Tale of the Kilted Flyer

[cessna152towser]

The plan for today (Saturday) was go to the airport in the morning for an instrument flying lesson then go on to Gretna Green to take Ann shopping at the Gateway shopping centre. Now I normally wear trousers for flying and kilts when I take my wife shopping, so as it was mainly a shopping day, the Dark Island 5-yard kilt won the decision. Arriving at the airport I found my instructor unexpectedly delayed elsewhere and my flying lesson delayed till after lunch. Meantime I got talking to the owner of a modern (2005) lightweight sport plane, a German built Ikarus C-42 who offered to take me flying "so long as you are wearing underpants with that kilt". Not wishing to miss out on a flight, I replied well of course I do in this cold weather.

I soon found out why - the throttle lever sits between your upper legs, and needs to be pulled back to testacle level when you throttle back, and the throttle control is duplicated at both seats, so you either have to lift the kilt or your hand has to go up inside the kilt to operate the throttle.
The Ikarus C-42 is constructed in lightweight carbon fibre materials with large areas of clear perspex and fabric covered wings and has a maximum all up weight of just 450kg, compared with 770kg of the Cessna 152 or 1,125kg of the four seat Piper Cherokee. The bulbous shape of the cabin gives a wider roomier cockpit than the Cessna 152. The view was terrific and the controls are very responsive. The Rotax 912 engine runs on ordinary petrol, cheaper than Avgas. The downsides are the light weight - very vulnerable to turbulence, slow cruise speed of 80 knots, and lack of kilt friendliness, so I think I'll stick with the forty year old Cherokee. After lunch, flying the Cherokee felt entirely different and it was dusk when I returned to the airport for the second time. As one of the last flyers of the day it befell my lot to help push all the 'planes into the hangar and shut the hangar doors, again a new activity for the kilt. So it turned into a flying day and Ann just got the last hour of the shops, from five till six.