Experienced pilots

The reputation of the Flying Flea is wrongly accused as ... bad. Even my father only heard of the accidents of the early Flying Fleas (before WW2, 1934-1936) and NOT of the redesign in 1936. Having a Flying Flea tested by a experienced pilot can wreck the reputation even more. Comments like: "very instable on the ground" or "turns weird" or "climbs and dives weird" could be common. But it is no the fault of the airplane, it is the fault of the pilot. No kidding. Let me explain.

I found the following info in the book "Flying Flea, technical notes for the amateur" by Georges Jacquemin. I adapted the text mostly to my style.

Most of conventional airplanes have 3-axis steering. Rudder, elevator and ailerons. Yaw, pitch and roll. Here you have a stick and pedals. The pedals you have for the rudder (yaw), the stick for the elevators (pitch) and ailerons (roll). A flying Flea has only a stick and it is used to control the rudder and the front wing. So ... pitch and YAW. Seen the difference in the stick controls???

During ground maneuvers you might get into trouble if you are used to 3-axis steering. There seems to be a difference between both systems. It is not clear to me which, but it proved that conventional pilots had problems with the tail wheel which is in a Pou du Ciel connected directly to the rudder.

OK, let's imagine that the pilot figures out how to handle the Flying Flea on the ground. And he takes off. Next surprise will be the turn. A Flying Flea yaws first, rolls next and then starts to turn. A conventional pilot is not used to that. It will be weird to him.

Last thing that will be a surprise is the behavior of the Flying Flea when climbing or descending. A conventional airplane points his nose up when climbing. A flying Flea can rise with a minor change in the direction of the nose. The complete rotating front wing is the reason. If a conventional airplane wants to get its wing in same angle, the fuselage needs to get that angle too.

Both main wings here have the same angle of attack (pointing upwards).
See the difference in the way the props axle is pointing.

Euh ... I used as a conventional airplane the HM 8, another design of Henri Mignet
(dated before the Flying Flea (HM14))

Thanks to Thibaut Cammermans for letting me use these side views. Nice drawings!
Thibaut, I moved the front wing a bit in a steeper angle.

THEREFORE ... DON'T LET ANYONE TAKE OFF WITH A FLYING FLEA
BEFORE HAVING DONE A LOT OF GROUND RUNS!