In welcoming Tony Castillo to the AT's, here is what the seasoned hang glider pilot from Venezuela remarked. - "I'm thrilled to finally get going in this wonderful sport and to have found such a nice group of people. Special thanks to John Keith (handle-less triker) & Batman that kindly took me for a ride in my first discovery flight :-) :-) and to Ed (Fast Eddie) that is a wonderful and very patient instructor and has given me so much good advice and a wonderfully maintained trike to learn with. I want everybody to know that from the moment I discovered the group (Atlanta Trikers) - just a little over 3 weeks or so ago - and started contacting members to try to gather information, I had NO IDEA of anything I needed to get started into this sport - everybody went out of their way to provide me with answers and direction. It is a wonderful feeling for somebody starting in this sport, to know that you can count on the support of this group. The fact that in only a few weeks from wanting to fly to having a trike, instructor, hanger-mates, and more information than I can digest is proof of what this group is really all about. Without the Atlanta Trikers I will probably still be sitting in my hammoc watching the sky, wishing, and wondering how to start ! " ... Here is Tony's email about his solo - "... I SOLOED yesterday and it was awsome. Ed took me for some prior-solo check landings including a totally unexpected engine shut-off during down wind and dead-stick turn, approach and landing - big surprise ! - then I did about 6 landings SOLO and waited until calmer weather and then did another bunch of landings (over 12 more landings - I lost count). It was awsome :-) and can't wait to go again.

Jim Finger, the AT's most recent new trike owner as of August 2005 and working commerical pilot, reported after a September flight into Tennessee to recon the Chattanooga Sport Flyers Annual gathering. - "Well, I fired up the Pegasus formerly known as JuneBug and headed northwest to Jasper [Tennessee]. Left my house [at Blue Mountain Airpark, south of LaFayette, Georgia] at 0900 and averaged 72 mph across the ground thanks to a nice 10 mph tailwind. Crossed Pigeon Mt, Lookout, and finally Sand Mt on the short 34 mile flight. Smooth, beautiful, and the motor humming nicely. Sweet. The fly-in was MUCH smaller this year. I'm afraid the passing of TL Primm took some of the organization away from the happening. Nonetheless, there were about 10 trikes and 6 or so fixed wings on the ground when I landed. The weather was perfect with nearly clear skies and light winds so trikes were constantly launching for short sorties around the Sequatchie Valley. I hung out for a couple hours and met some good folks. The rumour was that next year's fly-in may move north to Tom Pelfrey's place in Crossville. It's supposed to be triking nirvana. Check out www.buckcreekranch.com Heading home at noon, I bucked the 10 mph headwind and retraced my route. More turbulence with the mid-day thermals but fun. Saw hang gliders over Lookout and two hang gliders flying over the east facing Pigeon. I hadn't landed the Pegasus in that much turbulence but she mellowed out once below the treeline and greased on in."

Calhoun Mini Gathering – Catkiller - Triking in our local area is good. Flying to other trikers adds to the adventure. Rainman from Jackson County and Pocketknife from Cedartown joined up at Cherokee County Airport Saturday to take a smoke break before flying on to my Calhoun Airport hangar 17. Great seeing the two yellow Pegasus' rolling up to my trike hangout. They got to see Merle's new BB trike and Mitch the "Superman's" Velocity experimental fixed wing. Plus, they got to see the smile and fatique on student triker Kent Lewis' face who had that morning flown his first trike lesson. I think they had a good day. I did we all took pics to recall it all. ... Rainman - It was fun to finally get out of my airport limits, cross the vast water ways of Lake Lanier, head over rivers and mountains, land in unknown Cherokee territory, hook-up with a fellow Cedartown-made triker with his pocketknife, arrive to Calhoun in Yellow Pegasus formation style, meet the celebrities we all hear about but only a few lucky ones get to see them in person, look at Merle's new rocket-wingless-trike, see Kent still shaking after his first flight lesson, Mitch's Velocity, Ed's 2/3's Velocity, the plane-submarine-boat-tree-house guy, all the nice folks in Calhoun, use the wonderful FBO bathroom 3 times, ride your bike, eat Italian food owned by a Greek cook, discuss important issues like alien border crossings, watch that big twin plane put 750 gallons of gas while I patiently wait and hope to still have some light to get back, and finally depart the friendly Calhouneeses to fly with the control bar glued to my stomach to make sure I land legally at Jackson with some daylight. It was just marvelous! Got to do it again soon. … And, many thanks to pocketknife for the invitation and the 6:30AM wakeup call. Next trip... John, we meet at Cherokee again and then we do formation, movie, picture flying to Cedartown! How about that? ... Pocketknife - That sounds absolutely awesome to me. I had a blast. Thanks for not blasting me for waking you up so early. Welcome to the wonderful world of cross country triking. I can't wait to do it again. Remind me when we do it and we'll be sure to invite Junebug and Wheelbarrow. You guys can have a big 912 swap fest and argue about who's is best. Chuck, thanks for the wonderful hospitality; and Merle, I can't wait to see your new trike in the air. I know that you can't wait.

"Tracy is Back" - "Pocketknife" - Well. It's official. There's another trike in the air around Polk county for me to blame some of my antics on. After repairing my wiring mistakes, installing a new battery, pre-flighting the trike about 5 times, smoking 3 or 4 cigarettes, installing a temp com system, pacing, having Tracey pre-flight it one more time, gassing it up, then one more smoke, I finally got the first flight out of the way. It actually went off without a hitch. I had a little too much wind to check the wing's trim, but otherwise, it flew perfectly. No weird quirks or anything. I went ahead and flew the pattern 3 or 4 times, made several touch and go's and when I was comfortable I put the trike in some extreme bank angles, etc just to see how well it stuck. Felt just like mine. I brought it in engine-out just for good measure. I felt comfortable at that point turning it over to it's rightful pilot. Tracey has been flying with me for about a month now getting his wings back under him, so I was completely at ease with him taking the trike up solo. Again, without a hitch. :-) Tracey was pleased. We were only able to get about 15 more minutes flying in before the sun went down. I'll try to post some pictures of it all. Lets all welcome Tracey back into the active fold.

John Keith, Pocketknife - weighing in on this evenings flying, I went to 4A4 with the intention of flying to Rome to check out a couple of our newest ATers and their trikes. As I was backing out my Peg, Rex showed up to fly his Fergie and Ricky decided to break out his newly restored L4 The military version of a Piper J3 Cub). They didn't have a destination in mind so I invited them to tag along with me. We departed at 5 pm and headed north. I was really amazed at how easily we stayed together. I think Rex had to slow down the most but I was able to keep up with the cub, no problem. We had to be an odd site flying in formation. A trike, a fixed wing ultralight, and a gorgeous antique together in the air. It was neat. As we crossed the Rome VOR (our half way point) we met up with Curt and Batman in Curts new Yellow Peg. Actually, I didn't see them right away as I was watching my wingmen and didn't notice the trike about 700' above me. Batman was helping with Curts training and helping him get familiar with the trike. Our flight of three now became a flight of four and we pressed on to RMG. After we landed we taxied over to Jon's hangar. When we got there Dustin was looking over his trike while awaiting Jon's arrival. Dustin bought the Mainair Blade from Curt and has been training with Jon. (Jon reports that Dustin is doing very well). I had spoken with Dustin over the phone and this was our first meeting in person. Its always nice to put a face with a voice. Curt and Batman pulled up as I was getting out of my trike. Curt bought the 503 Pegasus that has been for sale on the ultralight home page. Its the one from New York. It looks like a brand new trike. Its identical to the "Junebug" peg except the blue parts of the wing are much bluer. (Is that a word?) I was impressed with the trikes condition. After applying a couple of velcro pieces that I brought, Curt installed his radio and was ready to get back in the air. I think he was sensing what was destined to happen later. Jon arrived from work and was ready to get in the air with Dustin. I asked them if they wanted to take a quick flight in my 912 and they took me up on the offer. (Maybe I'm trying to stir up a little 912 envy). As they were taking off, Rex and Ricky decided to head back to Cedartown. It was starting to get dusky dark. When Jon and Dustin got back I hopped in the Peg and headed back to 4A4. Curt was doing touch and goes with Ron as I was leaving. I later found out that Curt soloed after I left. Congradulations Curt!!!!! I enjoyed a quiet twilight flight back. I don't know exactly why, but night flight is definitely my favorite. I need to get my private ticket so I can legally get my night time fixes. I did make it back before it got totally dark. Man am I ever glad that spring is here. For those of you that didn't get to fly today, I am truly sorry. You missed a great flying day. I hope the weather holds so I can do this all weekend. Tony's been on me to go to Mountain AirPark with him and its looks like this weekend may be the perfect time.

Curt soloed! - Fri Mar 9, 2007 - What happened yesterday was I got to the airport first and started flying with Batman, and Jon's other student, Dustin, arrived later and flew with Jon when he arrived. We met the guys flying over from Cedartown and flew back to Rome and did some landings (some were not exactly perfect, but "adequate") and after about an hour, Batman said "I think you're ready". So eventually after he told me that about three times, I landed and he waved Jon over to the ramp and had a little "instructor conference" and they told me to go. It was either right then or wait for another time since it was about dusk. Since the air was perfectly calm, I realized there wasn't going to be a better time. Sure enough, it was perfect. .... The funny thing is that as I was leaving the airport last night, my friend Wayne who started taking lessons at the same time I did, called and told me that he soloed in his Flightstar over at Cartersville. We are a little (a lot) competitive, so there was always that unspoken thing about who would solo first... We both did. Hopefully, we can bring him over from the dark side and get him flying trikes;)

Anticipation of Phoneman's new Peg 912, Rainman wrote - Unless he changed plans; I hear that Greg is actually planning to camp in Savannah, where the container will arrive next week. Then he plans to smuggle himself into the container (after it clears customs of course because he does not look British at all), and sit in his half-assembled trike during the trip from Savannah to Cedartown. He carries a flash light, 2 chocolate bars, 1 change of underwear, and 1 gal AVGAS 100LL to get used to the smell. I think. I believe he has been practicing 912S noises. He was making noises last time I saw him. It wasn't the noises of a 503 2-stroke, I don't think. It was like a BRRRRRRRBRRRRRR and not like a brrrppklkrrrrbrbrppklk, if you know what I mean. Also, I believe he spoke to Merle at length so Greg has printed 3,256 pages of AD's for the Rotax 912 series. I think he plans to spend a few weeks fixing his brand new engine before starting it. It's good to be Greg sometimes, anyway. I may be wrong. ......... Phoneman replied - Your e-mail has been returned because I will be out of town in Savannah. I will be taking a tour of the Port, and should be back next Friday. John, please bring food and water to the airport when the trike container arrives. Thanks. Greg.

QUIKs' Flight to Trikefest, Chicago, IL, July 2007 -
John "Pocketknife" Keith - If you fellow trikers get the opportunity to take a long cross country trip, I highly recommend that you do it. This trip has got to be one of the most enjoyable things that I’ve done since I got involved in this sport back in the fall of 2004. Seeing so much of the county side from above was a big part of what I liked. We have a wealth of awe inspiring scenery underneath us if we will simply take the time to find it. One terrific sight was on our way up when we crossed Monteagle and dropped down into the Tennessee valley. We ran the valley for miles, scud running the farms and hills. There was a little bit of a low ceiling and it made for a beautiful sight. All three of us were doing it, and if anyone stepped out to watch, I sure we looked like a little fighter squadron out doing maneuvers. One of the things that I enjoyed most was flying over the farm lands of Illinois. There were miles and miles of perfectly flat stretches with farm houses and silos, etc. dotted around. (corn and beans for days) It was so odd to me that we could go so far without crossing more than a small stand of trees. When we did see a few trees clumped together it would usually turn out to be a small town. The other thing that was so cool about the area was the fact that all of the roads were set up in squares around the farms. For miles the roads looked like graph paper under us. I guess my favorite area to fly over had to be when we flew the southern coast of Lake Michigan. We passed in front of no-telling how many million dollar mansions along the coast of Indiana and Illinois. We could see the city of Chicago across the lake, and even though It looked to be only a few miles away, it was actually about 50. “Too cool!!” (I’m quoting Tony) I even photographed Greg flying out over the lake. Trike-fest itself was an absolute blast. I’m definitely planning on going back next year. I would guess that around 50 trikes were there. (Maybe Tony or Greg can help here because I didn’t think to count) It was pretty neat to fly around with 8 or 10 other trikes circling the field at any one time. A big thank you goes to Bud Cushing for providing the venue for the event. He has definitely created a Shangri-la for trikers and other ultralight pilots. Saturday they had a few field games that we need to try out at our next local triker gathering. Tony competed in the spot-landing competition. (I think he would have won the event if they had gotten 4 attempts instead of 3) They also had an event where they timed you on 3 take-off and landings. I would have won that event by 2 seconds if I had gotten my front tire all the way down on my 1st landing. I’ll do better next time. Sunday morning they had a breakfast fly-in at a nearby golf course. They actually had a permanent runway right in the middle of the course. I posted a few pics on the photo page so you can check it out. By far the best part of the trip was the camaraderie that we all shared. Tony, Greg and I got along great and had a wonderful time together. None of us were ever in a hurry, and we took the time to enjoy whatever we were in the middle of at the time. As far as I am concerned, that the only way to embark on an adventure like this. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to cross the entire country with these guys. I think Greg and I may have to invest in some ear plugs for Tony, though. He didn’t seem to be too pleased with our snoring ability. ...Call me when you get ready for another cross-country. I’m in there!!!!

Tony "Rainman" Castillo - Our triking adventure started on Wednesday July 18 at 7:15PM and ended on Monday July 23 at 3:15PM - The trip lasted about 5 days. The memories will remain forever. Total x-country distance flown: 1,421 miles (not including local flying at Cushing). Total hours in the air: 26.60 HRS. Visited 7 States: Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. Stopped at 20 airports: Jackson (GA), Cedartown (GA), Stevenson (AL), Warren (TN), Lafayette (TN), Bowling Green (KY), Rough River (KY), Pvt. Grass Field (KY), Daviess (IN), Shawnee (IN), Starke (IN), Pvt. Spencer Forman Grass Field (MI), Michigan City (IN), Lansing (IL), Cushing Field (IL), Praire Lakes Golf Course (IL), Rantoul Airbase (IL), Sullivan (IN), Marion (TN), Calhoun (GA) Used aprox. 198.3 Gallons of Gas for all 3 trikes worth $827.73 mostly AVGAS. Flew over mountains, rivers, towns, trees, forests, grass fields, pastures, lake michigan and a whole lot of corn in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. Landed and took off in head winds, cross winds, tail winds, no wind, and behind John's or Greg's rotors. Accidents: NONE. Near accidents: a whole bunch (called pilot errors).

Highlights - Nightly free concerts provided by the world famous tenors John Keith and Greg Kirby. - P&M USA paid for gas! Greg paid for room, John paid for food... Tony enjoyed that! - According to te concensus standards, which would be us, we "almost" won something in competition ! ... but we didn't - Greg broke the word record in S-turning-flying to stay behind the slightly slower GT450 for 26.60 HRS and 1,421 miles. I just used my trim! - Average aircraft formation distance in flight between John and Tony: 100 feet. Average formation distance between Greg and John+Tony ... about 2.5 miles (.5 miles too close according to Greg) - Great place to stay overnight: Bowling Green Kentucky. - Severe Incidents: John's cigarrettes flew out of his pocket, Greg had to pee, Tony got cold and had to land to get his jacket. - Greg is amazed he still have a landing gear. - John leaded most of the trip, I was at his 7 o'clock, Greg ... where is Greg? Sometimes Greg got tired of the S-turning and the 2+ mile behind thing ... so he will pull the bar and a few minutes later he was 2+ miles ahead.
In summary, this was a super great team of crazy pilots, 3 trully wonderful and fun trikes to fly and one of the best adventures I have had. Thanks John & Greg. I can't wait to do this again... but of course we will sleep in separate rooms and camp at separate areas.

Focused - Bobby "Wheels" Greer - Well here goes. I have been hanging around on the edge of this group for nearly 5 years now, quietly reading your email. I have met many of you, through Chuck at his hangar in Calhoun and attending the Repairman course last summer in Kennesaw. My name is Bobby Greer, I own an Aquilla trike with a 503 engine. I have owned it for nearly 5 years and still only have slightly more than 40 hours on the engine! That alone is another story. During this time period I have done litterly everything possible WRONG! I can be an excellent consultant to any future triker on what not to do. But, things have improved a little. For the last year I have been learning and working on my trike preparing it for this transition to the new Sport Pilot rules. I completed work my trike on July 12th, then I sat in the hangar and said to myself; "Now what?" You think you have a trike ready to pass Airworthiness inspection but you have never soloed and actually only flown in less than 5 hours! I started looking through my log book, reliving every entry, then realize I had logged over 40 hours; 309 landings, flew 4 different trikes with 3 different instructors! So......I fired it up and took off! Only after I was in the air did I suddenly remember I should not be flying it after completing the annual inspection/preparation before the airworthness inspection. So, I made a pass over the runway just to make sure I could line up; planned to land on the next pass and play like I had not flown; but my landing what okay but a little bouncy so I just could not quite my first ever solo flight on a poor landing regardless so, I took off again, this time I greased it! So I stopped. Then as I took a walk around my trike, I nearly dislocated my should patting myself on the back for the great job I had done. I had been referred to a DAR in Griffin, my trike is at a private grass strip in Spalding County, called Beaverbrook, called him, made an appointment to visit him. I left him all my records and awaited his call for an appointment to inspect my trike. That day finally happened on Thursday, August 2nd!! Now, my bright yellow Aquilla is registered/certified Experimental N2572C !!!! My next object is to become a "legal" Sport pilot. I am not totally illegal. I have been a member of EAA, USUA & ASC for 5 years; I am registered with USUA as a Student Pilot under the old rules and I have my Student Pilot Certificate issued by the FAA for Sport pilot training. Through all my efforts, Chuck "Catkiller" Goodrum has always been my most trusted advisor, sometimes instructor and patient friend. He has been nagging me for all these years to introduce myself through the yahoo group. Just like my solo, I finally got up the courage to do it.