Microlight aircraft are increasingly becoming the most popular segment of private aviation. In the United Kingdom the majority (about 2500 of a total fleet of 3500) of these aircraft are of the weightshift class, also known as flexwings or trikes. This paper introduces the main issues involved in the design and operation of this class of aeroplane.
Microlight Maintenance Schedule MMS1, Technical Information Leaflet 020, British Microlight Aircraft Association, September1999.
10.
KilkennyE.Longitudinal static stability of hang-gliders. PhD thesis, Cranfield University1988.
11.
BoschiE.Il delta ‘intellegente’. Volare Sport, January 1999, 32–33.
12.
AAIB Bulletin 1/2000, Ref. EW/C99/8/5, Air Accidents Investigation Branch, 2000.
13.
Flight Test Schedule BMAA/AW/010b, British Microlight Aircraft Association.
14.
BrooksW. G.Flight testing of flexwings. In Royal Aeronautical Society Forum on Test Flying Airsports Aircraft Boscombe Down, 27 November 1997.
15.
CookM. V.The theory of the longitudinal static stability of the hang-glider. Aeronaut. J., October 1994, 98 (978), 292–304.
16.
GrattonG. B.PorteousT.The creation of a formal test flying system within the British Microlight Aircraft Association and a discussion of the spin testing of microlight aircraft. In European Congress of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Regensberg, Bavaria, 2000.
