Light aircraft abound at Friedrichshafen’s air fair.
Once Oshkosh AirVenture has ended, you may be interested to hear of another gathering that challenges the Wisconsin affair for supremacy when it comes to light aviation. No, I’m not referring to Sun ’n Fun.
Inside the vast and numerous indoor halls of Aero 2001 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, the largest aircraft on display was a Cessna 206. But most were smaller, what the European Community calls ultralights, and the choices were as wide and diverse as the great halls that exhibited them.
An Air Fair, Indeed
When Germans speak English to Americans, they call their airshows “fairs.” Indeed, this July event was as large as some state fairs and resulted in near sensory overload for several U.S. airshow veterans who attended with me.
Aero, which alternates years like many European airshows, has been hosted by the southern German town of Friedrichshafen for the last decade.
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Antares MA-32 on Floats
A Trip to Alaska Unearthed a Hotbed of Ultralight Activity.
Alaska’s facts are amazing. Most everyone knows that the sun stays up incredibly late-in the northern oil fields of Prudhoe Bay it doesn’t set for three months! But did you also know the daily tidal change amounts to a whopping 38 feet?
More on point for an aviation magazine, Alaska boasts the highest concentration of pilots anywhere in the U.S. and probably the world. While the lower 48 states contain about one pilot in 500 among the general population, Alaska has one in 47. Even more astonishing is airplane ownership. One out of every 53 residents owns an airplane. In the contiguous United States, that figure is closer to one in 1400.
In Alaska, nobody complains about airplane noise. No wonder-with a physical size about half of the contiguous U.S., the state has only 13 highways, three of which are gravel.
Aeroprakt Aircraft
An American in Ukraine: We develop a taste for the local sport airplane product.
The September 2000 KITPLANES® cover featured Howard Levy’s report on Aeroprakt airplane kits about to be imported into the U.S. Recently, I visited the factory and flew the airplanes. Here’s what I found.
We’re Not in Kansas
In a land far away, people with a strange language are doing something good for pilots in America. They’re building some fine aircraft and coincidentally helping Yankees discover their distant land. The country is Ukraine, the city is Kiev, and the company is Aeroprakt.
Don’t feel bad if remnants of the old Iron Curtain blocked your view. I had the same impression until I traveled to the ancient country for a look. Before we get to the airplanes, though, let me give you a brief tour of the country, the city and the company. Then you’ll get my impression of the aircraft.
Quest Air
Like any of the Olympic sports, a world-class hang gliding championship brings together pilots so good that the rest of us can only imagine performing as well. Two hang gliding contests clustered right after Sun ’n Fun draw the best of the best, and 2001 was a banner year for top talent.
This year the Wallaby Open and a contest at nearby Quest Air switched positions with the Quest meet coming first this year. The highest-ranking world pilots flew both week-long competitions.
Cross-Country Tasks
Some power pilots believe that hang glider pilots jump from mountains and slide into the valley. That may have been true 25 years ago, but today, meet organizers routinely call for racing flights from 50 to well over 100 miles.
In daily events called tasks, competing pilots are out on the course trying to make goal. As many as 100 gliders are pursuing the destination as furiously as the lift will allow.
Big Changes in the Ultralight Scene
Events of last fall changed many things, among them the FAA’s action to push through the proposed sport pilot rule with its definition of a new class of aircraft.
Work on the proposed rule has slowed as the FAA focuses on efforts to ensure the air transport system is intact for millions of airline travelers. New rules for aircraft flown primarily for fun were necessarily put on the back burner.
As we’ve noted in these pages before, the proposed rule offers significant promise to light aviation, and many experts are sure that the sport pilot NPRM (notice of proposed rulemaking) will still be released for public comment, followed at some point by a new rule. Certainly it represents a breath of fresh air, and that may be just what a beleaguered FAA needs come springtime.
Possibilities
I’ve had the pleasure of flying a great many of the light aircraft introduced over the last 25 years.
Powered parachutes are on the rise
For years, I’ve said that we misnamed the class of aircraft we call ultralights. We should call them ultraslows, because that’s what they do well-fly slowly.
Powered parachutes prove this point perfectly. One look at the 22 brands sold in the U.S. will tell you that they are robustly built-some weigh more than 400 pounds empty! Weight discussions virtually ignore the wing, but it’s the wing and its rigging to the carriage that dictate a parachute’s speed.
Powered parachutes are excellent at flying slowly. They take off, cruise, and land at about the same speed: 26 mph on average.
A Misunderstood Machine
When I first tried a powered parachute, I didn’t get it. Why would any one want to fly something so slow and unmaneuverable?
I prefer flying at slower speeds, so I wasn’t questioning the slow cruise speed. I objected to the one-speed-fits-all approach, equating this to a lack of ability to maneuver out of situations.
Dyn Aero adds a Four-Seater
Thanks to coverage in KITPLANES®, you are surely aware of an aircraft called the MCR 01, or maybe you know it as the Banbi, or perhaps you know the American supplier’s name, Lafayette. Despite the multiple names, the aircraft from a French kit designer have no doubt about their purpose. These sleek, small, composite machines are high-performance aircraft that win contests and customers.
The MCR 01 (Banbi) is a two-seat, carbon-fiber airplane with dashing lines and blazing speed, and the new MCR 4S is an amazingly light four-seater based on the Banbi design.
You probably know the MCR 01, but it’s less likely that you know its creator, Dyn’Aero, and its young, ambitious founder.
Long Aviation Heritage
Dyn’Aero is based in eastern France near the town of Dijon, which many Americans know because of its famous mustard. The region is also rich in vineyards with the famous Loire Valley on its southern extremity.
Gemini Twin
A New Powered Parachute From a Well-Known Leader
Randy Snead branches out into his own company
Once an important figure in
Buckeye Industries, Randy is
known to many as the man
who worked on the technical
side and performed flight-testing for
Buckeye. When the former company fell
into struggle (see Editor’s Note), Randy
departed to do his own thing. Customers
who followed state, “It’s the people
behind the company” that are important.
I can find no argument with this
approach; we all tend to trust those we
know.
In turn, Randy is assisted by people he
trusts. His wife, Fern, is the business
manager and also operates the parts and
ordering department for the young firm.
Their son, Jeremiah, has experience in
general aviation aircraft, weight-shift
trikes, and powered parachutes, and he’s
built many powered parachutes. In the
EAA way, Gemini Powered Parachutes is
a family affair.
Introducing Gemini
Powered Parachutes
“It’s the American way” say others.
Germany’s Award-Winning Remos G-3 Mirage
“White, composite, and from overseas”…was a theme
of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2002 in the ultralight/lightplane
area. I’ve already congratulated Experimenter
Editor Mary Jones and Art Director Pierre Kotze on the
October issue’s beautiful layout of the aircraft from
afar, which may become near and dear to Yankee pilots.
This month,
I’d like to introduce
you
to one of the
new flock of white, composite,
and overseas aircraft—Remos Aircraft’s
G-3 Mirage.
For the second EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh in a row, I was delighted to
fly with Allistair Wilson, an Irishman
now residing in the United States.
Like last year, he is working with Rob
Rollison and the Rollison Light Sport
Aircraft Inc., based in Bloomfield, Indiana.
Last year, Allistair and I flew
in the Flight Designs CT. This year it
was the Remos G-3. Both are white,
composite, and from overseas. The
trend is real!
The Factory and People
In addition to flying with Allistair
at AirVenture, I also chanced to meet
the G-3 Mirage designer, Lorenz Kreitmayr,
at a French ultralight show
called Blois (the town it’s near).
The Vista A-20 Cruiser & Varlet
Eastern European designers deliver nimble machines
UPDATE–November 2008: According to FPNA, an American company with a business relationship to A-20 producer Aeroprakt, the A-20 has been discontinued. Please contact FPNA for more information (contact info at end of article).
As the new millennium got underway,
visitors to EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2000 examined
a new aircraft from a
Ukrainian company called Aeroprakt
Ltd. Named the A-22 Valor, the unique
side-by-side two-seat aircraft had a distinctive
cabin largely covered in clear
plastic. It was displayed by John Hunter
and his company, Spectrum Aircraft.
The Valor has turned out to be only
the first in a fleet of light aircraft that
have materialized before American eyes.
In 2001, another Aeroprakt model appeared
on Spectrum’s display space-the
A-20 Vista Cruiser, one of a series of A-20
models.
John Hunter became well
known in the light plane
world while working
for Phil Lockwood,
designer of the much-admired Air Cam.
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