Microlight adventure
Have you ever wondered what it must feel like to be a bird?
I came closer than I ever will to understanding the joy of flight when I went up in a microlight from Porepunkah Airfield last week.
Juliet bought me the tandem flight as a birthday gift. The operators, Steve and Lisa Ruffels, had a baby daughter just a fortnight after our twins were born.
According to their web site: “A microlight aircraft is another name for a powered hang glider, more commonly known as a trike. This aircraft is controlled by weight shift, just as a hang glider is. The only real control difference between a hang glider and a microlight is the way in which it becomes airborne. Rather than running from a hilltop, the trike takes off from the ground with the aid of the rear mounted engine and the three-wheel trike base, referred to as the pod. Instead of lying down under the wing to fly it, you are comfortably seated one in front of the other. Unlike a conventional three-axis aeroplane the trike has no foot peddles for aerodynamic control, rather, its foot pedals are used to control the front wheel when ground steering. To fly a weight shift microlight you simply fly the wing, just like a hang glider.”
The sensation of taking off was quite alarming for this novice. It was a sharp near-vertical leap and I suddenly acquired a fear of heights. A survival instinct saw me grab hold of the side, as though clinging there would somehow save me in the event of a plunge to earth.
Unlike an aeroplane, the microlight exposes its passengers to the elements. For me that was a great part of the experience. We had a calm day and 30 degrees at ground level, but it was much colder at 6000 feet.
After we gained elevation and steadied our transit I felt much more relaxed and started to enjoy the view. We flew over Porepunkah, Bright and Wandiligong before tracking back over Clear Spot to Mount Buffalo.
I saw some of the areas I’d been bushwalking and riding. It gave me a sense of achievement to see from above the distances I’d covered.
After flying over the Chalet on Mount Buffalo, Steve turned off the engine and we glided for a couple of minutes before landing.
That was when I felt like a bird. There was little sound, just some wind breezing past the microlight. It seemed a shame to finish the flight.
There was a camera attached to the wing and it took a photo every minute. Unfortunately I was always looking the other way and the grey sky didn’t do justice to the scenery, but it gives an impression.
The picture above shows me trying to steer the aircraft while it was gliding. You can see the propeller isn’t moving.
I’m very happy I did the flight. I’d like to do it again in winter if there’s a sunny day after a low fall of snow. That would be simply spectacular to see from the air.
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
