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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1868.PDF
FLIGHT International, IB June 1964 1037 forward visibility over the flat nose is excellent. The unusually large windscreen has demanded a very deep glare-shield over the panel, but there is vertical room for two standard-sized and one miniature instrument dial one above the other on the panel. Radio equipment, including space provision for a full-sized weather radar screen, transponder and everything else is on a slightly sloped central panel, next to easily seen engine instruments, and there is standard provision for dual flight instruments. With the standard four-seat cabin layout, there is room for a toilet and refreshment cabinet aft of the main entrance air-stairs, and the rear seat can be slid back to overlap the doorway in flight. The steps fold flat when the door is shut and do not remain pro- jecting. Baggage may be stowed in the rear of the cabin, depending on the interior arrangement, behind the engine nacelles, and in a baggage compartment in the extreme nose forward of a full- width separate electronics bay. If weather radar is fitted, a rounded dome replaces the pointed metal nose-fairing and the equipment projects slightly into the baggage space. Combined with the high performance and low price, the extra- wide cabin must prove a tremendous sales attraction, since it is a unique feature in this class of aircraft. Only the Beagle 206 provides anything approaching this width. The first production 411, to be completed in August or September equipped and furnished to pro- duction standard, will first be handed over to the engineering depart- ment for some 75Ohr of intensive flying, which will be completed early next year. The next few aircraft will be used for sales demon- strations, which will also provide further user experience and an opportunity to check performance in hot and high conditions. First true deliveries to customers are likely to take place about next February. VOLTIGE FRANCAISE by Robert Winter ONE of the qualifications required for those attending anaerobatic course at the Centre National de Vol a Moteurat Carcassonne is the ability to express oneself in French: one of my letters to the organizers in Paris explained in English that my French was adequate. Fortunately they believed me. Last year I flew a Tiger Club Stampe in the Lockheed Aerobatic Competition at Coventry. This was my first attempt and, although it was valuable experience, my sequence was untidy and 1 had difficulty with outside manoeuvres—the natural results of rather unenlightened self-instruction. Thus, being a great admirer of the French aerobatic style, I applied for a course at Carcassonne. The French Government runs several national centres for civil aviation. They cover basic training, commercial flying, gliding, parachuting, instructor training and aerobatics. Carcassonne, lying at the foot of the Pyrenees near Toulouse, is chiefly concerned with private pilots. Perfectionnement courses are offered to club Stampe aircraft (below) and Zlin 326s are used by the French National Flying Centre at Carcassonne. Above, Pierre Bernard, an instructor at the centre, and Roland Lanchambon, who was placed second in the 1963 Coupe Doret aerobatic competition pilots with private licences in order to improve their basic flying, and the school has taken over the aerobatic training previously carried out at the famous St Yan centre. The centres are subsidized, with many pilots being eligible for free training. On my course only two pupils out of about 20 were paying for their flying. Rates for the Stampes are £3 10s per hour for Frenchmen and £5 for foreigners. The centre uses Stampe biplanes both for basic and aerobatic training; the aerobatic ones have membrane carburetters and oil systems for unlimited inverted flight. The two hangars contained about 30 Stampes in flying condition, with the same number stacked with wings removed waiting for overhaul. On a good day, the circuit would be crammed with biplanes with several more aerobatting in sectors overhead, a wonderful sight. When I arrived at Carcassonne nobody seemed particularly interested in my insurance certificate, identification photographs, log book and licence photocopies, and I was strapped into a Stampe for an aerobatic check. This was administered by Jean Passadori, the chief aerobatic instructor. For me it was a day when Stall Turns Left don't. When asked for a normal stall, I did a spin, much to M Passadori's astonishment (this being the result of translation trouble). My test ended with M Passadori demonstrating impecc- able aerobatics, his last manoeuvre terminating in a smooth three- point landing. His only comment afterwards about my flying was; "Use of rudder, very bad." The aerobatic course is divided into three basic stages. The first consists of classical manoeuvres and includes a study of inverted flight. The second comprises outside and flick manoeuvres, the rolling circle and hesitation roll. The final course is in low-altitude display aerobatics. I was surprised at the simplicity of all the manoeuvres taught; at first sight, the courses might appear easy. But a high standard is demanded, with a thorough understanding of the use of controls and aerodynamics involved. Great emphasis is placed on flying aerobatic sequences. At the end of each stage the pupil takes a test, dual and solo. The instructor asks for various figures and, sometime during the dual test, cuts the ignition for a forced landing on the airfield (this was done to me in the middle of a stall turn). After the dual test, the pupil is marked on a solo sequence by three instructors on the ground and is awarded a first, second or third-stage certificate if he achieves a sufficiently high average mark. In spite of my poor start I found I was able to make good progress, probably due to the patience of Pierre Bernard, my instructor. I found the technique of practising manoeuvres in sequences very useful. M Passadori ran a series of lectures explaining the aero- dynamics and theory of simple aerobatics which were put into practice in the flying instruction; in particular, the proper use of rudder—fundamental to accurate flying—was explained. The French believe that aerobatics should be smooth and quite simple with the skill lying in flying accurately. Their style is entirely different to the violent and spectacular aerobatics of the Eastern European pilots whose successions of flick and high-g manoeuvres are designed to fit the maximum number of figures into a given time. For this reason the French think the concept of our Lockheed aerobatic competition—where the accent is laid on the presentation of a complete sequence rather than the maximum number of manoeuvres—is excellent.
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