Thruster Ultralight
Amabella Batton
The Thruster T600 Sprint is a British ultralight aircraft, designed and produced by Thruster Air Services of Langworth, Lincolnshire and introduced in the mid-1990s. The aircraft is supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.[1][2]
The aircraft complies with the Fdration Aronautique Internationale microlight rules and UK certified under BCAR Section "S". It features a strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit accessed via doors, fixed tricycle landing gear or conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.[1][2]
The aircraft is made from bolted-together aluminum tubing, with its flying surfaces covered in treated Dacron sailcloth and a fibreglass cockpit fairing. Fittings and mounts are 316 stainless steel and 4130 steel. Its 9.60 m (31.5 ft) span wing has an area of 15.70 m2 (169.0 sq ft) and flaps. The engine is mounted on the keel tube, above the cockpit. Standard engines available are the 64 hp (48 kW) Rotax 582 two-stroke and the 85 hp (63 kW) Jabiru 2200 four-stroke powerplant.[1][2][3]
You mentioned 'we' so I assume your lovely lady is to be part of your crew? On that assumption I'd suggest that a Thruster might be a more suitable 'lead-in' to her participation. I cut my tail-dragging teeth on a T300 and it not only taught me so much but it also survived my brutal ignorance (in fact, my marque admiration is such that I acquired a Gemini a few years back which awaits resurrection). Ive flown a 582 Drifter & rode shotgun in a 503 and was suitably impressed on both counts (who wouldn't be) and I'd have one in my hangar in a New York minute if circumstances permitted but if Mrs Tomo is planning to participate in this aviation lark with you then there's a comfy togetherness in a Thruster that you cannot achieve in a Drifter. Happy hunting old son. cheers Riley
Agree with Riley, you haven't been married long enough for a drifter , best keep the missus along side you in the thruster and in a few more years when the nagging starts trade to a drifter with intermittent intercom stoppages..Good luck and only you can ultimately decide your flying fate ,
My missus has just recently started to come away to flying stuff with me, I love centre line seating ,the decathalons and the Tigermoth are so cool as a pilot ,but it's just not social enough for flying with someone else,
I agree Mate, side by side so the Wife can build her confidence and you can hold hands or whatever, I am told the drifter is a bit more forgiving as a tail dragger but for a man of your experience .............
My wife has flown with me in many different aircraft both GA and ultralights including tandem seating (Piper Cub) without problems however, she was absolutely petrified sitting on the back seat of a drifter. Drifter....pilots aeroplane, Thruster....lovers aeroplane.
There are quite a few who don't appreciate the minimalist nature of a drifter cockpit. You get nothing for nothing. There is a view like few others. Tandem gives a perfect view to both sides equally in any tandem plane and the Drifter goes a bit further than most ordinary tandems. Being a pusher does bring safety aspects. ( You have to ensure nothing comes loose). I wouldn't put one on line without being very careful of who flies it Nev
Funny, I hear things like this being said nowadays (not just on here but at airfields ) and think....20 yrs ago the overwhelming majority of AUF flying schools had a Drifter or several Drifters online.
XP... Nearly everybody then had two stroke experience and most of the aircraft were similar in structure. Now they are rare and not often used and OLDER. See if you can find one to get your T/W endo. We have as some would say "Moved on" for better or worse. The change happened fairly quickly.. Holbrook used to have a few that were used regularly.Nev
Fly a couple of Thrusters. You can do a bit with them. Read a the stuff from Tony Hayes. He was going to alter the riggers AoA. to make them stall fully in the tail down attitude for landing 3 point. They get a bit of exhaust smell in them sometimes. I don't know if that is normal. Nev
Horses for courses really. I trained in a Thruster and they take some adjusting to the fact that they are not fully stalled in the 3 point attitude so you needto judge the flair and get the stick right back at that point. A learned trick but Mick Parer at Holbrook said if you could fly a Thruster you could fly anything! And he was one of the initial group on Mirages. I recently had my 1st Drifter ride and found the lack of forward vision disconcerting. That said they climb better than Thrusters (Imho) and they nearly land themselves. Need to do the research. Don. PS Don't go thru a fence in a Drifter!
I did all my ab initio training in a Drifter and absolutely loved it. They are a great aircraft with some unique features, including the 'broomstick' feel from the front seat. It can be quite disconcerting flying along without being able to see the wing. Great view too.
The Thruster, for me, suits my purposes better, but does not have quite the performance of the Drifter. In addition, the Thruster has a few 'quirks' that can bite you if you are inattentive, especially on landing and roll out.
For tail wheel endos i think the Thruster will make a better pilot compared to the Drifter. Drifters are much easier to fly and land that is why people hang on to them i think. But will they be able to really handle another type of tail dragger if they got in one? Thruster was designed as a local aircraft, for training, that is why it was originally called the TST (two seat trainer). Utility (bush basher) was close second. An hour aloft is an hour aloft regardless of what it is. Comfort, put a nice cushion on the seat. At least the Thruster has a good pod and windscreen on it. Side by side, engine out front, good structure around you = better survival rate. By the time it is time to do X country endo it is time for the student to up the performance mount anyway.
Thruster Air Services was a British aircraft manufacturer based in Langworth, Lincolnshire. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of ultralight aircraft in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft for the Fdration Aronautique Internationale microlight category.[1][2]
The company was formed in Camelford, Cornwall, in the mid-1980s to produce the Thruster TST and the Thruster T300. By the mid-1990s the company was producing the T600 and it continued to be developed over time. In the winter of 2006 the company was sold to Stephen Turley and Gerald Cooper and in the summer of 2007 was moved to Wickenby Aerodrome in Lincolnshire.[3]
I have been flying here regularly since 1974, starting in hang gliders, then flying trikes, ultralights, gliders, paragliders, GA, and even model helicopters, multicopters (drones) and model aircraft. I got my PPL at 17 years of age at Moorabbin airport in 1968. First solo was in a Victa Airtourer 100 at Civil Flying School in late 1967.
The thruster is aluminium framed with a dacron covered high wing and engine on the front of the single tube fuselage. It has full width ailerons and a normal tail empennage with large control surfaces. Elevator trim is an adjustable bungee cord. I had also made a modification to adjust a small amount of flap by lowering both ailerons with a car handbrake handle. I had also removed the fibreglass cockpit (after a crash demolished it), so apart from a windscreen attached to two down tubes, everything was open.
The weather was overcast with cloud down to about 8500 feet but to the west was a line of darker cloud having a roll shape aligned almost north-south. Nothing particularly unusual and no bad weather was expected.
As I began the return leg I was hit suddenly by strong turbulence and a strong headwind. The turbulence was strong enough to tip my plane well over 90 degrees both ways in roll. I was concerned enough to tighten my full harness lap and shoulder straps, but I let the turbulence do what it wanted without fighting it and maybe over stressing the aircraft. It also started to rain fairly heavily, so my legs, shorts and lower body were soaked in seconds. The windscreen protected my head and face well. I was expecting to be rolled inverted at any moment.
I had to increase power to maintain any sort of headway or ground speed and even with full throttle of the twin carburettor, twin cylinder, 45HP Rotax two stroke engine, I was losing altitude at about 2000 feet per minute. I was worried about running out of fuel. I could not turn far enough around with the harness so tight so I could not see the fuel gauge on the tank behind my seat. At normal cruise power settings there would have been plenty of fuel, but at full throttle the engine was very thirsty.
While I was thinking about whether I would have enough altitude to clear the ridge between me and the airstrip I was still a couple of kilometres from the 1500-foot ridge and down to about 3000 feet myself. The airstrip was a further two kilometres past the ridge. It was still hellishly turbulent, but the rain stopped after a couple of minutes.
The headwind was slacking off a bit, and it looked like I would easily clear the ridge by a few hundred feet and leave me with a straight run to the airport, but it was still rocking and rolling until I cleared the ridge.
I have spent years flying this particular ridge in hang gliders from about 1974 in the first gliders to be produced in Victoria. I had made hundreds of flights in most conditions and had a few crashes as well, so I knew as much as one could about what the wind could do there.
Once over the ridge everything smoothed out with no turbulence and no headwind. Conditions were back to what they were just 15 minutes before and just like they had been all morning. Except for the fact that all the hangar doors along the strip were now closed, where they had been fully open with people milling around outside. Now there was no sign of people. It turned out that they had had to rush to close all the hangars as the doors were almost blown off by the gusts estimated to be around 90 to 100 kilometres per hour.
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