FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1996
1996 - 0246.PDF
\£HAL AVJAfJUi'J ANDRZEJ JEZIORSKI/MUNICH AIRCRAFT EMISSIONS are just one, probably a relatively minor, contributor to anthropogenic environmental change. Yet, combined with all the other natural and man-made contributors, the prognosis for climatic change over the next half century is both worrying and insufficiently researched. To date, nobody has had a research platform which can probe high enough, linger long enough and travel far enough at high altitude, to give a reliable picture of what is really hap pening to the upper atmosphere. Until such data have been gathered, nobody can tell just how much work and investment is needed to ensure that any polluting industry, including air transport, can keep developing in an ecological ly acceptable way. Neither can anyone tell for sure whether efforts being made now are suffi cient, inadequate or, perhaps, excessive. It seems strange, then, that a high-altitude research aircraft which could provide die sort of firm evidence needed should now be threatened by apparent Government apathy in a country where both "green" issues and aerospace are high on the political agenda. Yet that is what is happening to the Grob Strato 2C. The aircraft, built by German manufacturer Burkhart Grob Luft- und Raumfahrt, is intend ed to be operated with two pilots, two scientists and experimental equipment, at up to 72,100ft (22,000m) for up to 5h. Composites specialist Grob says that its creation could be flown non stop nearly half-way around the world. At a distance, the Strato — which has an empty weight of 7,600kg and a maximum take off weight of 13,500kg — could almost be mis taken for one of the sleek gliders with which Grob first made its name, but the impression is belied by its two large engines with pusher props mounted atop the wing. Up close, the Strato's proportions are star- ding. On its own, die fuselage looks like that of a 30-seat regional turboprop. The high-aspect ratio, high-mounted wing gives the aircraft its sailplane silhouette, but with nearly die span of a Boeing 747. At 56.5m, this is the largest all- composite wing ever made. The variable-pitch propellers from MT-Propeller are great, five- bladed windmills, 6m across, driven by a com pound-propulsion system developed by Ottobrunn-based scientific and technical ser vices firm IABG, while the empennage is a tall T-tail, rising 7.8m above the ground when the aircraft is parked — as indeed the Strato has remained for some time now, because of the current wrangle over outstanding funds. MONEY TROUBLES The programme's funding has been divided between the state — specifically die education, science, research and technology ministry — and the manufacturer. Development costs were first estimated at DM93.4 million ($63 million), of which the Government was to cover DM72 million, and die manufacturer the rest. This has been enough to complete the first phase of development, but the delay in the next tranche of funding has cost Grob millions more. The delay may now turn out to be permanent. The programme started in April 1992, fol lowing a recommendation from the ministry and researchers to intensify stratospheric re search in Germany. The German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR) was commis sioned to manage the project, and was to have been die end user. The schedule anticipated a development pro gramme lasting from 1992 to 1995, in parallel with the establishment of a ground-support infrastructure by the DLR at its Ober- pfaffenhofen site in Bavaria. The preparation of the first missions was planned for the beginning of 1996, and the aircraft was scheduled to be operational from 1996 to 2000. One of die main areas targeted for research (among various cli matic, chemical and technical investigations) was pollution caused by air traffic, and its influ ence on trace gases and die radiation field. Grob was selected as the manufacturer be cause of its expertise in composite-aircraft con struction: metals could not provide the strength and surface finish necessary for flight in thin air at extreme altitudes. The company also had experience in the high-altitude aircraft field from the Egrett programme — a joint venture with E-Systems of the USA to meet the German air force LAPAS 1 observation aircraft 66 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 31 January - 6 February 1996
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
