Do I need to Relearn how to fly?

[hismiths]

I have retired back home to Hawaii, and to my training field, KOA. I got my private here in 1978, and have flown many hundreds of hours here in Hawaii, in a number of SEL aircraft. The situation at our field - NO hangars, expensive tie-downs located less than 1/4 mile from open sea with large waves (VERY high salt content in the air), VOG, and latitude 20 direct sun; preclude my owning a conventional aircraft here. In fact I left my Spezio Tuholer on the mainland to be sold ... someday? KOA is a very mixed-use international airport, heavies, military, private, air-tour (fixed and rotary) and a couple of SLAs and trikes. In looking at the options of which I am aware, it looks like the most viable machine for getting back airborne is a 2-seat N-numbered trike. Folding wing, trailable, affordable, etc. However, I am concerned about the reverse controls on a trike. I can see myself reacting automatically to over 1,000 hours and 30 years of experience by pushing forward on the controls to go down and regain airspeed ... not a good idea, eh?

Does anyone have any experience/input? Has anyone ever developed a conventional control input system for a trike? Anyone got any better ideas for a different aircraft? I would actually prefer something like a Drifter, but need a one-man wing folding/rigging system, and haven't discovered an answer out there on the interwebz.

All responses welcomed, Mahalo and Aloha, Smitty

[FrankCordrey]

Have you checked out the Sonex Onex? http://www.sonexaircraft.com/research/onex.html

It is a single seat and the wings fold in just a few minutes.

You can trailer it back home to your garage.

Not an immediate fix but it would be an answer for you.

Frank

[rosiejerryrosie]

Just a thought here - but there are two trikes in the community hangar with me. They both started out in their garages but found, after a time, folding and unfolding the wing to fly was a real PITA, so they are now renting hangar space. There are a number of three axis control airplanes out there that have folding wings or easily removable wings. For years, I flew a MiniMax whose wings could be removed by withdrawing four pins. Putting them back on was a bit more difficult but I could do it alone in about 15 -20 minutes (built a rack on the trailer to hold up one end of the wing while I fastened it to the airplane). Trikes can be fun but try one first before you jump in.

[Eric Page]

The OneX wing fold takes a few *seconds*. I did it myself this morning. Push a spring-loaded safety pin aside, pull the lock handle and fold the wing. It's fast and easy, and the design looks very secure and idiot-proof.