In addressing microlight trikes in New Zealand, we open up a can of worms as they are so amorphous. They can have different and sometimes interchangeable wings and when a new wing is fitted from another trike it could have the registration of the other trike, if it is even registered at all! I reckon we have had around 140 trikes registered here and more have flown without being registered, as with the tragic case of Gregory Rogerson at Treble Cone that I posted recently. Here is another example with a happier ending.
An early trike flying at one of the early Waitohi flyins. How would you know what it was?
One of the many early types of trikes were the Ultraflight models. These originated with Ultraflight Systems out of Modesto in California but I understand that they were produced locally by Steve Eldridge trading as Ultra Flight Systems at Hamilton. I can find records that three of them were registered here but this story refers to an unregistered one that also didn't have a MAANZ number.
It was partly owned by John Blauer of Tauranga, who was one of four pilots who flew the trike. On 17 April 1983 a bracing wire snapped while it was flying near Papamoa and John Blauer who was wearing a parachute, parachuted to safety! This must be one of the very few if not the only example of a pilot parachuting to safety from a stricken microlight. Can anyone confirm this story or offer any more details?
Thanks to Janic Geelen for the information.
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