Flight; General Flight Control - P&M Aviation QUIK GT450 Operating Instructions Manual

7. FLIGHT

7.1. GENERAL FLIGHT CONTROL

Roll
Roll control is the action of the pilot moving the wing relative to the trike. The roll response is aided by the
intentional flexing of the airframe and sail designed into wing.
The GT450 wing also incorporates a floating keel and hang-point roll linkage to reduce the effort required to
produce and stop a roll, especially in response to small pilot inputs. This makes the aircraft much easier to fly
if the pilot inadvertently flies into turbulence.
Because the wing is only deflected a certain amount by the pilot's roll input, the roll rate achieved will be
faster at high speeds than low speeds. The roll response will be typically 3.5 seconds to reverse a 30 degree
roll at 1.3V stall, fully loaded, to 2 seconds at VNE. At minimum loading, response is approximately 0.5
seconds faster.
Pitch
The Quik and Quik GT450 wing incorporates a pitch trimmer so that the pilot can select a range of steady
trimmed speeds. This feature makes for easy cross-country cruising performance, or slower, stable flight for
climbing, gliding, or when instructing.
The Quik and Quik GT450 wing will stall if the control bar is pushed out to the front strut and held there.
Approach to the stall must be progressive to avoid potentially dangerous very steep nose-up attitudes at the
stall giving a violent nose down stall break. Prior to the stall, a buffet felt through the control bar should be
noticed. At the stall there may be a mild wing drop with a very new wing at low weight (minimum washout
situation). To recover, use standard flexwing recovery techniques. See Section 7.5 for stall characteristics.
See also Section 10 for more information on stall speeds.
Weather Conditions
Never fly the Quik or Quik GT450 in very strong thermic conditions, high winds, in
or near any kind of storm. Rain is best avoided since visibility is significantly
reduced and propeller damage may result. Exercise extreme care when flying in
conditions which are beyond your experience level. Respect the limitations set
Microlight flying is most enjoyable in the calm conditions found at the beginning or the end of the day, when
the wind and thermals generally die away. If you see any adverse change in the weather approaching - this
is usually quite obvious - you are advised to land at the nearest safe landing site.
Rain will not noticeably influence flying control, although the stall speed tends to rise by approximately 5mph,
and take-off/landing rolls will be longer than usual. Ice, however, is more serious and can occur through
icing conditions, or by flying a wing which is wet from the bag, without giving it time to dry out.
Care should be taken in gusty or thermic conditions to maintain at least 60mph on climb-out and approach
(to/from 250' minimum), to ensure good roll response and to avoid gust-stalling. The cross-wind limits in
section 2 must be observed.
Quik & Quik GT450 Aircraft Operating Instructions
th
29 March 2007
Issue 1
WARNING
!
WARNING
!
Severe airframe icing can affect handling
markedly. At the first sign, you should land or
fly out of icing conditions.
Page 31 of 68