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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 1644.PDF
FLIGHT, 4 June 1954 731 Another air-to-air view of the Turbulent. M. J. Noetinger of the French S.6.A.C. (U.S.I.A.) is seen at the controls. We bowled along the perimeter track and I tried taxying, but a gust of wind caught us under the starboard wing and with full opposite brake and rudder the Minijet lurched firmly on to its port mainwheel door, causing slight damage. This was soon repaired after we had taxied in; but although the excessive lurch was found to be due to a slightly deflated oleo, it does seem that the Minijet is almost uncomfortably close to the ground—cer tainly too close for rough grass. There are certain qualities peculiar to jet aircraft which it is very hard to define, but one felt at once that the Minijet had them. Yet with these qualities it has genuine light-aircraft performance. It stalls at about 50 kt, cruises at 150 kt at 1,500ft at 31,500 r.p.m., and climbs at almost 1,500 ft/min. Although there is nothing "hot" about it, it does behave like a jet aircraft, and I cannot see that it would be suitable for the average Sunday-afternoon flyer. It is, however, a delightful and satisfying machine, and I was most sorry not to be able to spend longer with it. Besides the two prototypes, a pre-production batch of five has been ordered by the French Government Secretariat for Light and Sporting Aviation. Furthermore, NATO training authori ties have shown interest in the Minijet as a possible basic trainer. It will be interesting to watch further developments of the Minijet, and in the meantime we hear that the Sipa 300, a tandem two-seat single-jet trainer, is soon to be built. the nose on the horizon. The Minijet gives that sense of freedom which is a characteristic of jet aircraft, and one hears only the noise of the air being drawn into the wing-root intake close to one's shoulder, and seems to float effortlessly through the air. Despite its responsiveness, the Minijet is not in the least what the French call "nervous," and it can be trimmed to fly hands off almost indefinitely. Having only 180 jet hours (all on Meteors) with which to compare the Minijet, I must admit that I found the latter infinitely more responsive, with a far greater rate of roll, though this is only to be expected of so light an aircraft. The second prototype Minijet, unlike the first prototype, is fully aerobatic at its take-off weight of 1,675 lb; but since for this flight we could not apply any negative g, because of the oil system, I was unable to try any aerobatics. M. Fischl, how ever, executed an immaculate slow roll (maintaining positive g) which showed how responsive the aircraft is. The oil pressure now began to drop and we returned to Villacoublay. On the down-wind leg, M. Fischl pumped down the undercarriage and 15 deg of flap. These flaps are double-slotted but so arranged that, when retracted, both slots are shrouded by the wing under-skin. There seemed to be no difficulty in getting the speed down, and the approach was neither too shallow, too steep nor too fast—about 80 kt. The flap selector was left "down" and one full stroke of the pump lowered 5 deg of flap. Maintaining constant power, M. Fischl applied extra flap as required down to some 30 deg. More than this is available but is never required. Round-out and touch down produced no great change of attitude, and the nosewheel was put down immediately. The ensuing ground run was about the same as that for take-off. "Flight" photograph The views of the Minijet above and below show the cockpit from eye-level. The double slotted flaps are illustrated in the fully extended position.
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