aerokurier 7/2001
Editiorial JAA: harmonisation of pilot licensing standards / Feature Pilot Report: Yakovlev Yak-52 / Pilot Report Training with the G115 /   Magazine Diepholz model: the fence is open, FliteStar 8.3: navigation planning with the weather, UL licence in Italian, Rallies: new directions in the promotion of sport / Travel With tent and Cessna through the south-west of America / Flying Piper J-3 Cub and J-5 Cub Cruiser / Practice VFR BASICS 3: rolling, pitching and yawing; Storms, Accident analysis: cross-wired controls very nearly resulted in a crash /  Ultralight Aerotow trials with ULs, Retrofitting: tuning for the Ikarus C-42  / Gliding G109B turbo: the super tractor, New German regulations for glider tows, Fuentemilanos in the middle of Chiemgau, Klix 2001: four days of racing, Training with the world champion, aerokurier Online Contest now with gliding premier league, Eight scoring days in Hahnweide, Highly popular Club Class SPECIAL, Ladies’ and junior world champions / Avionic Special Avionics design principles: the human factor in the cockpit, Colours and symbols in avionics, Mode S transponder for General Aviation, Study: surface guidance system, Avionics maintenance: high-tech in Lower Bavaria, GPS repairs

EDITORIAL

The introduction of the new JAR-FCL regulations on pilot training in Europe poses no mean challenge for all the parties involved. The legislative bodies will have to adopt JAR-FCL into the national law, the authorities have to adjust to the new legal requirements, the examination bodies need to incorporate the new test questions into their systems, and the flying schools are under pressure to develop new teaching material for communication of the required new training content to their student pilots.
    As the training establishments are the last ones in the chain, they will have to carry the primary burden in the matter of JAR-FCL, as a large proportion of their old training materials will no longer be relevant following introduction of JAR-FCL. A new initiative known as the European Pilot Project (EPP) is intended to help the flying schools with this problem. It will provide the schools with a programme of theory that is technically and educationally sound and well thought out and includes training materials, in order that they can concentrate on their primary task of training student pilots.
    The task is very extensive – institutions from 34 different nations are involved – and challenging. How prophetic this sentence that was agreed by the Flight Crew Licensing working group of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) at its first meeting in February 1987 seems today: "They came to the conclusion that full harmonisation of the training regulations would be difficult and complex and would require time-consuming modification of the national legislation." !

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FEATURE

Like all aircraft of Russian origin, the Yak-52 suffers from negative preconceived ideas. Too strange, too expensive to operate, too difficult to maintain and obtain spare parts – these are just some of the objections raised. But according to Ian Parker this just isn’t true. He owns a Rumanian-built Yak-52.
   This plane which is so close to his heart was built back in 1989, but had only flown for 37 hours when it was purchased. In principle it was therefore new and was to cost the equivalent of only DM 140,000, including paintwork to Parker’s specification. Value-wise nothing comes near the Yak-52. For a relatively modest outlay one obtains an aircraft which one has every reason to be proud of. In front, underneath the hefty cowling, it harbours a powerful Russian radial engine which has a characteristic deep-pitched drone. The Vedeneyev M-14P delivers a full 360hp.

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PILOT REPORT

Grob trainers enjoy a good reputation in military circles, where they are widely used for ab initio training. Orders have been received from England and Saudi Arabia. Egypt has ordered 74 G115’s specially adapted to meet its specific requirements. Under the terms of the lucrative deal Grob is also to provide training for the flying instructors. Patrick Neelmeier went on a field trip on behalf of aerokurier.
  We take you through the basic training, as delivered by Matthias Dolderer and Edgar Fischer of the Tannheim Flying School.
    The two of them probably never dreamed that they would one day be taking military pilots under their wing.

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MAGAZINE

For some time now Diepholz air base has been shared with resident flying clubs. But it is only now for the first time that anyone can use the airfield, in practice by day or night. Diepholz is set to play a bigger role as a locational factor in the region to the south of Oldenburg and could serve as a model of how military and civilian users can reasonably co-exist.

The new version of Jeppesen’s FliteStar flight planning software is now available with a world-wide weather briefing add-on. Weather maps can be held along with the flight routes.
   Version 8.31 of the FliteStar IFR flight planning software, which is optionally available with FliteMap for the moving map, for the first time integrates global weather information, which can be retrieved over the Internet from Jeppesen. Current high-altitude winds are automatically transferred into the operational flight plan. Charts such as the 24-hour surface weather forecasts for Europe appear in the map display function under the planned flight route, so that the planned flight profile can be viewed against current weather conditions.

The Italian company Helisport, manufacturer of the CH-7 Angel and Kompress, and the Pegasus flying school in Turin are now offering interested parties in Germany the chance to gain their UL helicopter licence in Italy. A change in the regulations allows applicants to establish a second residence in Italy for the duration of their training.

Lack of interest in rally flying has led to new directions in work with young people in Lower Saxony. The idea for a seminar and rally to be held in Lower Saxony in 2001 was a success.

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TRAVEL

Taking camping equipment with them, two Germans set off from San Diego, California to conquer the south-west of the USA. Wherever possible, Grischa Röhrig and Felix Roth chose isolated landing strips, far away from the big tourist trails, to land on with their chartered

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FLYING

The Piper Cub is an aircraft legend. Because of the large numbers produced, the J-3C and PA-18 are very well-known. Less well known on the other hand are the other members of the Cub family, such as the Piper J-5 Cub Cruiser, which in its day was an extremely successful three-seater.

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PRACTICE

Having completed the second series of "VFR Basic Knowledge", you have arrived at the taxi-holding position. Now lift off and learn how to control the aircraft in-flight.

Storms are the most dangerous of all weather phenomena for aviation. Are you familiar with all the risks? We list them for you and explain how they can be avoided. Generally storms are accompanied by several simultaneous hazards, such as turbulence, wind shear, ice, lightning and thunder, hail and minimal flight visibility in the clouds. Flying into cumulonimbus (Cb), or thunder cloud, is extremely dangerous, but flying underneath it or in the immediate vicinity is also risky and should be avoided if possible.

Accident analysis: cross-wired controls very nearly resulted in a crash

It was only due to good reactions on the part of the pilots that an A320 avoided catastrophe at Frankfurt airport. During a minor repair, electrical pins in the connector for one of the elevator/aileron computers had been incorrectly inserted, so that the aircraft carried out exactly the opposite manoeuvre from the one which the captain at the controls thought he was initiating. The error only affected the on-board computer on the left-hand side of the cockpit, in the captain’s position, and was not picked up during ground checks. Only when the pilot carried out a sidestick corrective input immediately after rotate did the Airbus bank so far over to the other side that the left wing was within half a metre of the ground. The co-pilot intervened immediately, recovered the aircraft towards the right and then landed the Airbus a little later in Frankfurt.

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ULTRALIGHT

The programme of UL aerotow trials is now complete. According to the Luftsportgerätebüro (the aerosports equipment bureau, part of the Deutsche Aero Club, responsible for testing and licensing aerodynamically controlled ultralights on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport), the general approval should be issued in July. Several manufacturers took part in the trials. The cost of an aerotow is virtually halved when an ultralight is used. However, ultralight aircraft tractors are not suitable in every case.
    The capabilities and limits of ultralight aerotowing are explained in a detailed report by Achim Merklinger, who tried it out in the Weller Flugzeugbau Sprint, in the current issue of aerokurier.

The fibreglass shrouds which are now offered by Aero-Service-Dreiländereck (ASD) for the landing-gear shock struts of the Ikarus C-42 hold out the promise of reduced drag. At 140km/h the aircraft should need 200 rpm less engine speed thanks to the new shrouds. A landing light is also integrated into the nose cover. The parts, which cost just under DM 1,400,

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GLIDING

Korff Flugtechnik is breathing new life into the Grob G109B, the classic among modern touring powered gliders whose design dates from 1983, by equipping it with one of the most modern aero engines available today, the Limbach L 2400DT/ET.
    Korff Flugtechnik is offering owners of the G109B the coveted opportunity to use their aircraft as an aircraft tractor in Dietzenbach. Korff LTB at Mainbullau airfield is fitting the G109B with the liquid-cool Limbach L2400DT/ET. With turbocharging, boost intercooling and electronically controlled ignition, it is perhaps the most modern piston engine around. Electronically controlled petrol injection supplies each of the four cylinders in a boxer-like design with exactly the mixture that is needed for a given power setting, temperature and air density (altitude) – without the pilot having to do anything. Modern mapped ignition (dual ignition) ensures that performance is optimised over time. The propeller is the electrically adjustable Constant Speed MTV-1-A/L170-05 from Mühlbauer.

The latest Notam (NfL II-44/01) revokes the "Notification regarding the installation of a nose hook for the towing of gliders by other aircraft" (NfL II- 38/00 dated 28 March 2000), as previously announced (aerokurier 3 and 4/01). This takes away the obligation to upgrade to nose hooks for towed starts using powered aircraft and powered gliders. The new Notam refers expressly to the fact that no distinction is made any more as to what type the towing aircraft is. It can therefore be a powered aircraft or a powered glider and in future it could even be an ultralight aircraft, once these have been approved for towing.
   At the same time as Nfl II – 38/00 has been revoked, a new paragraph enters into force in the Implementing Order to the Aircraft Operating Regulations (LuftBO), which regulates the towing of gliders and powered gliders by other aircraft. Section 4b now reads: "Gliders and powered gliders which are not equipped with a nose hook may only be towed by other aircraft if the pilot of the towed aircraft has carried out at least five towed starts within the previous six months."

Unterwössen in the Chiemgau was the starting point for some impressive distance flights at the end of April and beginning of May. Wolfgang Lengauer, winner of the aerokurier Online Contest 2000, clocked up two flights of over 1,000km.
     Altogether three flights above 1,000km were registered, plus a considerable number of flights over 800, 700 and 500 km. A fine result on the scale that one would normally only expect in the distance flying strongholds of Fuentemilanos, Bitterwasser or the gliding centres in Australia. Wolfgang A. Lengauer describes his 1,000km-plus experiences.

The 2001 "Cup of the old longears" was won for the second time by a previous winner, Ingo Trentelj (ASW 17), who had already taken the cup back home with him to Kamp-Lintfort in 1998. In the new 106 class, Holger Weitzel (LS4) from Hamburg won first prize.
    The weather gods in Lausitz granted a total of four scoring days at the end of April and beginning of May. The advertised distances were between 100 km (small club class) and 400 km (open class). This year the entry included a LAK-12 for the first time.
    This year’s Klix 2001 competition was held not in four classes as normal but in five. After the cup for "the old longears", the old open class aircraft which can no longer hold their own in today’s qualification competitions, Klix has now reintroduced the 106 class. Alongside the small (index numbers 86 to 96) and the big (index 98 to 100) club classes, the 106 class was the third club class competition.

For the top pilots of the gliding national team, for the first time the primary focus was not their own training but the targeted promotion of new talent. The backdrop to the training programme was Wilsche in northern Germany.

Success speaks for itself, and the entries are still coming in: the number of contestants in the aerokurier Online Contest has reached well over 1,000. On good weekend days well over 300 distances are registered. Crack distance pilots are found alongside those quite new to overland flying. And now weekly scoring will be carried out in the German scoring, enabling a gliding premier league to be established!
     Providing weekly scoring as well as daily and overall scoring will play an important public relations role, opening up additional opportunities to promote gliding. Establishment of a gliding premier league will ensure that the sport receives press coverage over the entire gliding season. This is planned as the first step to break the perception of gliding as a niche activity which ultimately came about as a result of the small number of central competitions of national importance held each year. Only major events such as the national or world championships were ever covered in the media.

The 36th International Hahnweide gliding competition 2001, which had an entry of 99, was blessed with good weather, and the period of the competition, from 19 to 26 May, in fact included the best week of the month. Except in the open class, every one of the eight competition days was a scoring day. Both at the start and at the end there were average speeds of over 100 km/h. The best hourly average was clocked up by Peter Harvey from the London Gliding Club flying a Nimbus 4T on the last scoring day, with 125.4 km/h over a distance of 311 km.

The Club Class SPECIAL in Weissenburg is proving extremely popular. This year it was attended by 53 pilots including the club class national team and the club class pilots for the junior world championships to be held in Issoudun, France in August. The event was held in the same week as the Hahnweide competition and contestants benefited from the same weather briefings provided by Dr. Josef Dahlem. However, the club class pilots in Weissenburg were forced to forego one scoring day due to excessively strong east winds. The airfield only permits take-offs in a westerly direction.
    A total of six scoring days were achieved in the period between 20 and 26 May. The average distance flown was 280km and the longest distance flown was 364km. Right on the second scoring day an Assigned Area Task (AAT) with pre-specified turning point sectors, in which pilots could choose their turning points themselves, was flown. First prize went to European champion Frank Hahn (ASW 15), followed by Andreas Nagel (LS1-f) and Axel Reich (Std. Libelle).

The world championships in the 18m and world classes and in aerobatics that are scheduled to take place in Spain this summer will be followed by two other gliding world championships. Between 20 July and 5 August the first Ladies’ world championship will be held in Prienai, Lithuania, while the junior world championship will be held between 5 and 19 August in Issoudun, France.

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AVIONIC SPECIAL

Ever more in number, quicker and more colourful: the wealth of information available in the cockpit is becoming increasingly dense. Avionics designers need to consider how a human pilot can come to terms with this.

Colours and symbols are very important in technology: they are a highly efficient way of facilitating equipment operation.

As air traffic continues to grow, conventional Mode A/C transponders cannot keep up technologically. The introduction of Mode S transponders has now been agreed. According to current plans, from 31 March 2005 all aircraft, i.e. including ultralights, gliders and balloons as well, will have to be fitted with a Mode S-capable transponder. But many questions remain unanswered.

As air traffic density increases, so too does the risk of taxiing accidents. The US National Transportation Safety Board has singled out runway incursions as one of the most important safety problems facing the air transport system. A study by Rockwell Collins has examined ways of presenting information to pilots so as to improve taxiing safety under all weather conditions.

Specialist knowledge, experience and an extensive array of test devices are needed to service aircraft electronics. One example here is the avionics business Avionik Straubing, which is located at Wallmühle airfield.

These days GPS receivers are often to be found in General Aviation aircraft. If a fault develops, a GPS specialist is needed. Troubleshooting, repair and final inspection are accompanied by an extensive list of inspection points produced by the manufacturer.

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