Bi Wing Microlight - Fun ? Costs ?
Discussion
Hi,
By accident I managed to stumble onto an Ebay auction for a Bi wing microlight last night.
I've never considered flying as a few friends have had Cessnas etc and have just flown around bits of the UK to keep their hours up and it all seems a bit dull.
Microlights that look like hang gliders seem wrong too but this looked interesting / fun.
A quick google shows it doesn't seem to be too hard / costly to start flying microlights but could someone give me a very quick summary ?
Can you only land / take off on approved runways or can you use flat fields ?
Thanks
By accident I managed to stumble onto an Ebay auction for a Bi wing microlight last night.
I've never considered flying as a few friends have had Cessnas etc and have just flown around bits of the UK to keep their hours up and it all seems a bit dull.
Microlights that look like hang gliders seem wrong too but this looked interesting / fun.
A quick google shows it doesn't seem to be too hard / costly to start flying microlights but could someone give me a very quick summary ?
Can you only land / take off on approved runways or can you use flat fields ?
Thanks
3-axis are the microlights you are referring to.
cost of licence, well depends on many things. few do it in the minimum 25 hours, more likely 25 hours + 1 hour for every year over 18 you are. (or if an incompetent, uncoordinated moron like me + 2 hours for each year). so budget 3000 absolute minimum, don't be suprised it it is more than double this.
costs for running a self owned microlight, i will give costs based on my experience, it can be done a lot cheaper, or a lot more expensively.
hangarage £80-120 a month
insurance £800 per annum (with hull cover - similar to fully comp on a car)
annual inspection £250
running costs 13 litres per hour of unleaded + £10 to the "maintenance fund" (not necessary but will not be far out on general maintenance).
bmaa membership £67 per annum
you can take off and land pretty much anywhere there is room and you have permission to.
or you can join a syndicate and these costs are massively reduced!
check out http://www.afors.com/index.php?page=browse&sec... for machine prices.
forums of interest:
http://www.microlightforum.com/forum.php
http://microlighters.co.uk/forum/index.php
http://forums.bmaa.org/ - official forum, unfortunately you cannot post here unless you join (£67 per annum i think) you cannot post here u
cost of licence, well depends on many things. few do it in the minimum 25 hours, more likely 25 hours + 1 hour for every year over 18 you are. (or if an incompetent, uncoordinated moron like me + 2 hours for each year). so budget 3000 absolute minimum, don't be suprised it it is more than double this.
costs for running a self owned microlight, i will give costs based on my experience, it can be done a lot cheaper, or a lot more expensively.
hangarage £80-120 a month
insurance £800 per annum (with hull cover - similar to fully comp on a car)
annual inspection £250
running costs 13 litres per hour of unleaded + £10 to the "maintenance fund" (not necessary but will not be far out on general maintenance).
bmaa membership £67 per annum
you can take off and land pretty much anywhere there is room and you have permission to.
or you can join a syndicate and these costs are massively reduced!
check out http://www.afors.com/index.php?page=browse&sec... for machine prices.
forums of interest:
http://www.microlightforum.com/forum.php
http://microlighters.co.uk/forum/index.php
http://forums.bmaa.org/ - official forum, unfortunately you cannot post here unless you join (£67 per annum i think) you cannot post here u
Thanks.
It's particularly Bi planes I like the look of, a quick google shows that the £3k one I saw on Ebay is a lightweight special and the Sherwood Ranger is the type I'd probably buy circa £12-15k
(I have no intention using one for travel)
Before doing any more research I'd better book a test flight / first lesson to see if I actually like microlight flying. I can see that Bi planes are very rare so I guess I'll just have to try a std fixed wing and take it from there.
It's particularly Bi planes I like the look of, a quick google shows that the £3k one I saw on Ebay is a lightweight special and the Sherwood Ranger is the type I'd probably buy circa £12-15k
(I have no intention using one for travel)
Before doing any more research I'd better book a test flight / first lesson to see if I actually like microlight flying. I can see that Bi planes are very rare so I guess I'll just have to try a std fixed wing and take it from there.
there is also the mistral:
a lot cheaper than a sherwood ranger
http://www.afors.com/Images/UserImages/Originals/1...
a lot cheaper than a sherwood ranger
http://www.afors.com/Images/UserImages/Originals/1...
jjones said:
there is also the mistral:
a lot cheaper than a sherwood ranger
http://www.afors.com/Images/UserImages/Originals/1...
To my eyes that doesn't look right.a lot cheaper than a sherwood ranger
http://www.afors.com/Images/UserImages/Originals/1...
Someone has just grafted a second wing onto a normal "plane"
Hopefully there are a few more variants but I'll try one first as I've done this before eg 911's read up on them, knew everything about them, then drove one and thought it was horrid.
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