Low Cost Aircraft Touring

A short while ago a young French girl arrived at my home, having come all the way from Biarritz on a motor-scooter. The journey had taken her quite a long time, but the cost had been low. The motor scooter, which looked rather like a well-loaded Christmas tree, had been persuaded to caffy quite considerable quantities of baggage.

When scooters were first brought out, one always imagined that they were useful for short journeys and town work, but not really8suitable for long distance touring. This girl and many others have proved that they are quite practical and useful machines for long journeys.

The same applies to the Turbulent aircraft. When it was flrst brought out in France, this diminutive aeroplane with its 30 h.p. engine was regarded as a pretty little toy to fly around the aerodrome on a fine Sunday afternoon. This may be true, but I have flown one for quite a number of hours during the last seven or eight months, and I have proved it equally suitable for aerial touring at very low cost.

The machine has arafige of a good three hours, during which one should be able to average 80 m.p.h. in still air. It is quite possible to sit in the machine for this time without discomfort. The controls are so light, and the view is so good that very soon the sense that you are flying an aeroplane disappears, and you really feel that you are part of the machine.

Popular Flying, November December, 1958

The windscreen provides first-class protection and there is no difficulty at all in looking at your ffi&p, reading a book, or having an impromptu picnic.

Very naturally, if the air is at all turbulent, the little aeroplane lives up to its name, and sometimes gives you the impression that you are flying about like a piece of newspaper, or even that you are sailing a dinghy in a rough sea. The machine is so stable and responds so quickly to the lightest touch on the controls that provided you do. not fight with it, but allow yourself, as a dinghy sailor does, to relax with the craft, you soon find that any sense of insecurity disappears.

In dealing with two other potential difficulties, of touring with light aftcraft, the Turbulent shows. up very well. The flrst of these is noise. The engine is smooth and sweet running, and very quiet. There are two advantages here. One is that the pilot does not suffer from noise fatigue which is common enough after flying a small aircraft for some time. The other is that since the noise is not bothering you, you have the confident feeling that it is not bothering anyone else on the ground either, and if, as a result of the exigencies of navigation and low cloud it is necessary to fly low over a road or railway, you have the comfortable feeling that you are probably not being noticed. It is always surprising to me how few people look up at all.

Lastly, the view through the windscreen is so