Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Microlight mission to "James Bond" Island with my new GoPro HD Helmet-Cam
There's a full-length version of this on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQMr8wZHaQc
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Trying the new BioniX for size
Very soon after I arrived in London I had scheduled to test-fly the BioniX wing at Sywell (Northants). One of Air Creation's test pilots, Guillaume Richard, was at Sywell competing in the European Microlight Championships - this was my chance to see what this wing was all about since I'd have to wait a very long time to test-fly one in or near Thailand!
I was interested in 3 things that were claimed by the BioniX and, that I hoped the BioniX could deliver:
1. Have a trimmed speed range of 50 - 80 mph. My iXess 13 has a max trimmed speed of 70 mph and this extra 10 mph would make a big difference on cross country flying.
2. Be able to take-off and land in shorter spaces - mainly due to the wing's ability to land more slowly as a result of the lower stall speed.
3. That the wing wasn't sluggish at 15.1 sq metres. My iXess is 13.5 sq.m. and I didn't want to feel that the extra area was going to feel like I was flying through treacle.
On a very wet and windy August 14th my father and I set off for Sywell - it was my Dad's 77th birthday! When we got there we had winds of around 12 - 15 kts with a few gusts and, black CBs all around us. The cloud base was pretty low and I was alarmed when, during the flight, Guillaume informed me the circuit height was 1400' agl. Hmmm. In Phuket I rarely fly above 500 feet anywhere.
In between heavy showers we decided to get airborne and Guillaume allowed me to sit in the front - I thought this was very trusting of him, especially considering there were no training bars. With the corset wound fully slack, I rolled on the grass runway 23 into a 60 degree wind of 12 ish - I calculated the cross-wind component was in the order of 10 kts. Guillaume made some gesture for me to rotate and so I applied some forward bar pressure at what seemed like a very low speed compared to what I was used to. We then leapt (and I mean "leapt") into the air and, after a few iterations, established an alarming climb angle - this was going to be fun.
I climbed-out straight ahead (I'm not familiar with Sywell and its environs) and felt we were being battered around by the winds. I would feel a gust hit us but it seemed dampened by the wing and I remember thinking "that would have caused my iXess a few more problems". At this point the question was: is this wing rock-stable and if so, is it going to be sluggish in roll? I continued my climb, leveled-out low (500 ish) and did a couple of level 360 degree turns at about 45 degrees AoB. All seemed pretty good but we continued to get battered - so battered that I wasn't getting much "feel" for the wing.
We headed off in three different directions in an attempt to find some "quiet" sky but we had the doors slammed in our faces by lightening bolts all around us. I think we had three separate thunderstorms flanking us, the closest being about 8 to 10 miles away and I knew this was not a good place to be stooging around. I wound the corset to fully tight and gave her some extra throttle to see what she was like at higher speeds - we accelerated nicely but at around 65 mph we were getting so jostled that I decided to keep the ASI below 120 kph (all the dials were in French - metres per second, KPH, etc.). After a bit more of this we decided to enter the circuit (500 feet for me rather than 1400') and so I thought I'd try to gauge how good she was at landing short.
I flew a tight downwind leg and slackened the corset fully, then dropped in the final turn (no base leg - just a smooth descending arc to touchdown). The wind was still from our right and gusting more than it had on take-off - we had a nice comfortable rate of descent and a pretty low groundspeed (flying slowly and with a strong wind). I gave her a burst of power at about 50 feet as we found the worst part of the wind gradient and I came down for the flare. The wind was gusting and across the runway but I was determined to hold her off for as long as I could so I could witness the short-strip STOL capability. This was the most amazing part of the flight for me - she sat very stable on finals, pointed into wind and carried on going about her business whilst the Gods threw their worst at us - she really was unperturbed.
After shutting down I tried to replay the past 20 minutes back to myself. Sure she was stable - she was on rails! This would be partially due to the fact we were flying dual and neither of us are skinny (although he's far skinnier than I am!), it would also be due to the wing-tips (I don't have these on my iXess), it would also be due to the fact her wing area was 10% up on what I was used to. Having said all this, she didn't seem any different in roll/pitch to what I'm accustomed but, it's hard to tell as the conditions were so shite. I didn't really get the chance to play with the corset and try various cruise configurations - too blowy. I did however get to witness her incredible ability to get in/out of very tight airstrips/fields.
In short? I've ordered one:) I think it'll be a great wing for Phuket - it'll handle rotor turbulence better than my current wing, the extra 10 mph on cruise will be great and, her ability to land slow/tight will be a comforting safety factor.
I was interested in 3 things that were claimed by the BioniX and, that I hoped the BioniX could deliver:
1. Have a trimmed speed range of 50 - 80 mph. My iXess 13 has a max trimmed speed of 70 mph and this extra 10 mph would make a big difference on cross country flying.
2. Be able to take-off and land in shorter spaces - mainly due to the wing's ability to land more slowly as a result of the lower stall speed.
3. That the wing wasn't sluggish at 15.1 sq metres. My iXess is 13.5 sq.m. and I didn't want to feel that the extra area was going to feel like I was flying through treacle.
On a very wet and windy August 14th my father and I set off for Sywell - it was my Dad's 77th birthday! When we got there we had winds of around 12 - 15 kts with a few gusts and, black CBs all around us. The cloud base was pretty low and I was alarmed when, during the flight, Guillaume informed me the circuit height was 1400' agl. Hmmm. In Phuket I rarely fly above 500 feet anywhere.
In between heavy showers we decided to get airborne and Guillaume allowed me to sit in the front - I thought this was very trusting of him, especially considering there were no training bars. With the corset wound fully slack, I rolled on the grass runway 23 into a 60 degree wind of 12 ish - I calculated the cross-wind component was in the order of 10 kts. Guillaume made some gesture for me to rotate and so I applied some forward bar pressure at what seemed like a very low speed compared to what I was used to. We then leapt (and I mean "leapt") into the air and, after a few iterations, established an alarming climb angle - this was going to be fun.
I climbed-out straight ahead (I'm not familiar with Sywell and its environs) and felt we were being battered around by the winds. I would feel a gust hit us but it seemed dampened by the wing and I remember thinking "that would have caused my iXess a few more problems". At this point the question was: is this wing rock-stable and if so, is it going to be sluggish in roll? I continued my climb, leveled-out low (500 ish) and did a couple of level 360 degree turns at about 45 degrees AoB. All seemed pretty good but we continued to get battered - so battered that I wasn't getting much "feel" for the wing.
We headed off in three different directions in an attempt to find some "quiet" sky but we had the doors slammed in our faces by lightening bolts all around us. I think we had three separate thunderstorms flanking us, the closest being about 8 to 10 miles away and I knew this was not a good place to be stooging around. I wound the corset to fully tight and gave her some extra throttle to see what she was like at higher speeds - we accelerated nicely but at around 65 mph we were getting so jostled that I decided to keep the ASI below 120 kph (all the dials were in French - metres per second, KPH, etc.). After a bit more of this we decided to enter the circuit (500 feet for me rather than 1400') and so I thought I'd try to gauge how good she was at landing short.
I flew a tight downwind leg and slackened the corset fully, then dropped in the final turn (no base leg - just a smooth descending arc to touchdown). The wind was still from our right and gusting more than it had on take-off - we had a nice comfortable rate of descent and a pretty low groundspeed (flying slowly and with a strong wind). I gave her a burst of power at about 50 feet as we found the worst part of the wind gradient and I came down for the flare. The wind was gusting and across the runway but I was determined to hold her off for as long as I could so I could witness the short-strip STOL capability. This was the most amazing part of the flight for me - she sat very stable on finals, pointed into wind and carried on going about her business whilst the Gods threw their worst at us - she really was unperturbed.
After shutting down I tried to replay the past 20 minutes back to myself. Sure she was stable - she was on rails! This would be partially due to the fact we were flying dual and neither of us are skinny (although he's far skinnier than I am!), it would also be due to the wing-tips (I don't have these on my iXess), it would also be due to the fact her wing area was 10% up on what I was used to. Having said all this, she didn't seem any different in roll/pitch to what I'm accustomed but, it's hard to tell as the conditions were so shite. I didn't really get the chance to play with the corset and try various cruise configurations - too blowy. I did however get to witness her incredible ability to get in/out of very tight airstrips/fields.
In short? I've ordered one:) I think it'll be a great wing for Phuket - it'll handle rotor turbulence better than my current wing, the extra 10 mph on cruise will be great and, her ability to land slow/tight will be a comforting safety factor.
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