Two Students Become FAA Licensed Glider-Trike Pilots

Barry Palmatier's Raptor trike, N227BP, at the Otay Mesa Airfield near San Diego.

Student Barry Palmatier (left) and flight examiner Galen Fisher preflight the Air Creation trike used in Barry's flight check.

A Sabre trike in flight over farm land.

Except for the United States, trikes are the most widely flown personal recreation aircraft throughout the world.

Barry Palmatier flies over southern California in his Raptor trike.

This beautiful Air Creation Clipper trike is made especially for touring the countryside.

There are no kingposts or liff lines on the strut-braced North Wing Maverick trike.

The bare-essentials trike can easily be assembled from the manufacturer's kit.

A "trike" is a large, engine-powered hang glider. A flex wing is mounted on a fuselage which carries one or two occupants, plus the engine, landing gear, fuel tank, instruments, and optional parachute. It is controlled by a pitch/roll bar, and has no rudder. The wing can be removed, rolled up, and carried on top of a vehicle, just like a hang glider wing. The fuselage can be towed on a trailer.

Except for the United States, trikes are the most popular form of personal recreation throughout the world. They are becoming more popular in the US, but are mostly flown as ultralights in rural areas.

The 1997 movie, "Fly Away Home," featured a trike which was used to guide migrating geese from Canada to their breeding grounds in the southern United States.

Recently several trikes have been placed in the Experimental category in the same manner proscribed by the FAA for experimental airplanes. Once an aircraft is put into the Experimental category it is no longer considered an ultralight. It may be flown over congested areas, and is not subject to the weight, fuel, and speed limitations which are imposed on ultralights.

Although an FAA pilot’s license is not required to fly an ultralight, a license is required to fly an experimental aircraft. What type of pilot’s license is required to fly an experimental trike?

After months of negotiating with the FAA, it was determined that a glider pilot’s license would be the most appropriate to fly an experimental trike. Since a trike is basically a large hang glider, it was logical that an experimental trike would be considered a "motorglider," (or "self-launched glider," as the FAA refers to it).

Thus was born what is now known as the "glider-trike program." This was a project which included the means of putting a trike into the motorglider experimental category, producing a glider-trike flight instructor, and training a glider-trike flight examiner. The FAA was also required to create the appropriate logbook endorsements and issue an exemption to allow limited commercial training in experimental aircraft.

The first person to take a flight examination in a glider-trike was John Ballantyne, the President of the US Ultralight Association.

John already had a Private Pilot Glider license, which he received while flying a traditional three-axis glider. However, on May 30, 2000, John took the first flight check in a glider-trike to obtain his Commercial glider license.

Now Barry Palmetier (pronounced "Palm-ah-teer") has followed in John’s footsteps, and has advanced the glider-trike program to a new level. John Ballantyne already had a pilot’s license before he took his Commercial flight check in the glider-trike. But Barry did not have any FAA license. So, Barry became the first person to receive his initial pilot’s license by training and testing in the trike.

The flight exam (called a "practical test" by the FAA) was administered by Galen Fisher, a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) for gliders. The testing took place at Torrance Airport in southern California. Barry took the flight check in a two-seat Air Creation "Fun 18" experimental glider-trike. The trike is especially equipped with dual controls for training and testing.

Because Barry was to receive a glider pilot’s license, he was tested on traditional glider knowledge as well as his knowledge of trikes. He was required to know traditional glider items such as soaring techniques, speed-to-fly analysis, polar curves, and glider cross-country flying skills.

The flight test was conducted in accordance with the Practical Test Standards (PTS) for glider exams. The flight portion of the exam consisted of shallow and steep turns, stalls, simulated engine failures, and precision "spot" landings. The oral exam included questions on pilot privileges and limitations, airspace rules, radio communication, hazardous weather, passenger briefings, and aeronautics.

The practical test was monitored by the Long Beach Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) Principal Operations Inspector Gary Lackey.

The following day, on July 17, 2001, Chris Haarhoff (which rhymes with "soar-off") set another aviation precedent. Although Barry Palmetier did not have a pilot’s license, he did have about five hours of training in a three-axis glider. However, Chris had never flown any aircraft with an elevator and rudder; neither a glider nor an airplane. Therefore, Chris was the first person to receive all of his training in a trike, and to take his FAA practical test in a trike, with no previous airplane experience.

Chris took his exam in his own Aerotrike Cobra, which is manufactured in his native country of South America. The engine on the Cobra is a four-cycle, four-cylinder Rotax 912. This 80 hp engine is the same as used on the FAA-certified Katana airplane trainer. The maximum weight of the Cobra is nearly 1000 pounds, and the top speed is over 70 mph.

Both Chris and Barry were thrilled to receive their pilot’s licenses and to be a part of the glider-trike project. Soon students Frank Oyama, John Kemmeries, Mike Jacober, and Lanse Welch will also be ready for their practical tests.

For more information on the glider-trike project you may e-mail Barry Palmetier at BPalmatier@ssi4power.com, Chris Haarhoff at explodi@aol.com, or glider-trike flight instructor Jon Thornburgh at JonThornburgh@pocketmail.com. Jon’s voice mail is at 800-971-8710.

Additional information may be obtained at the following sources:

"The New Glider-Trike: The Best Deal in Aviation," published in UltraFlight Magazine, November 2000. Address: UltraFlight Magazine, 2167 14th Circle North, St. Petersburg, FL 33713. Telephone: 800-578-3144;

"The Experimental Glider-Trike Program," UltraFlight Magazine, February 2001

"The Difference Between An Experimental Trike and An Experimental Glider-Trike," UltraFlight Magazine, April 2001

"New Category: Glider-Trike," at Aero-News Network (ANN), a daily Internet aviation news source. See http://www.aero-news.net/news/archive2000/0700news/073000a.htm

"Glider-Trike Instructor Ranks Grow Some More," Aero-News Network at ttp://www.aero-news.net/news/archive2000/1200news/120500a.htm

There is a web site dedicated to the experimental glider-trike project at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ExpTrikes

Archives of previous articles written by Jon Thornburgh are available at http://www.cyberskies.com/ultralight

About the author: Jon Thornburgh is an FAA and ultralight flight instructor. He is a periodic contributor to UltraFlight Magazine and Aero-News Network.