EDITORIAL

Top priority, Herr Schröder

On 6 November, the Upper House of the German parliament held the final discussion about the new airfield noise emission regulation. This should have finally finished years of uncertainty for aircraft owners. Now, just 29 letters in ink are missing for the regulation to become effective: The signatures of German transport minister, Franz Müntefering, and environmental minister Jürgen Trittin.

The controversy about the contents of the new regulation has lasted already for six years. For years, AOPA and the German Aero Club have been fighting off the worst parts of the regulation which showed up in the various drafts. On 27 September, right on the day of the German elections, new demands to further intensify the requirements of the airfield noise regulation would mean the "death sentence" for a number of airfields.

aerokurier editor in-chief, Volker K. Thomalla, urges the new German chancellor Schröder to make the airfield noise regulation a top priority.

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FEATURE

Live from the cockpit: Patrouille Adecco

The French Patrouille Adecco is the world’s only civil flying display team that uses turboprop aircraft. John Blackman was sitting in cockpit number four during on of the recent displays. His brilliant photos almost have a historic character: In October of 1998, the team gave its last performance as Patrouille Adecco.

There will be no more displays of the Patrouille Adecco with its red PC-7s. The temporary-work company Adecco is going more and more global and sees the display team as regional sponsoring which does not match the company’s global engagement any more. At the latest at the AERO in Friedrichshafen in April 1999 will we know if the "Adieu, Patrouille Adecco" was really the final word.

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MOTOR FLYING

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PILOT REPORT

Muscle games: The new Katana DA20-C1 with Conti engine

Diamond Aircraft has uprated its Katana DA20 with a 125-hp Continental IO-240-B engine with to a C1 version. We flew the new variant in the USA. The Katana DA20-C1 almost proved to be an entire new aircraft. The new engine required several other modifications. Among others, Diamond modified the flap system, the horizontal tail, the landing gear and the cockpit. However, it is doubtful if the C1 will be certified in Germany.

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TRADE SHOWS

News from the NBAA 1998 in Las Vegas

It looks like Business Aviation won the Jackpot. Never before the branch logged more orders in just one year, never before were the order logs as full and never before has a company launched four new business jets at the same time.

NBAA’98 in October in Las Vegas was Business Aviation’s most successful show yet. More than 31000 visitors found their way into the largest city of Nevada, getting their own impression of the branch’s vitality.

News from the AOPA Expo’98

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s (AOPA) annual exposition is developing more and more into a very relevant event for General Aviation. In 1998, the show was held from 23 to 25 October in Palm Springs, California. 433 companies showed their products, 70 aircraft were on display.

The highlights included Mooney’s Allegro successor, the FAA certification of the Cirrus SR20, the Columbia 300 from Lancair with FAR 23 certificate, the PetProp turbine conversion of the Piper Malibu, the Luscumbe Sartan 185, the Micco SP20 before the start of the series production.

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MAGAZINE

Wooden propellers: From tree to prop

Modern wooden propellers are a strong piece of technology. We have followed up on the career from the nature product to the propeller. It is worth knowing about the complex design of a modern wooden propeller in order to be aware of what is turning in front of the cowling and generating thrust.

CPL theoretical knowledge for instructor pilot applicants

The entry requirement for instructor pilot applicants will change. With implication of the JAR-FCL on July 1, 1999, applicants don’t have to prove as many practical flying hours. However, they must have the academic knowledge of the commercial pilots licence. Applicants must have passed the CPL test before being allowed into the selection procedure for the instructor pilot training. There will be a transition period for those applicants who acquire the instructor licence before 1 July or, already hold a licence. They will be also allowed to instruct in on a PPL basis in flying clubs with no compensation.

Mü 30 "Schlacro" before its first flight

The academic flying groups of the universities not only build gliders. The Akaflieg Munich has created a real "racer": the Mü 30 for acro and tow flights. We illustrate the history of the aircraft and the status of the work.

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TRAVEL

Along the Northwest passage on the trail of Amundsen, Part 1

Three German pilots, Helmut Scharpf, Wolfgang Scherer and Franz Stadtbäumer, took off with a Partenavia P.68 from Landshut to a long trip into the Arctic. Focus of their journey was a photo documentation of the legendary Northwest passage, a ship connection between the Northern Atlantic and the Pacific via the North of the Northamerican continent. The Norwegian polar researcher Roald Amundsen was the first one to discover the through-passage at the beginning of this century. Before him, many other expeditions failed in the eternal ice. In the first part of this travel feature, we describe the Partenavia’s route via Island, Greenland, the Canadian-arctic archipelago and Alaska to the Bering Street, the border to Russia, illustrated with fascinating photos by Franz Stadtbäumer. Nome in Alaska was the apex of this more than 22000-kilometer long trip.

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FLYING

Connie on Euro-tour

The airshow season 1998 offered a real highlight to friends of old aircraft. A L-749A Constellation toured through Europe.

The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Berlin airbridge allowed fans of historic aircraft a reunion with the Connie and aerokurier writer Helmut Fleischer the unique opportunity to a little excursion into the past. He flew with the "queen of the air" from Berlin to Hamburg.

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PRACTICE

For emergencies: the safe handstart

There is a good reason why starting an engine by hand is not everybody’s business. However, whomever obeys some basic rules, lowers the risk to lose the fingers or more. We show you in text and photos how you can start your aircraft engine by hand.

Tips for trips: a quick flight to Nancy

This time our tip for your trip takes you to Nancy, the historic capital of Lorraine. Nancy is not only the right destination for those of you who are interested in culture. There is much to see for aviation enthusiasts. We give tips for the city visit and a guideline for the flight to Nancy.

Sooty spark plugs

If the spark plugs tend to soot, most often it’s not their fault. Often, the real reason is an incorrect adjustment of the idle mixture. Author Thomas Dietrich explains what you can do to solve the problem. Learn how you yourself can adjust the idle mixture of carburetor and injection engines or, if you feel this is to critical for yourself, how you can monitor the adjustment work of your maintenance shop.

Insurance risk

How is the chartered aircraft insured? Who pays when something happens to the passenger and how is the pilot insured? Our legal expert Thomas Mühlbauer knows the answers to these questions.

Accident analysis: Small carelessness with fatal consequences

An operating mistake in the decisive landing phase, along with the missing attention of the pilot in command lead to a crash of a twin-engine Cessna 425 during a familiarization flight to the Hannover airport. One of the pilots died, the other survived severely injured.

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ULTRALIGHT

Comparison: EV 97 Eurostar, P96 Golf and CH 601 D Zodiak

They have much in common. But where are the differences? We compare the three all-metal low-wing ultralights. It became a close match in which the three candidates proved their individual goods and weaknesses. This feature will give you a guide in deciding for your personal favorite.

Strong critics at the ultralight pilots day

Schönhagen close by Berlin was the venue of this year’s ultralight pilots day of the German Aero Club DAeC. It became a day of clear words. The ultralight commission (ULKO) as the representative organization of the ultralight pilots is not happy about its cooperation with the DAeC’s top authorities, ULKO chairman, Jürgen Schmid, stated. Massive communication problems with the DAeC are probably the reason why the ULKO feels left out in important questions, the DAeC not using the ULKO’s competence.

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GLIDING

Market survey: flight data recorder

GPS-based flight data recorder are on the best way to succeed as the documentation means in gliding cross country flights. Nine manufacturers are offering 15 different models. What are their capabilities, where do they differ? We present eleven mobile sets.

DG-Flugzeugbau: New two-seater DG-1000

Two-seater are in style. In the product scale of the DG aircraft, this has lead to a variety of variants based on the DG-500, covering almost any mission. In its anniversary year (25 years DG aircraft), DG, with the DG-1000, presents a modern successor.

The new double-seater from Bruchsal-based DG-Flugzeugbau is a "child of its time". The swept and upswung wingtips are taking up the new wing geometry which was created by Schempp-Hirth and can meanwhile be found in the entire aircraft line of the Swabian manufacturer. This wing design stands for good handling and excellent turning characteristics.

After approximately ten years of production, the DG-1000 is to succeed the fixed wing profile DG-500. Like its predecessor, the DG-1000 will be available in many different variants.

GNSS online competition

Which maximum route length does a specific day allow? To find this out in a free flight (if possible in an FAI triangle routing) is a major competition in gliding. Next year this challenge will be the focus of a special decentral competition.

The GNSS documentation gives us almost unexpected possibilities for this task. Just switch on the logger and take-off. The flight is reviewed at night and with a cross country flight evaluation software one can quickly put an optimized triangle into the logged flight. Now the entire documentation is sent via e-mail to the evaluation center, done. One does not even have to take a pencil in her hand.

The evaluation from the weekend flying can be ready on the following Thursday, within five days. This is not something out of the future: A pilot project is planned for the coming season. Further information is available on the following website: http://segelflugszene-bayern.proforma.de

Gliding in historic aircraft

With its fleet of ten historic gliders, the Oldtimer Gliding Club Munich (OSVM) calls itself the biggest club of its kind in Europe.

OSVM was founded more than ten years ago (1987) by seven enthusiasts. The first aircraft included a Musger MG 19a, a double-seater from 1954, along with a Grunau Baby 2b built in 1952. Currently, the club owns ten completely overhauled, flyable and registered gliders. The fleet includes rarities such as a training glider SG-38 (1942) and a Goevier III (1953) of which only five aircraft total exist worldwide.

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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