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NOTICE: This aircraft is not yet flying, but is being built in two locations and flight experience will be soon available.

Hikenfly is an all new design incorporating design and construction features developed over a decade of flying. It is intended as a intermediate performance ship for slope and thermal soaring in rough terrain . The detailed instructions are intended to guide even the beginning scratch builder. Here are the features:

Middle Size.

In between a Stylus (1 meter hand launch) and a 2X4 (48 inch trainer) it offers easy transportability with one piece wing. Large enough to carry standard servos and reciever, yet small enough to easilly carry through brush and on narrow trails.

Polyhedral Wing.

A flat center section with outboard upturned tips offers ease of accurate contstruction. Unlike an ailearon ship, a polyhedral wing with rudder and elevator controls allows flying without constant watching, so you can pay attention to where you are putting your feet, watching out for cowpies and rattlesnakes (I've steped into and slipped onto the former and over the latter).

V Tail.

A V tail is mostly up and out of the weeds when a rough country landing is necessary.

Grenade Launchable.

A finger hole allows a good throw, ideal for weak thermal conditions on ridgetops, where you want some time to hunt for lift but would prefer not to hike down through slippery, poison oak covered slopes to recover the glider.

Rugged yet lightweight with novel structure.

The fuselage is built mostly from 1/32 spruce plywood/balsa composite and spruce stock. Designed to take the occasional encounter with a rock on landing this structure on other ships has survived some crashes that would demolish a conventional ship. Not quick to build, but it can save a lot of repair time. I have fuselages 15 years old that are still flyable.

Versitile Aerodynamics.

Combining a turbulated upper wing with a smooth and curved entry surface on the bottom side the airfoil is intended to combine the ability to penetrate into the wind in strong slope conditions while being able to float in light conditions.

A number of construction newsletters have been sent and rough plans and photos are on an unlinked folder on this site.

For more info e-mail me with subject "Hikenfly" at the address shown below in the graphic (this is to foil spambots, net spiders that collect e-mail addresses for mass mailings). Note that our politicians won't stop spam (they could) - $why not?