DCN

Plus whatever load is transmitted by your feet, I suppose. Have you seen the AirOne trike, which is shown on the Scout website? It has some sort of connection from the suspension bars to the base tube but I don’t know how they work.

During the takeoff and landing roll, don’t you potentially get a big bending moment where the base tube meets the assembly shown in the photo above? And in your earlier photo of the whole trike, what is that black thing that appears to connect the seat to the base tube? I suppose in some ways it would be good to connect the suspension bars to the base tube, to spread the load, but then you wouldn’t be able to weightshift.

I don’t think I’m likely to foot launch but even so it might be a good idea for me to buy a complete secondhand paramotor outfit and build a simple trike for it, like yours. Is that a sort of bracket underneath the seat connecting it to the base tube? I designed and built a microlight trike many years ago, I’ll post a picture of it if I can find one.

Looks really good! Nice and simple, I bet it’s very light. Do you think there are any disadvantages in using a paramotor harness rather than having a trike with its own seat and karabiner bars (or whatever they’re called)?

That’s exactly the sort of thing I had in mind. For some reason microlight flexwing trikes have usually had a bicycle-type setup, as do most paratrikes. Seems wrong to me. I suspect the Falco weighs a lot more than 70kg, unfortunately.

So a Brompton should feel really wobbly, especially when carrying a heavy load? And a 29er should be unmanoeuvrable, especially with a lightweight rider?

Hi Andy, I’m sure you’re right that it’s desirable for the pilot to be able to intervene. But I think castor geometry a bit like a supermarket trolley would reduce the amount of skill required to get back under the wing. Especially for pilots without the use of their legs. But I think you’re wrong about bicycle stability - the idea is that if the bike starts to lean, the front wheel automatically steers in the same direction so centrifugal force tends to throw the bike upright again. This is a completely different situation from a trike, which doesn’t lean. But I shouldn’t pontificate, I don’t even fly a trike or paramotor yet, but hopefully that will soon change.

Thanks Simon, you’re definitely a possibility for me. One big decision I need to make is whether to buy kit and get trained on it, or to get dual training abroad. At the moment I’m probably leaning towards the latter approach.

On most of his training videos, the wonderfully-named Captain Kurt Fister bangs on about how a castoring nosewheel allows the trike to align itself with the wing during the takeoff run. Is this indeed a desirable design feature? Does it remove the need for the nosewheel to be steerable by the pilot? Many thanks David North

Hello, is there anyone in the South East who does ab-initio trike training? Thanks

Yes, the steering axis leaning forward, rather than rearward like a bicycle. Then you need to offset the wheel quite a long way rearward of the steering axis in order to achieve trail at the contact patch.

Thanks Andy. I agree you need trail (tyre contact patch rearward of steering axis) but you can achieve this with negative rake, which I think is what you typically have on castering tail wheels on 3-axis taildraggers. What I'm suggesting would avoid the dreaded wheel flop, but it adds weight (you need a longer keel tube) and if, as you suggest, it's best to have pilot steering then maybe there's not much point. And I've pushed some very wobbly supermarket trolleys! David

I'm hoping to get some trike flying training soon, and in the meantime I'm trying to understand what are good (or bad) design features. This is with a view to eventually buying or building a sub-70 kg trike. On the subject of steering, I note that most trikes have raked front forks like a bicycle. Why? On a bicycle it's to help the front wheel turn when the bike is leaned into a bend, but on an aircraft it seems inappropriate. Microlight flexwing trikes have this same feature, which is a pain in the bum when pushing the trike around on the ground because the front wheel is forever flopping over to one side. Wouldn't it be better to have negative rake combined with some trail so that the wheel self-centres? I believe the Parajet Falco has this. In fact, if you have this feature, does the pilot need to steer at all? Isn't it better to have fixed foot-pegs so that that the trike just follows the wing without risk of the pilot steering the wrong way and tipping it over? Thanks! David

Hello all, This is my first post so please make allowances. I'd like to ask, in the light of the recent deregulation of single-seat paratrikes, if anyone (apart from Powerchute) is offering ab-initio training? A weak back precludes me from flying foot-launched paramotors or paragliders. I'm based in Epsom, Surrey. Many thanks David