by ANN Contributor Jon Thornburgh

One Tough Exam

On May 6, 2003 trike pilot Matt Liknaitzky passed his practical test for private pilot-glider. He took the flight check in an amateur-built experimental Aerotrike Cobra trike at Torrance (CA). The Aerotrike is registered as an experimental motorglider.

Liknaitzky  took all of his training in the trike, and took the flight check in the trike. His instructor was Jon Thornburgh, and the pilot examiner was Galen Fisher, from Hemet (CA). Galen is known for conducting fair but extremely comprehensive flight checks. Liknaitzky's flight check encompassed two days, May 5th and 6th, and included a hour of flight and ten hours of oral examination.

The flight check was unusually extensive because Matt was actually being tested on three aspects of flying: glider procedures, trike flying, and airplane procedures (since the trike is a motorglider, it can be flown under power like an airplane.)

Still Some Restrictions

Liknaitzky's pilot certificate reads "Private Pilot - Glider." However, Liknaitzky  cannot fly a three-axis glider, either a traditional motorglider or a glider pulled into the air by a tow plane. The reason is because there is a notation in Liknaitzky's pilot logbook, which limits him to flying a "weight-shift" (trike) motorglider only. Matt may qualify to fly a traditional glider by taking instruction in a three-axis glider and receiving a logbook endorsement from a glider instructor attesting that he is qualified to fly a traditional glider. Liknaitzky  does not have to take another FAA practical test to fly a traditional glider.

Right now, Liknaitzky only wants to fly trikes, so he is not worried about his inability to fly a traditional glider. The terrific feature about the so-called "Glider-Trike" program is that a person who is only interested in flying a trike may take all of his training in a trike, and take his flight check in a trike.

Matt's logged flight instruction time in the trike was 17.5 hours. He is highly proficient in the trike because he has several hundred hours of trike experience, since he has a microlight pilot's license from South Africa, his country of origin. He is also an ultralight trike instructor. However, his microlight and ultralight flight time does not count as FAA flight time, so his FAA logbook only showed 17.5 hours of FAA flight experience.

The flight check portion of the practical test began early in the morning at Torrance Airport, located about 12 miles south of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Torrance is a Class D airport. The test consisted of various airborne maneuvers, including a precision "spot" landing, and a simulated engine-failure on takeoff. Liknaitzky was also required to shutdown his engine in flight and demonstrate engine-off soaring procedures.

All of these maneuvers were coordinated with the Torrance control tower. The tower controllers at Torrance are exceptionally accommodating to ultralight-type experimental aircraft. There are several experimental aircraft based at Torrance Airport, including a Quicksilver, Hornet, Kolb, Kitfox, and Air Creation trike.

One of the benefits of flying an experimental glider-trike is that the FAA allows an experimental aircraft to fly over "congested areas." FAA regulations preclude ultralights and microlights from flying over urban areas, so all of Matt's previous trike flying was over rural areas only. Matt said it is a unique experience to fly over houses, high-rise buildings and urban freeways. Because of FAA regulations, Liknaitzky has previously avoided congested areas even though he recently flew an ultralight trike from San Diego to Washington State, accompanied by Barry Palmatier, who is another FAA licensed glider-trike pilot.

Always Looking For A Place To Land

One aspect of Matt's training was learning how to recognize the places available for an emergency landing when flying over a city. Wide roads, golf courses, football fields, dry rivers, parks, and empty lots are all available landing spots in case of an engine failure. Matt's flight training consisted of extensive precision-landing practice so that he could consistently maneuver the trike to land within a 200-foot distance.

FAA regulations allow aircraft to fly as low as 1000 feet over congested areas, but Matt and Jon have a self-imposed restriction to never fly below 3500 feet over the city, in order to allow for a better opportunity to select a landing spot in case of an engine failure. The only exception to their 3500-foot rule is in the traffic pattern at an airport. The traffic pattern for ultralight-type experimental aircraft at Torrance is 500 foot AGL, which is 500 feet below general aviation aircraft.

Matt, age 25, was born near Cape Town, South Africa. He now lives in Santa Monica (CA). He is the North American distributor for Aerotrike, which is based in South Africa. The Aerotrike commonly used for training is the "Safari." Matt's experimental trike, N39ML, is the high-performance "Cobra" touring trike. Matt added a back-seat hand-throttle and instructor control bars for his FAA instruction and flight test. The trike is equipped with a 65 h.p. Rotax two-cycle, two-cylinder engine and a Spirit 15 wing. It is also equipped with a Stratomaster "Ultra" engine digital display and a Garmin GPS.

FMI: www.aerotrike.co.za