Maxair Double Drifter Xp

The stumbling block at the moment are the ANO regulations. Two sealers are currently banned by the Department of Aviation for all private uses, although it has issued interim dispensations to both Austflight and Quicksilver to use two-seaters for the obvious ideal purpose to which they are suited -flight training. However, both these companies are also selling the two-seater models to farmers since their extra payload capacity makes them ideal work horses on the farm -even if they can’t legally carry a second human passenger. (Dogs are allowed!)

The Double Drifter lool<s, and indeed flies, very like a conventional light aircraft, minus the solid body and the heavy wings. Its six-metre body is made from high tensile aluminium, with the 9. 2 m wings covered with double-layered, heavy duty dacron. The entire structure is held by rivets or bolts, with no welding at all.

The most impressive points of the Double Drifter are:

• structural strength, with the main aluminium strut running the length of the aircraft without joins,

• extra strength, double-surfaced Dacron wing to give improved air flow and greater stability compared to the single seater Drifter, e multi-braced, reinforced, tubular spring steel wheels to enable the aircraft to land on the rough outback strips for which its use is recommended,

• an inbuilt, auto-stall recovery mechanism, eliminates the need to keep a sharp eye on air speed,

• the pilot seat is forward of the centre of gravity, while the cargo space is right below it (centre of wings in Drifter) giving good stability and eliminating the tendency of some ultralights to swing like pendulums when the pilot is directly below the gravity centre the absence of all welds.

The Double Drifter is also an extremely flexible aircraft. It can be used in tandem when training pilots, or the second seat can be removed and payloads carried. Or alternatively, a large tank can be fitted, along with a spray boom, and the plane used by farmers to spray crops at a running cost of about eight cents an hour, only one-hundredth of the cost of hiring an ag plane, though presently this is illegal.

In many ways it handles just like a small Cessna – with none of the alarming drift tendencies that one expects from an ultralight. It took off straight and true from the Austflight grass strip, set amongst the canef1elds at Ballina, and with a rapid rate of climb (maximum 900 fpm) had us at 500 feet in no time. Apart from the wind on my face and my feet hanging out over space, I could have been flying my Cessna 152 back in Canberra.

One of the biggest criticisms levelled at the Maxair Double Drifter from pilots is ‘it’s too easy to there must be something wrong with it if it’s this simple. ‘ What a sad reflection on the extent to which conventional light planes have become as complicated as fighter Jets to fly.

And that’s certainly what I found most delightful about flying the Drifter. It was sensitive to every pilot command with attitude able to be altered both quickly and stably, yet the controls were so simple to use.

Austflight instructor and partner Chris Blackwell, took me up for the first time late one balmy July afternoon just before dusk. Within minutes we were several miles from the airstrip, playing around in the thermals high above a big cane fire. Without effort we were lifted several hundred feet by the thermal, way above the smoke. And then we dived down closer to the heat, to watch the flames flicker and the cane burn as the firelighter walked his torch around the field. Pure magic.

As darkness began to fall it was back to base for a painless landing-another surprise for a previously-sceptical light plane addict.

The next day was overcast but windless-perfect for a mosey up the spectacular coastline to Byron Bay and for-my first try at piloting the Double Drifter. Accompanied by two other single ultralights – the sky buzzes with them at Ballina – we were zooming over the beaches and swooping low over fishing boats far out at sea. But always within gliding distance of the beach in case of engine failure

Ultralight flying, like any other sport, has its own code of ethics and behaviour. I quickly learned that clutching your flimsy seat is considered very uncool – a definite sign of the faint-hearted. But although I was determined to be fearless and brave, many (hopefully unnoticed) grabs at my seat were obligatory as Blackwell demonstrated just what steep dives and sharp recoveries the Double Drifter is capable of.

After a quick buzz of three surf fishermen on Brunswick Heads beach and a magnificent sweep of the Byron Bay cliffs and lighthouse (I was getting almost blase by now) we came in for an unforgettable landing on the white sands of the surf beach.

Despite a westerly crosswind coming off the coastal mountain range, Blackwell handled the Drifter beautifully, gently putting it down only metres from the surf and coming to a standstill within a hundred metres of touchdown. The Drifter demonstrated its excellent stability just before landing – the few sharp gusts that hit us as we came level with the dunes hardly affected her attitude or flight path at all.

And then it was my turn: a quick swap to the front seat and off again – but this time with a decidedly nervous Novice Neales in control. But the sheer fun of flying ultralights quickly makes any nerves vanish. Within minutes I was trying out a few turns and swoops – although dives, I decided, could wait for later.

We flew low over Hollywood Head, inspecting Shirley Maclaine’s and Neil Diamond’s millionaire holiday ‘shacks’. For pure snoop value, ultralights can’t be beaten – it is easy to understand why they are becoming so popular in the US for search and surveillance work.

And then it was off to a cattle farm, for a demonstration of how the Drifter handles in mustering and stock work – one of the big markets at which the Double Drifter is aimed. The view and visibility were superb, and the cattle appeared to respond well to the aircraft flying low over them. And with the Drifter’s auto-stall recovery capacity, farmer safety would have to be improved, since the pilot does not have to keep an eagle eye on airspeed.

The Double Drifter handles so well that a stall is a bit of a non-event in any case. Stall speed is 25 kts and so quite a sharp pull on the elevator is needed to even set up the stall. And all that happens then is a brief floating motion as the aircraft slows, followed by a gentle nose drop and an increase in speed. At nostage, does a wing drop, or the Drifter feel like it is out of the pilot’s control?

All of these features confirmed why the Double Drifter is proving such a popular aircraft. Austflight are assembling them as fast as they can – but demand is still outstripping supply.

They have sold 15 of the Double Drifters in the past 10 months – with 95 per cent of sales going to farmers. And if the Department of Aviation grants full approval for the two-seaters to be used for approved training purposes Austflight is hopeful that demand will Jump even further – hopefully to the stage where they are selling 150 models a year