Ikarus C42

Meet a best-selling fixed-wing microlight with a 'Group A' feel.

By Dave Calderwood   

IT'S A BRIGHT sunny day at Old Sarum airfield, perfect apart from a fifteen-knot gusting crosswind. 'Flying a microlight will be a bit marginal in this,' I thought pessimistically. It was, after all, to be my first flight in a fixed-wing microlight for several years, and their light weight and relatively low speed on landing mean they have less inertia than the average two-seat Group A aircraft.

Instructor and Ikarus test pilot Paul Bennett had no such qualms. "The aircraft's crosswind book limit is fifteen knots at ninety degrees to the runway," he said, "but I've tried it to 26 knots at full flap and that's when the control limits ran out. On the first stage of flap I haven't found the limit yet." OK, but he's the pilot who is soon to carry out intentional spinning tests in the Ikarus C42, the first microlight to undergo such a certification procedure, so he's a bit of an ace. What about me, a non-ace pilot used to two- and four-seat Group A aircraft?

Well, Paul runs the fixed-wing microlight flying school at Old Sarum and is used to dealing with the antics of both student pilots and Group A pilots switching to flying a mic