, pitch and yaw) by the use of ailerons, elevator and rudder. We already know where the fixed wing started so lets look at the Flex wing.

Francis M Rogallo was an aeronautical engineer and he and his wife worked on the invention of a delta shaped flexible wing. In May 1961 a NASA test pilot flew the first Rogallo ever to leave the ground under power.

Later in 1968, Bill Moyes an Australian aeronautical engineer adapted one of these wings and made it controllable by adding the triangle of tubes which was to become known as the trapeze or A-frame. A Californian called Barry Palmer was motorising the wings with one chainsaw motor, then two, and later with a 15 hp snow-mobile engine and created the first true powered flex-wing microlight.

So that’s the early history and how it all began. If you feel like having a go at flying a Flexwing then you could contact either of the local Microlight fields.

There is one near the Myerscough College at St Michaels -
www.northernmicrolights.co.uk
and there is another at Cockerham - Contact Barry Light, Flexwing Instructor, details are on
www.microlight.me.uk