AERO Wrapup: Dave Unwin Concludes His Coverage of AERO Friedrichshafen 2024

With my feet failing fast, and the lederhosen beginning to chafe in a most disagreeable fashion, I viewed the end of AERO 2024 with mixed emotions. My legs said enough is enough, but my head, heart and eyes still wanted more—because what a show it was! From replica rocket-powered fighters to jet packs, LSAs fitted with turbines and paramotors for paraplegics and finally to biplane pusher SSDRs, it was a fabulous event.

Dave in a Dingo

The AERO team produced a show that they could justifiably be proud of for the 30th anniversary, and although the weather was unseasonably cool, the action in the halls was as hot as ever, and with more than 270 aircraft in the exhibition halls and in the static display, show-goers were not short of mouth-watering machines to tempt their wallets.

Among the aircraft debuting at the show were the electric DA40 aircraft from Diamond Aircraft in Austria, two electric aircraft and a hydrogen powered one from China and the Integral E from French manufacturer Aura Aero.

The two Chinese RX-1E-A machines from Rhyen Aircraft Industry Co. Ltd were particularly interesting, as they were fitted with batteries that could be quickly and easily removed and exchanged for freshly charged ones. Of course, there’s always a downside: Quickly replaceable batteries are a great idea, until they get dropped. That could be a very expensive mistake! Secondly they can’t be liquid-cooled and having flight-tested two electric aircraft I’m very aware just how important monitoring the temperature of the batteries is. Air-cooling lithium-ion batteries really doesn’t cut it in my experience. Or does the Rhyen Aircraft Industry Co. Ltd know something I don’t?

Even the seminars were interesting (if you could drag yourself away from all the wonderful aircraft on show) and LAMA’s President Scott Severin gave an excellent presentation, which included a fine precis of the MOSAIC programme. I enjoyed it very much, although I suspect that EASA’s Jannes Neumann probably didn’t enjoy some of the tricky questions he had to field from some of the European manufacturers!

In the final summing up, the show had 680 exhibitors from 38 nations and 31,500 visitors from 81 countries. Even more impressively,  more than 53 percent of AERO visitors indicated that they held a pilot’s license. Furthermore, the diverse demographic of attendees emphasized the relevance of the event to the global GA community. With beautifully designed, spacious exhibition halls, good transport links (I can especially recommend the scenic ferry trip across the Bodensee from Romanshorn) and – always of tremendous importance to your correspondent – excellent food and fine German beer, it was another vintage AERO.

The Dragonfly 120.