S EARLIER

CT 2K - ultra light with auto pilot
2003-01-18 Enskede, Stockholm
It is not only the big expensive planes that have auto pilot in these days. The auto pilot is of two main components: gyro and servo engine. Gyro checks out that the plane is flying level and sends impulses to the unit that corrects the level. It is possible to connect GPS as well and the plane will fly the path that is programmed. The height will be controlled manually. The price of this auto pilot is $1500.- plus VAT. More info in Navaid-Devices and abut the plane Tomoto Aviation (Swedish only).


Ikarus don't need to lower the VNE anyway
December 2002 DAEC in Germany did sink the VNE for Ikarus C42 model B, to 180 km/h. Horst Lieb from COMCO IKARUS GmbH tells now that this was caused by an bureaucratic blunder: a document was missing when the plane had a new vibrations check up. All UL-planes that can fly over 200 km/h in Germany must take this new advanced test.

From UK to Australia with homebuild Rand KR-2
The smallest aircraft ever to have flown from England to Australia arrived back at Oxford-Kidlington airport on 16 Jan  2003.The crew Colin Hales and Nadine Brauns, departed on 22 October 2001 to fly their homebuilt two-seat Rand KR-2 to Australia. The planes empty weight is astonishing low 242 kg (536 lbs) and flies 152 knots max.
The flight was far from a sunday picknick: battling through 21 countries , snow storms in the Middle East,next to Saddam's Hussein jet in Jordan, royal assistance in Saudi Arabia, a rough running engine over the Burmese jungle, massive thunderstorms in Thailand and bureaucracy... See pictures and read more about this chilling adventure at: http://fly.to/worldtour

DA42Twin Star flies with diesel fuel
Diamond's revolutionary new diesel twin, the DA42 TwinStar, made its first flight from the Diamont Aircraft company's base in Austria dec 2002.. The TwinStar, is the first diesel twin in the sub-4500lb category and this bird is pure pleasure to fly.Now it seems to be a question of time when the first UL-plane has a diesel engine on the nose.The TwinStar will have a 55-gallon fuel capacity as standard and is forecast to cruise at 180kt yet burn only 10 gallons per hour total. More about this twin engine plane: www.diamond-air.at/Products/DA42.htm

Euro insurance requirements - a cold shower
 2002-12-31 Brussels
The new Euro insurance requirements news of draft EU legislation to make it mandatory for all aero planes to carry £ 68 000 000 worth of third party insurance does seem, well, far fetched.  Here the good news is that micro lights and sailplanes are exceptions.

Micro light air crafts: 100 year anniversary - 2003
The Wright flyer 1  was the first engine driven aircraft that did actually fly in 1903. It was as well the first micro light aircraft according the European standards. In USA that would be the first in Sport plane class.  The plane weighted only 273 kg and had 34 mph top speed. More about the Wright brother and their iron bird in www.wright-brothers.org. Thou there is one more important person called Gustav A. Weißkopf who needs his well earned publicity as the pioneer of the air www.weisskopf.de.

Good news for microlight pilots in UK
To encourage owners of older microlights to get their machines up into the air again, the BMAA has made some price reductions for permit renewals.Permit costs are being halved for aircrafts first registered before 1984 Permit costs are also halved for any sub-70 kilo category machines first registered before 1987
Any microlight that has not had a permit for five years of more can now get a permit renewal for just £10.00. More info:www.bmaa.org

 GT prop increases the speed of Sonex
2002-12-07 Windeck, Germany
At last there seems to be a leap in development of props for Jabiru-engines. The Italian GT prop is a totally new construction although it is not easy to see in the picture. T. Kristen from Norway rapports that after changing his old prop with this GT his Sonex's speed did increase from 135 to 170 km/h. Very impressive. Look at www.gt-propellers.com.

World around with UL-plane
2002-11-26 Slovenian
Matevz Lenarcic, adventurer and flight photographer started last summer his world around journey from Slovenia. The name of the venture was World Transsiberia. The route was planned over Russia,Siberia, Alaska, Canada. All went well with this hair-raising project until he applied the permit to go on from Canada to Greenland. The same wall did stop Brian Milton, who has been earlier trying to get to Greenland with his trike. Mathevz's plane for this challenge was a Czech CH701, modified for this trip with 200 l wing tanks and broadened cockpit. You can fin more info and pictures at www.worldtranssiberia.com.