Aero Trade Fair

People with an interest in commercial aviation might congregate at Farnborough, near London, every year and friends of military aviation at Le Bourget, near Paris, but sports aviation enthusiasts meet regularly at Friedrichshafen in southern Germany.

By Bernard Eckey

This lovely city is situated on the shores of Lake Constance and has long been the host of the AERO trade fair.

Hobby aviators from around the world make a bee line to Friedrichshafen to keep up to date with the latest developments and look at everything from paragliders to ultralights, and from radio controlled models to small business jets. In the past, the show was staged every two years but some time ago, the organisers elected to hold it every year. All major glider manufacturers felt that the cost burden was far too high and decided to exhibit at AERO only at the original two year interval. Here is a short review of new and interesting products on offer this year.

Lange Aviation seems to have recovered from their financial woes and introduced their electrically powered Antares with 23 metre wingspan for the first time at Friedrichshafen. They also exhibited their original 20 metre model but with a two-stroke sustainer engine. Schempp Hirth had the new Arcus in two different versions on display, as well as a very early prototype of the open class Quintus. It is clearly not ready for prying eyes and was therefore suspended under the ceiling. Obviously the Antares and Quintus wings come from the same mould, but in typical Schempp Hirth fashion, the Quintus will get a kinked-up wingtip. Schleicher displayed three of their latest models. Next to their ASG 29 best seller, they exhibited the ASH 31 self-launcher with 18/21 metre wingspan. Their new open class two-seater ASH 30 Mi proved by far to be the biggest crowd pleaser and was constantly surrounded by glider pilots from around the globe. Diamond Aircraft surprised everyone with a tail dragger version of the Super Dimona motor glider. This year DG had by far the smallest display of all glider manufacturers and was only showing the fuselage of an electrically powered sustainer version of the DG 1000. The two-stroke engine of the DG 1000 M was displayed on a trestle.

Even the trailer manufacturers Komet, Cobra and Avionic were present. All of them had their latest trailer versions on display, but Komet was showing their new rapid stabilisation system and

AERO TRADE FAIR

higlighted the advantages with a very convincing video. Recognising that trailer accidents remain a regular occurrence, they are now integrating an active braking system on request. It stabilises the car/trailer combination and greatly assists the driver in critical situations. The system actively initiates a stabilisation process and hence avoids accidents. Best of all, their basic model of trailer was still sporting a price tag of only Euro 5990.00 – a very pleasant surprise and clear proof of fierce competition in this field!

As expected, glider avionic systems are still undergoing further development and ongoing refinement. Flarm is now available with integrated ADS-B. It was renamed Power Flarm, but so far no manufacturer has received IGC approval for the integrated logger. This is expected by late 2011 or early 2012. LX Navigation introduced the LX 9000, featuring a nicely backlit 5.6 inch colour display. This instrument comes equipped with worldwide terrain maps, including airspace and airport databases. It also includes a Flarm collision avoidance system and a flight recorder with IGC approval. No doubt, the LX 9000 is truly a top-end navigation system.

As a result of the rapidly escalating cost of aero tows, winch launching is enjoying increasing popularity on a worldwide scale. This fact was evident by the number of mobile and self-propelled winches on display, which even included an all-electric winch. All of them sported different lay-outs, but had one thing in common: they were professionally built, exceptionally powerful, extremely sturdy, of high standard and designed for special plastic rope. Most winch manufacturers also build export versions, ready for mounting onto locally sourced prime movers. One manufacturer even offers a leasing option over a period of 5 years.

The next AERO of value for gliding enthusiasts will be in April 2013. Make sure that you don’t miss it if you happen to be in Europe around this time!