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aerokurier 1/2000
The end for AIS? The aeronautical information service in Germany is facing the biggest change in its history. The German Air Navigation Services DFS is planning to substitute the AIS offices with self-briefing terminals. The first offices to be closed are the ones at the airports Berlin-Tempelhof and -Tegel, Dresden, Erfurt, Leipzig and Saarbrücken. The closure will supposedly become effective sometime in the year 2000. Search and Rescue With joining ICAO, Germany committed itself to supplying a search and rescue service (SAR). Its main purpose is the search for aircraft in case of an accident, but the SAR helicopters become active any time there is quick help needed. SAR in Germany is operated by the German military forces, with two SAR control centers managing all operations. RCC Glücksburg is responsible for the coasts and the state of Schleswig-Holstein (with Sea-King helicopters) and RCC Münster (with Bell UH-1D) for the rest of the country. Mylius My-103/200 Under the management of Albert Mylius, a new aircraft family is being developed at the former Bitburg Air Base. The company plans a single-seater, a two-seater and a four-seater. The aircraft, which carry the designation My-102, My-103 and My-104 respectively, are built in a modular design, meaning that the three versions will utilize as many identical parts as possible. This will benefit a more economical production and lower maintenance and repair costs. Also, it will have an effect on the aircraft price. Testpilot Dieter Thomas has flown the prototype of the two-seater for us. His opinion: Flyingwise the aircraft makes a good impression. High-performance ultralight: Impulse 100 With the Impulse 100, an interesting high-performance ultralight aircraft is due for his first flight at the Baden Airport. If everything goes accordingly the aircraft could first fly in January. The following flight test will be conducted in Southern France due to weather and timing constraints. The certification is expected for May. The Impulse will supposedly offer a maximum speed of 330 km/h. The calculated cruise speed is at 270 km/h, the maneuvering airspeed at 220 km/h. The manufacturer, Impulse Aircraft, is listing the range at 1700 km plus a one hour reserve. The Impulse 100 is entirely made in a carbon honeycomb sandwich. The aircraft stands on a fixed gear, a version with a retractable undercarriage is projected for the future. With a fixed propeller and a basic instrumentation, the aircraft is listed for DM129500 plus VAT. According to its designer, Philipp Steinbach, the good looking and performancewise promising ultralight aircraft will be suitable for glider towing. Royal Flying Doctor Service Seven million square kilometers of desert, jungle and marsh land are the ground of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). With modern aircraft, pilots and doctors are supplying a fast help to remote regions in which people are often living under archaic conditions. We have accompanied a RFDS team through the Australian outback. Refresher: winter operations The winter operation of aircraft has its own rules. Only who follows them is flying safe. In his article, aerokurier author Karl-Heinz Apel is describing the points to consider when the days are very short, when the weather rarely shows its pleasant side, when the snow-covered runway is surprising pilots with high drag and when it is not clear if the destination’s runway will have a sufficient length because of the reduced grip. Snow covered runways Whomever is flying in the cold season needs usable airfields. This can be difficult in snow situations. Sometimes it is easier to land on a snow-covered surface than on one that has been cleared but is icy. We list the criteria. Flight plan: When refused the CEU helpdesk can assist At a seminar which was organized by the AOPA representatives from Eurocontrol’s CFMU (Central Flow Management Unit) gave helpful hints for filing flight plans. Another topic was the 8,33 kHz channel spacing which is effective in Europe when flying above FL 245. Accident analysis: Watch the icy wing! A fatal crash in Massachusetts illustrates how dangerous it can be when forgetting to remove ice, snow or white frost from the aircraft wings. The aircraft’s climb ability was considerably degraded and the aircraft exploded in the trees. Another example is the German astronaut Reinhard Furrer, who meanwhile died, when in 1990 he did not pay enough attention to the snow on his aircraft’s wings. Furrer took off in the dark without having cleaned his wings from the frozen snow. His aircraft could not gain altitude and crash-landed on a field. Allegro 200: Flying at discount rate A new generation ultralight for under 90000 Mark is a rarity today. The newcomer Allegro 200 from Fantasy Air is such an offer. We took a very close look at the high-wing aircraft and found only very few weak points which the company’s German representative, Dr. Gerd-Peter Kahn, wants to have eliminated before delivering the first customer aircraft. Then, the Allegro will offer a good value for the price. Electric self laucher Antares The future has begun in the last millennium already. Lange Flugzeugbau in Zweibrücken is building the first motorized glider with a practical electric motor. The propulsion presents itself to be a quite, low-vibration engine without emissions, but powerful and reliable. Lange Flugzeugbau’s LF-20E testbed not even needed 100 meters to take off from the 3-kilometer runway in Zweibrücken, soaring towards the sky in an impressive steep angle. The aircraft cannot be heard any more right after lifting off. Here are some of the performance data: the LF-20E has a maximum climb of 4,4 m/s. While the climb rate somewhat diminishes at altitude because of the decreasing battery power, the aircraft can reach an altitude short of 1700 meters. The average climb rate up to that altitude is 2,9 m/s. The first, non-public flight took place already on May 7, 1999. During the summer of 1999, the testbed accumulated 30 take-offs and 20 flight hours. In ground tests, the propulsion system (the 42 kW strong high-tech engine with the complete electronic control and the large two-blade propeller) has already accomplished 80 hours at maximum power setting. Following last year’s flight phase the company is now presenting the engine to the public. This status report is describing the new system in detail and is giving a view on the Antares with its 20 meters wingspan and a best glide number of 54 which was especially designed for the new electric drive. aerokurier Online contest Flying competitions can be a lot of fun. If the competitions are centrally held, they give the opportunity for an immediate exchange between the competitors. Decentrally held competitions, however, do not allow this interaction yet. This is to change with the aerokurier Online contest. On the Internet, the contest catches up to the topicality which make central competitions so exciting. Shortly after landing, the Online contest lists the results and one can exchange with other pilots on how they mastered their tasks and which tactics lead to success or where decisions went wrong. Idaflieg summer meeting At the Idaflieg summer meeting, work and pleasure will nicely join: Measuring tasks with gliding. In 1999, the Idaflieg tested a number of interesting prototypes. The Aalen-Elchingen airfield at the Swabian Jura, traditionally the location of the summer meeting, was the destination of the academic flying groups (Akaflieg) and many guests in August of 1999. At the top of the program was the comparison of the newest and sometimes very unusual aircraft designs of the Akaflieg groups, along with designs from production aircraft (Discus 2, Genesis 2). The aircraft performance flight characteristics were studied and compared to long-existing designs. A project by the Akaflieg Berlin really belonged to the area of basic research. This group tried to measure the atmosphere’s micro turbulence with heat wire probes. A more utilization oriented project was the project of the Akaflieg Darmstadt/FH Darmstadt which tried to measure the glide number of an aircraft directly with a relatively simple instrumentation. World Gliding Championships 1999: Nations’ Cup for the DAeC team The 26th World Gliding Championships 1999 in Bayreuth were the first WGC with a team evaluation. The first prize went to the German team. Not practical any more: Mandatory use of front couplings Does the mandatory use of using a front coupling still make sense in tow-flights with motor gliders? A study about tow flights by the German Research Center DLR for the Ministry of Transport suggests to cancel this regulation. The research study with the title "Analysis of the controllability of gliders in tow flights" was presented at the 23rd gliding symposium in Braunschweig in mid-November 1999. According to the study there are no major safety differences between a front coupling or a belly coupling. The study also showed that the motor glider tow flights are significantly safer in extreme situations: The forces and accelerations were distinctively lower. With this in mind, the prohibition of using the belly coupling in motor glider tow flights needs attention: Glider without a front coupling are forced to use the less safe motor aircraft tow! Only the tow with motor aircraft is not limited to the front coupling. An art: Metal repair work The complexity of metal repair work on aircraft is usually underestimated. Especially when repairing accident damages this requires a lot of experience together with skilled craftsmanship. In its Maintenance Special, the aerokurier 1/2000 portraits the company "Flugzeugreparaturen Ralf Kohnen" which is specialized in airframe repair and other metal works on aircraft. First conversion of a Beech 1900D into a Business Liner The conversion of an aircraft from an airliner to a business aircraft is a challenge, especially when it is done for the first time. Beechcraft Berlin Aviation has done this by modifying a Beechcraft 1900D. Instead of 19 passenger seats, the regional airliner now has an executive outfit with twelve seats. The entire inside of the aircraft was redesigned according to customer needs. This conversion was the biggest project of this company yet. Engine and avionics at the NBAA The NBAA not only is the showcase of the aircraft manufacturers. Also the suppliers presented their new products at the occasion of the 52nd NBAA convention in Atlanta. Integrated avionics become smaller and cheaper. At the NBAA, AlliedSignal presented the Integrated Hazard Avoidance System (IHAS), the first avionics package of this kind for General Aviation. The system’s multi-function display allows the presentation of various information. Navigation data, weather data in a graphical presentation, virtual terrain display and airspace situation are only a few examples. Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah, Georgia, will be the first civil aircraft manufacturer that will be able to offer an Enhanced Vision System (EVS). The company is working on the project. The EVS works with real-time thermal images which are already in use in many military forces. Gulfstream expects the FAA certification for the first quarter of 2000. Pratt & Whitney Canada is planning to introduce a new engine family. The PW6XX family is mainly geared for General Aviation applications. The turbofan could power the four to six-seater aircraft class, the same applies to a new turboprop from the PW6XX which would be complemented by a helicopter engine. Williams presented the 1000th FJ44 at the NBAA. With this turbofan family Williams paved the way for the new category of light business jets. The FJ44’s first application was the Cessna CitationJet. Meanwhile, other aircraft manufacturers are competing in this market segment also. The worldwide fleet of FJ44-1A engines has accumulated a total of more than 500000 hours. Market survey Since 1988, the aerokurier is publishing its Maintenance Special at the beginning of the year. The publication especially highlights the product scale of this important branch with all its specialised companies. With listing 168 maintenance companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the aerokurier Maintenance Special offers the most comprehensive market survey of the branch. Top of Page |
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Last updated December 25, 1999