#HANG GLIDER PROPELLER BACK FULL#

The wing is changeable – the Grif is a popular choice as it offers the most performance, the Aeros Fox 13T offers a more damped ride. Secure and connect the tank and you’re ready for pre-flight checks. After that, there are the usual two pins to fit the front strut. The keel ends just before the engine so there is sufficient clearance to get the keel touching the pylon, then you can lift the wing up on the pylon and insert the single pin that holds it in place. With the assembled wing parked nose-down into wind, the rigged trike can be connected up to the hang point, and then the trike pushed back so the front wheel goes back over the base bar. There is a keel extension available for this. The wing will rig flat or on the keel like most hang gliders if the winds are very light and the ground muddy you’d choose to rig up on the keel to save the wing getting dirty. Fuel burn for the day I took it flying was between three and four litres an hour. Airplay (the UK importer) thrust tests indicate that the wooden propeller offers a tiny bit more thrust, but might be more vulnerable to damage. Propeller choice is between a two-bladed wooden Cisco offering or a carbon-fibre Helix one. The engine runs on a 3% premix with synthetic oil specified. It’s got a recoil starter, to save weight. The engine offered as standard with the Grif 3DC wing is the C-Max C 175, a free-air cooled, single-cylinder two-stroke with a counter-balance shaft running off the crankshaft to reduce vibration. Whilst this option is fully tested on the Peabee, another nano, it’s just a possibility for the Snake. This option would allow the owner to wheel the folded wing on the trike into a very small (and therefore cheap) spot in a hangar or onto a purpose-built trailer to take away. The other wing option is the Aeros Fox 13T, which also folds up into a bag, but can, as an alternative, fold away into a short-pack bag without being removed from the trike. It’s then small enough to fit into the rear of a medium-sized estate if the split seat is folded down. The trike also packs away: both rear suspension legs take about five minutes to remove, and the pylon (the tube connecting the trike to the wing) folds down. It weighs 27.5kg (similar to a free-flying hang glider), and is easily transported on the roof of a car. The Eurofly Snake can be bought with a Grif 3DC wing, a hang glider-type wing with 62% double surface, which packs up into a bag 5.32m long that is the same as the average free-flying hang glider. Add the wing and paramotor-style engine and the total weight comes in at under 70kg – light enough for it not to need a licence to fly in many countries. The whole machine can fold up and fit in the boot of a big car. There is a choice of wings for pilots who want the “texture of the air” feeling you get from a hang glider, or the more stable, more microlight based experience, as this trike can be bought with either option. The promise is that it folds up and fits in the boot of your car. It’s aimed at pilots who’d like to soar, but haven’t got a hill to fly from, those who can no longer foot-launch for any reason, anyone wanting to fly an ultralight but wanting the freedom from the cost and complexity of a licence, and those who’d like a compact aircraft that can be stored in a shed or garage without the need for a hangar. This brings the UK into line with many other countries, where nano trikes are also unregulated.

#HANG GLIDER PROPELLER BACK FULL#

The exemption allows wheeled powered hang gliders or paramotors to be flown without a pilot’s licence, subject to a maximum weight of the empty aircraft plus full fuel to be under 70kg, or 75kg if an aircraft-mounted reserve is carried.

The exemption for this was granted after a paramotor pilot sought permission to fly with wheels as a disability aid, something he should have been able to do under the UK’s Equality Act.

Nanolights have been around for decades but are now part of a new class of aircraft in the UK that does not require a licence for the pilot. The Eurofly Snake is a nano trike – the smallest, lightest combination of a hang-glider wing and trike suspended underneath.

Hang glider propeller back