|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
| |
|
Triking in the North Georgia Sky
Publish Date: May/June 2007 | |
Triking is a 21st century aviation sport that hearkens back to the fascination with flight that inspired the Wright Brothers
Whether they think of them as flying motorcycles or sports cars in the sky, the owners of these "toys," popularly known as "trikes," are part of a growing group of recreational pilots in north Georgia who are enjoying the old-fashioned thrills and sense of wonder inherent in open-air flying. Circling the greater Atlanta and North Georgia region from the northeast's Jackson County Airport, westward to Tom B. David Field in Calhoun and Richard B. Russell Airports, then southward to Clyde Morris Field near Rockmart-Cedartow, and still further south to Gum Creek Private in Roopville near Carrollton, and eastward again to Beaverbrook Aerodrome in Hampton, they make up an informal network known as the Atlanta Trikers, according to Chuck Goodrum, a formal military aviator, commercially-dual rated pilot and long-time trike enthusiast.
A trike is, essentially, a powered hang glider, sometimes called a kite, powered flex-wing, microlight, ultralight, or of late, a light sport, weight-shift control aircraft. It has a flexible, high-strength tube and fabric wing frame, a three wheeled carriage, and pusher propeller, motorized propulsion system. These small, open-air flying machines come in single and two place models, the later typically reserved for instructor and a student pilot. Two or four cycle engines are mounted on the rear of the carriage. Their power ranges from 18 to 100 hp.
Today's trikes have evolved from the hang gliding activities in the 1970s. "Trikes still conjure up something of a free-spirited, hippie image," Goodrum jokes. He further comments that "trikers," the name he fondly attributes to trike pilots, "are registered ultralight pilots all the way up to certificated Airline Transport Pilots."
Goodrum discovered trikes after learning to hang glide and during a visit to Sun ‘n Fun in the very early 1990s. Not as popular at the time, he had to travel to South Carolina for transitional training, and he purchased his first trike, no longer flown, in Alabama. Back in Atlanta, he soon discovered he was the only triker in the region. Undeterred, Goodrum published a magazine dedicated to trike enthusiasts (entitled Trikes R Us), founded the Atlanta Trikers, went through three single seat trikes, and today, he is a trike instructor flying an Australian manufactured two seat trike.
"Trikes have always enjoyed great popularity in Europe, Russia, South Africa and Australia," Goodrum says, "while most ultralight and experimental pilots in the U.S. have traditionally favored fixed-wing aircraft. However, by the mid 1990s, the trike gained a strong following. By September 2004, with the FAA's enactment of the Light Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot regulations, the trike was officially recognized as an ‘aircraft' and classified in the new airworthiness category of ‘weight shift control.'" Goodrum explains, "That in its single-seat form can still be operated as an ultralight; however, it can also now under the ‘sport' rules be owned and operated as a single or dual seat FAA-registered "special" or "experimental" light sport aircraft and flown by a FAA-certificated sport, recreational, or private pilot.
There is much to like about trikes. They are reasonably priced (in comparison with most planes, cars, boats and motorcycles); their fuel consumption is relatively low; they are light weight and easily portable; and they can take off and land in short distances in a variety of terrain. While many pilots keep their trikes in traditional aircraft hangars, trikes can also be stored in garages or trailers.
While The Atlanta Trikers reside throughout the Atlanta, metro, and north Georgia region, these enthusiastic, trike-loving pilots tend to base themselves at the numerous public and private airports, away from the area's concentration of Class B and C airport traffic. Goodrum, retired from Kennesaw State University, stores his trike in a hangar at Tom David Field in Calhoun, Georgia. Flying and training others to fly trikes, he adds "that as with most aviation, weather dictates flight, but trike flying and instruction continue year-round and North Georgia is the perfect place to go triking."
For many people, however, the myth persists that trikes are unsafe, Goodrum says. "This is simply not so. Trikes are generally flown in lighter winds, but that depends on the pilot's experience and attitude. Trike pilots from around the world hold distance and altitude records, and trikes are flown in international flight competitions. They are even used to escort young geese and whooping cranes to new wintering grounds along migration routes, one of which is through Georgia." Trikes, he also notes, have twice been flown around the world, several times from continent to continent, and above the Himalayan Mountains (with different pilots and on separate trips).
"The Atlanta Trikers is not an official organization," Goodrum says. "We do not have officers or meetings, but we do have a Web site, an email discussion group, cell phones, and we enjoy flying together and getting together for dinner or other social gatherings. We are from various social, economic, and educational backgrounds. But mostly, we love flying trikes."
They are, one might say, a group of kindred spirits who love triking. Perhaps those early "hippies" of the 1960 and 70s sport hang gliding movement, now older and discovering trikes themselves, were on to something after all-for sheer relaxation and a natural high, you can't beat triking. Just ask any Atlanta Triker.
For more information about the Atlanta Trikers, visit their Web site at http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~cgoodrum/AT/index.html, or contact Chuck Goodrum by email at trikes@mindspring.com or by phone at 404-213-7283.
|
|
|
Written by Leslie Johnston |
|
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
