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