EDITORIAL

European "brakeman"

Because of a tragic aircraft accident, killing nine people in Denmark, the Danish transport ministry is working on a new bill which, if implemented, would lead to a situation allowing only executive charter flights possible in Denmark. Corporate flight operations, such as the ones conducted today by world renown companies like Lego with its Citations and Falcons, would not be possible any more. Denmark would, again, become a white spot on the aviation maps of General and Business Aviation.

The International AOPA (IAOPA) is attacking the plans of the Danish government, saying that Denmark, being a EU, ICAO and JAA member, would violate international agreements. Not even to mention the harmonization plans which were supposed to create equal competition and free market set-ups within the European Union.

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FEATURE

Nightfreight

An aerokurier editor and a photographer accompanied the nightfreight rotation of a Fokker F.27.

Five tons of freight for Billund and Aalborg, located almost at the most northern tip of Denmark, on board are taking up most of the cargo room. The F.27 has almost reached its load limit and is working hard in its climbout into the night sky. Still, the two pilots like their aircraft. The 17 F.27 aircraft of the WDL fleet were all built sometime in the seventies and have been bought by the German freight line from all parts of the world. They all differ a little bit from each other even though most of the aircraft are the same model F.27/600 with a large cargo door.

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PILOT REPORT

Fournier RF-47: On tour with the first production aircraft

Four years ago (1995), the two-seat RF-47 was certified as a VLA by the French authorities DGAC. The aerokurier team has now had the opportunity to fly the first production aircraft. The aircraft (wood construction) is showing nicely balanced handling characteristics. Only the elevator response seems to be a touch too sporty. The RF-47 is powered by a Limbach opposing cylinder engine L-2400 EB1A. The motor generates 87 hp at 3200 rpm. We found that the current propeller is not the optimum, giving the aircraft a climb rate of only 400 ft/min. This is not sufficient at this engine output and the aircraft’s low empty weight.

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MAGAZINE

Mufflers: Three systems, one goal

The new noise emission regulation for small airfields is binding since 27 January of this year. At airfields with more than 15000 movements per year, aircraft operations are limited to certain restrictive operating times if they do not fulfill the new requirements for an improved noise protection.

The aerokurier March issue tells with which threshold value one can avoid the restrictions, which silencing systems are available today and what their differences are.

Life insurance via training: Survived because of a flight simulator

An ambitioned PC pilot on a VFR flight gets into instrument meteorological conditions with his Cessna 172. He survives thanks to his solid simulator training.

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TRAVEL

700 dream islands

Heike and Frank Wolfförster flew in a Piper Warrior from Florida to the Bahamas. During their visit, they found beautiful little islands with beaches and crystal clear water. The special feature of the Bahamas, which have adapted their aviation regulations pretty much to the US laws: Almost every single one of the islands has its own airstrip, at some of the airfields it is even possible to charter aircraft to explore the 700 dream islands.

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FLYING

Popular Ercoupe

The Ercoupe from Richard Polodor does not have the typical bump in its metal sheets as the other Aircoupes do. Polodor’s Aircoupe is beautiful and almost too good for flying. Not only the paint job is one of the finest, the inside is in exquisite condition also. The engine looks like it just came from a major overhaul and neither the leading edges or the engine cowling shows any signs of dead insects.

With its canopy slid back, the aircraft actually looks quite sporty. Pilots of Aircoupes which were built by Alon can only enjoy the open roof flying up to a speed of 85 kts. All other Aircoupe pilots have no limitation on open canopy flying unless a modification was entered into the aircraft logs.

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PRACTICE

Aircraft maintenance: What can you do yourself?

Not just a few pilots would like to work themselves on their aircraft, whether it be out of passion or to save money. However, not knowing which part of the work can be done by the owners stops many of them from actually doing it themselves. aerokurier writer Thomas Dietrich explains which tasks can be legally done by the owners. He also points out the important things to do before becoming the mechanic of your own aircraft.

Attitude flying for VFR pilots?

American studies prove it: pilots with an IFR rating can not only fly in adverse visual conditions. They can also fly better in good weather conditions, they fly more coordinated and have more discipline. IFR rated pilots more often refer to the artificial horizon and crosscheck the other instruments. Their entire attitude flying ability is much more advanced. However, a pilot can improve his attitude flying abilities without necessarily having to accomplish an IFR rating. Dr. Konrad Steininger highlights the important points.

Interpretation of satellite photos

Satellite and radar pictures are increasingly used in selfbriefings and flight plannings. However, only with some good knowledge do the photos reveal their full information and allow the right interpretation. Part I of this series explains the basics.

Accident analysis

In spite of distinct weather warnings, a pilot took off from Ogden, Utah, for a cross country flight. The pilot was from Japan (with a valid PPL-A) and wanted to acquire a professional pilot license at a US flying school. However, he had significant language problems which were apparent during the flight. When the aircraft was missing at sunset, a thorough search was initiated. After three days, the Piper and the dead pilot where found in a canyon area. It looked like he had tried to escape from a bad weather area. The aircraft hit the canyon base almost vertically.

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ULTRALIGHT

Silent Kat: a clean solution

It is actually a small sensation. For the first time, an ultralight aircraft (a Tecnam P92 Echo) is equipped with electronic fuel injection and a catalytic converter. Together, the carburetor and injection specialists from Viktor Günther GmbH (VGS) in Cologne, the aerospace supplier Heggemann in Paderborn, and Schülein Aerostar, importer of the P92 Echo, have put out the world’s first light aircraft with an emission cleaned propulsion.

The injection system modification kit for the Rotax 912 and the catalytic converter are supposed to be on the market this spring. We looked at the production standard prototype of the so called Silent Kat system.

Greenpeace uses ultralight aircraft

The recent utilization of helicopters, of a Stemme S-10 and of the PBY-5A Catalina amphibious aircraft has already illustrated that the environmental protectionists from Greenpeace have realized the benefit of aircraft for their operations. With a Remos G-3 Mirage, Greenpeace is now also using an environmental friendly ultralight aircraft. The research flights with the G-3 Mirage are supposed to begin in February. For its various tasks, the aircraft is fitted with highly sensitive infrared cameras from the USA.

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GLIDING

New: Schleicher ASW 28

Schleicher in Poppenhausen, Germany, is building a new Standard Class glider with a modern laminar wing profile for "turbulent" conditions.

The preliminary data for the new Standard Class racer: best glide number of 45 at 90 km/h with a wing load of 31 kg/m². By using the most modern materials such as carbonfibre and Aramid along with a new Polyethylene fibre, joining a high strength with low weight, Schleicher tries to achieve an empty weight of only 325 kg, possibly even giving a wing loading of only 30 kg/m². On the other hand, four integrated tanks for a maximum water ballast of 180 liters is supposed to keep the spectrum at a 50 kg/m² wing loading open. Gerhard Waibel emphasizes the aircraft’s passive and active safety features. The ASW 24 derived fuselage is designed to be fitted with a rescue system, the ASW 28 being delivered from the beginning with such a system.

The ASW 24 (along with other Standard Class aircraft coming on the market at that point in time) showed an effect which Gerhard Waibel wanted to avoid in any case with the succeeding model. The ASW 24 does not "like" turbulent air conditions. This effect showed up only over time and by comparison in competitions. The excellent flying characteristics and the very good performance of the ASW 24 in smooth air suffer when the air becomes turbulent in a certain way. The ASW 28 is featuring a new profile from Professor Loek Boermans, selected from 200 other calculated variants, which is supposed to give the new glider a top performance and excellent handling characteristics.

World Championships in Bayreuth booked out

If things go according to the registrations, there will be 145 pilots taking part in the 26th WGC in Bayreuth! However, there is a maximum number of 120 gliders allowed.

The preliminary registrations for the championships are exceeding all expectations. In anticipation, the number of entries per country had already been limited to five pilots – so far the countries were allowed to enter six participants plus a reserve pilot who most of the time came. As it looks today, 27 nations are planning to send 116 pilots to Bayreuth. Some of the countries have not even used their full number for the registration yet.

Licenses: Motor gliding in the USA

The full integration of the motor glider into the PPL-C is just being implemented in the German regulations. In the USA, this process has long been completed. A US gliding license includes the rating for touring motor gliders. The transfer of a german PPL-B is unproblematic.

South African championships

The South African championships from 28 December to 8 January in Mafikeng became a wet event. A consistent weather situation persistently generated the most severe thunderstorms in competition area. Still, there was an astonishing number of nine scorable flying days. There were a lot of small tasks and many outside landings. There were a few highlights and sometimes average speeds of more than 130 km/h.

Instead of fixed and closed routes, sports director Brian Spreckley often gave out nothing else but turning point areas and minimum flying times, so called assigned area tasks. This system had already been tested during the European Masters 1998 in Spain, giving the pilots the freedom within the turning areas to select their own turning point, along with the route length and courses.

After nine days, Oscar Goudriaan (ASW 27) was leading the Racing Class (17 participants), followed by Frank Kienhofer (LS3-a) and Laurens Goudriaan (ASW 27). In the Open Class, Makoto Ichikawa (ASH 25) came in first before Natalie Lübben (ASH 25) and Alain Mazalerat (Nimbus 3). Dieter Heiriss (LS4-a) won the Standard Class (eight participants and eight scoring days), Erazem Polutnik (LS8) from Slovenia came in second, followed by Attie Jonker (Standard Cirrus) on third place.

Vacation and flying at the Rieti center

The Italian gliding center Rieti is now open all year long. It now presents itself as an alternative to the Sea Alps and Spain. Rieti is not only a vacation destination in the summer. From February to October, the gliding center, which is located approximately 60 km northeast of Rome, offers mountain, performance and competition courses at generally good to excellent weather conditions.

Further information is available from the Aeroclub Centrale Volo a Vela, Aeroporto, I-02100 Rieti, Italy. Phone: ++39-0746-202138 and ++39-0746-274698, Fax: ++39-0746-203127.

Comparison: hang glider and glider

Unbelievable but true: For the first time, a hang glider could become listed on the index list of gliders, with 56 points just before the Grunau Baby. The hang glider has the promising name Exxtacy.

This was the surprising result of a study by the German Research Center (DLR) in Braunschweig, when comparing the performance data of the new hang glider models. A comparison with gliders was at hand. The result of the data comparison surprised even experts.

Further gliding news, for example concerning the European championships of the women and the German championships of the juniors, can be found under airSPORT and NEWS Gliding.

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SPECIALFLIGHT TRAINING

The dream of flying

Dedication pays off. Whomever decides to begin his flying training before June 30, 1999, can save money. Susanne Schmitz has fulfilled herself the dream of becoming a pilot. This aerokurier feature accompanies the PPL pilot on her way to getting a commercial license. We also give the most important information for a training up to CPL.

PPL check flight

Knowing what is coming, one does not have to be scared of tests and evaluations. This is often where the flying instructors fail. A lot of times they miss to prepare their student pilots with enough detail for their practical test. Not a few students fail the check flight although they actually had the ability to pass. Airline pilot and checker Karl-Heinz Apel explains how to improve the situation. He not only lists the classic and avoidable mistakes but also gives tips which are important for both, instructor and student pilot.

JAR-FCL 1: New regulations for motor pilots

The new JAR-FCL 1 is supposed to be implemented on 1 July of this year. But can the authorities really comply with this tight implementation schedule and what are pilots of motor aircraft now facing in their license extensions? This article describes the official details of the new regulations for the first time.

Fit for the practice with simulators

You don’t have enough opportunity to go flying? Whomever wants to fly safe, especially under IFR, must keep up their training. PC based simulators have become a big help in doing so. We present the four PC based procedure trainers from Fahsig, Elite, CAT II Systems and Jeppesen.

Project Lilienthal

Five European flying schools want to teach PPL-A academics in a new way: via Internet. Lufthansa Flight Training (LFT) in Bremen is in control of a joint learning course. Other LFT schools in the Netherlands, in France and Switzerland are also participating. The project is titled "Lilienthal" and is supposed to begin in the summer of 1999.

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