Light Aircraft Association

Hi

I'm thinking of getting an Avid Speedwing, tricycle with wingfold, and wondered what performance was like, especially on soft field, and for touring.

The one I'm looking at comes in trailer - is it really easy to take in and out single handed? Another a/c I bought for that purpose was most certainly not easy to do on my own!

I have NPPL(M), can I upgrade my licence on the aircraft to SSEA?

Many thanks in advance - all help most gratefully received.

Hi The Avid speedwing is a great wee aircraft but it is a bit of a handful if you are not used to flying them. It suffers from adverse yaw and requires you lead with rudder in turns. That aside its a very capable aircraft I owned one for years G-BULY I sold it and then bought it back. Mine had the extended wing which was nicer. Forget about using the Flapperons as flaps they just make the controls very vague. Be aware if you fold the wings with fuel in them they have a tendency to tip onto the tail. I see you are thinking of tricycle configuration which is ok but the nose leg is reasonably fragile also there is a mandatory mod to check if the hole drilled for the retaining collet is side to side and not front to rear when tube has be known to fracture I would not recommend tricycle for soft fields you will break the nose leg, best to go for tail dragger with larger tyres . Wing tanks are molded into the wings and suffer from rot if mogas is used. Its the ethanol that gets them you will know if its dissolving the fuel starts to turn a yellowish brown colour!! Polyethylene tanks are available from America which fit inside the existing tanks and reduce the capacity by a small amount. I just remembered that some of the early versions had fuselage mounted tanks which were polyethylene I think. I hope I have given you an idea about the aircraft I certainly loved mine in Tail Dragger configuration