Breezing Along

The Breezer’s panel is segregated with flight instruments
on the left and engine instruments on
the right, as is typical on most aircraft. Note the
sight fuel gauge in the center alongside the radio
stack, the center-mounted dual sticks with pushto-
talk switches, and the dual throttles mounted
on each side.

The wide-stance landing gear on the Breezer is
constructed of fiberglass. The nose wheel is steerable
and is cushioned with an oleo strut. The step
for entering the aircraft from the front of the wing is
obvious in this photo.

The 80-hp Rotax 912 engine is the standard powerplant
for the Breezer, with the 100-hp 912S an option.
With room to spare in the engine compartment, engine
overheating was not a problem.

A look inside the aft fuselage of
the Breezer highlights the allmetal
construction of the lower
half of the fuselage.

With its aluminum-tube fuselage structure with a
composite shell and aluminum wings with a spaceage
fabric covering, Comco-Ikarus’s C42 has a
more ultralight-like appearance. More than 650
C42s have been built and sold worldwide since the
aircraft was introduced. It is a distinctly different
offering from Sportsplanes.com than the all-metal,
low-wing Breezer.

Comco-Ikarus continues to refine the Breezer
to American tastes, following through on a
list of minor improvements Dale Faux has
suggested after six months of touring with
the aircraft throughout the United States.
Many of Dale’s suggestions relate to flight
training use, and Simon Du Boulay reports
that Comco-Ikarus will implement those
changes on all new Breezers delivered to the
United States market.

Like American
ultralights, European
microlights have paved the way
to a new breed of aircraft for European
fliers. Residents of the European community
don’t have the sport pilot/light-sport aircraft
(SP/LSA) rule, but they know how to build the planes
that serve the market.
Comco-Ikarus is one of Germany’s most
established microlight builders. After a
long and successful run with its C22
and C42 airplanes, the company,
based in Hohentengen in
southwest Germany, is
ready to run in LSA
circles with its
new Breezer.

Compared to the C22 and C42,
which is still being sold in Germany and
the United States, the Breezer is clearly
an original design. The Breezer has a
metal wing and tail, whereas the C42
has a fiberglass fuselage and its wings
are constructed of aluminum tubes and
covered with an advanced sewn textile
called GT-Foil, a Kevlar-based material.
The Breezer is a low-wing airplane,
whereas the C42 is a high-wing; the
C42 is strut-braced, while the Breezer
is cantilevered. The differences go on
and on. Ralph Magnuson is the designer
of the Breezer, and Comco-Ikarus
secured the manufacturing and marketing
rights from him.

For Comco-Ikarus and its Breezer,
this is a new game; for Americans, this
is a new and interesting design available
to us, along with the C42, through
Sportsplanes.com.
A New Game
Comco-Ikarus started in business producing
hang gliders and then evolved,
like many American manufacturers,
into building light aircraft. It claims
a third of all fixed-wing airplane sales
in Germany.

To general aviation pilots, the C42
seems more ultralight-like than the
metal and carbon fiber aircraft currently
dominating the LSA field. The
Breezer brings a contemporary LSA
look and personality.

Comco-Ikarus continues to build
the C42 in its original factory, but
because the processes are not similar
and the production needs are different,
the Breezer is assembled by Grilz in
Kamenz, Germany. Sportsplanes.com,
the United States distributor, became
involved with Comco-Ikarus through
Simon Du Boulay, a United Kingdombased
agent for the German company.

The Breezer’s Construction
The Breezer’s lower fuselage and wings
are aluminum while its engine cowling,
the upper part of its fuselage, and
its wingtips are fiberglass. A steerable
nose wheel is the business end of a
thick fiberglass undercarriage.
Like most European LSA, the Breezer
is powered by the four-cylinder, fourstroke,
liquid-cooled Rotax 912UL
engine producing 80 hp. The firewallforward
package includes a standard
Rotax electrical starter, electronic dual
ignition, stainless steel exhaust system
with integrated cabin heat, integrated
reduction gearbox, and carburetor preheating.
(The 100-hp Rotax 912ULS is
an option.) Other standard equipment
includes a Neuform ground-adjustable,
two-blade, carbon-fiber propeller with
a fiberglass spinner.

The Breezer looks like many other
low-wing airplanes, but it is an original
design. This becomes apparent
when you prepare to enter the cockpit.
Instead of the familiar low-wing trailing-
edge entry point, you enter from
the front of the wing. A step helps you
clamber over the leading edge. I liked
it. The plane doesn’t tilt aft and the windscreen is a handy support. With
an aft-sliding canopy, the design made
sense right away.

You climb into the cockpit by stepping
onto the wing, then onto the
seats, and sliding into position. Like
other designs, Breezer has dual joysticks,
but unlike most designs it offers
dual outside throttles. Though they lack
an armrest, this is a handy feature for
each pilot to control the power.

It was my pleasure to fly with
Sportsplanes.com representative Dale
Faux. Dale is quite tall (6 feet 4 inches),
yet his knees didn’t touch the panel
and were actually somewhat aft of the
panel. Despite his large stature and
my average build, we had a little space
between our shoulders, proving that
even larger pilots should fit easily in
this 46-inch-wide cabin.

The instrument panel in our test
Breezer had conventional gauges with
airspeed indicator (ASI), rate of climb,
tachometer, artificial horizon, a gyro
compass, and a sensitive altimeter in
front of the pilot. On the right side
were engine instruments for oil temperature,
water temperature, cylinder
head temperature, and a recording
tachometer. In the center was a compact
round radio stack with a row of
switches mounted underneath. The
magneto switches were under a plastic
guard to prevent inadvertent shutoff.
The engine key switch and a row of
fuses were mounted at the lower edge
of the main center panel.

Below the radio stack in a T-panel
was a starter button, prominently
mounted just under a 12-volt outlet
for a GPS or other chargeable device.
Under that were controls for the choke
and cabin heat plus a trim knob. The
latter was not as intuitive as Cessna’s
trim wheel, but it benefited from a
clear instructional graphic. Simon stated
that on future aircraft the trim control
knob will be replaced by a stickmounted
trim.

A hand brake will also be mounted
on the joystick, he said. Because the
Breezer uses hydraulic brakes, hand
levers afford sufficient authority. The
Breezer I flew had a centrally mounted
hand brake with a parking feature. A
stainless steel flap lever with a buttonend
detent, positioned between the
seats, deployed the flaps to a choice of
four settings.

A clear-tube fuel sight gauge was
mounted behind a slot in the panel,
making it easily seen yet subtly hidden.
The levels of fuel remaining are labeled
on the panel. On this early Breezer, the
fuel quantity appeared in liters, but
that will be changed to gallons on aircraft
shipped to the United States.

The Breezer’s sliding canopy had
a single latch at the front using overcenter
leverage to assure it stays securely
closed. We left it ajar for ventilation
as we taxied out for takeoff. A sliding
canopy allows the pilot and passenger
to enjoy this advantage over a forward
tilting canopy on a warm day.
The seat belt fittings weren’t standard
American hardware; occupants should
take a moment to become familiar
with buckling and unbuckling the
clasp before takeoff.

Aft visibility was exceptionally good
in the Breezer. You can see the rudder
by turning backward slightly. By
turning more fully you can check traffic
over a wide area above the fuselage.
Forward visibility was also good,
but naturally, the low wing prevents
straight down viewing.

Most of the traffic had left EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2005 by the time
we taxied out, so our trip to the runway
was mercifully short. On that
quick taxi jaunt, I found the Breezer to
be straightforward in ground handling
even without differential braking.

On takeoff, I eased the throttle in
smoothly while Dale observed my technique
with the watchful eye of a parent
letting his teenage son drive the family
car on the freeway for the first time. It
proved such an easy machine to launch
that his concern soon melted away on
a gorgeous Wisconsin summer day.
So Cooperative
To escape the still-departing traffic at
the end of the air show, we hopped
over to the Fond du Lac airport to do
a few touch-and-goes. I have not flown
an airplane more cooperative about
landing in a long time. The Breezer
has the potential to make most landings
look good. As such it may make
an excellent trainer, especially given its
good low-speed flight characteristics.

We lowered some
flaps after slowing in
the pattern and added
another notch on base
leg. The flap lever was
handy, and the flaps
were easily deployed.
The high end of the
white arc on the airspeed
indicator is clearly
marked with a maximum
58-knot flap deployment speed.

The Breezer’s slow speed characteristics
were impressive. When we
maximized the exercise at a safe altitude,
the airspeed indicator read zero.
Obviously, this represents a functional
error, but I could sense the slow movement
through wind noise. You need a
little more rudder to enter turns at slow
speeds, but the controls remain admirably
effective.

Overall, the Breezer was controlled
mostly with the joystick; little rudder
pedal input was needed to make coordinated
turns. Keeping the slip/skid
ball centered was easy. These qualities
should further endear the Breezer to
student pilots.

This particular Breezer had a
right-turning tendency, which Dale
attempted to remedy by moving the
fixed tab slightly. His effort reduced
the uncommanded turn rate, which
was already modest. This problem
will be cured on production Breezers,
I’m sure.

I found pitch a little sensitive on
this Breezer. Were that not so, I’d say
this was one of the best instructional
aircraft I’ve flown. The trim knob
was definitely too sensitive. It lacked
the fineness of control needed for trim
adjustment, but Simon said Comco-
Ikarus has already changed the trim
system to the same version used in the
C42. He added, “It is nice to know that
Ikarus is listening to feedback from its customers at such an early stage in this
LSA’s development.”

During maneuvers like the Dutch
roll coordination exercise, I found the
stick range was slightly limited by our
legs and the aircraft’s outside structure,
though this will rarely be experienced
in normal flying. Overall, the Breezer
was stable and quite solid feeling, a joy
to fly. I could detect no oil canning in
its metal wing surfaces.

Like many LSA, the Breezer is genuinely
lightweight (704 pounds empty),
yet it can carry a load. With full fuel
(18.5 gallons), the Breezer can haul two
215-pound occupants plus 75 pounds
of luggage or gear. And, it can carry this
payload for more than four hours and
more than 500 statute miles.
Running Fast
The Breezer’s ASI green arc runs from
45 knots to 88 knots (101 mph); the
yellow arc runs from 88 knots to 132
knots (152 mph), at which point you
hit the redline. On one maximum
power run at full throttle at a lower
altitude, we saw about 5300 rpm with
117 knots (135 mph) showing in fairly
calm and smooth conditions. Flying
in the opposite direction at 5400 rpm
(still in the green arc), we were at about
118 knots indicated. The yellow arc
starts when you reach approximately
5500 rpm in level flight.

With power set at 5000 rpm, a number
that Dale likes to use, we indicated
about 105 knots (121 mph), though we
were at only 2,500 feet AGL. Dale and I
estimated this setting is slightly below
75-percent power. Dale reports that his average cruise speed across the United
States while traveling to air shows has
been 120 knots (138 mph).

During our high-power run at lower
altitude, all the engine instruments
read below green or in the lower green
range, speaking well for engine compartment
cooling. When throttling
back for slow flight, I was amazed that
at a 3500-rpm power setting we could
nearly maintain altitude. (With a Rotax
912, 3500 rpm is quite low, perhaps 40
percent to 50 percent power.)

Steep turns to the right went well in
that I was able to hold altitude at only
4000 rpm, which is a medium setting.
The Breezer definitely did not need the
added throttle over cruise power most
general aviation (GA) planes seem
to require to maintain altitude while
banked at 45 to 60 degrees. Steep turns
done to the left did require a slight
addition of power.

It’s always nice to explore stalls with
a backup safety system on board, and
our test Breezer was equipped with a
ballistic parachute system, with the
activating handle located on the far
left lower lip of the instrument panel.
Having worked for BRS parachutes for
18 years, I’m a believer in the lifesaving
technology. So is Comco-Ikarus,
which offered its own
Flight Rescue System
(FRS) at one time.
But, the Breezer’s stall
didn’t prove too exciting;
it was a mild buffet
that was easily identifiable.
However, the
aircraft wanders somewhat
and also tends to drop a wing a
bit suddenly, though it is easily recovered.
Nose fall-through is mild. Like
our slow flight experience, the speed
at incipient stall was so low as to question
the ASI reading. During cruise
power stalls done at 4800 rpm, the stall
got mushy but the nose didn’t want to
break over. The wing still dropped, falling
to the left more often than to the
right. Throughout all the stalls, steep
turns, and fast runs, I heard no creaking
in the airframe. Again, the Breezer’s
overall behavior reinforced the trainer
capability of this speedy airplane.
Write It Up?
Sportsplanes.com prices the Breezer on
its website in euros as that’s the currency
used to pay Comco-Ikarus. That
keeps things constant for the importer.
Based on exchange rates at press
time, the 80-hp Breezer listed at about
$92,000, but given the volatility of
currency rates it’s best to discuss price
directly with Sportsplanes.com or one
of its Sport Aircraft Regional Centers
(SARCs) when you are ready to order.
Check out Sportsplanes.com website-
www.sportsplanes.com (and don’t forget
the “s” on the end of “sport”)-to
locate an SARC near you.

For the base price you get quite a
finished aircraft. Standard equipment
includes upholstery for the seats, cockpit,
and luggage area made from quality
textiles and a blue-tinted, lockable
canopy with fresh air inlets on
the left and right. Cabin heat is standard,
as are hydraulic disk brakes with
a parking feature plus elevator trim.
Flight instruments include altimeter,
ASI, compass, vertical speed indicator,
and bank indicator. Engine instruments
include a tachometer, oil pressure
indicator, cylinder head temperature
gauge, oil temperature gauge, and
a sight fuel gauge. Creature comforts
include a 12-volt outlet and luggage
area behind the seats.

The Breezer may be a completely
new aircraft, but it seems to have been
done right. Little seems to be missing in
the way of performance needs or creature
comforts. And, it’s manufactured
by one of Germany’s most successful
light aircraft producers. The aircraft
proved its good manners to me, but the
only way for you to know if it’s right
for you is to take it for a flight. I suspect
you’ll have fun with this aircraft.