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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 1735.PDF
Czech flights The names Zlin and Blanik are virtually synonymous with com petition aerobatics and gliding training. Alan Postlethwaite goes to Czechoslovakia for an exclu sive preview of their latest aircraft, soon to be on sale in the West, and hears about general aviation in Eastern Europe. The southern Moravian town of Otrokovice roars to the sound of a low-flying Zlin 50LS as a pilot wrings out a demonstrator for Flight. The Zlin 142 aerobatic trainer and Zlin 37T Agro Turbo crop-sprayer soon appear in this impromptu air show, the Agro Turbo performing steep turns to steer clear of the tall hills and factory chimneys that line two sides of Moravan's airfield. A flying club no longer operates at Moravan because of the hazard posed by the chimneys, so the display is all the more entertaining for three tractor drivers working in a field behind the factory. But the latest Zlin, a budget-priced version of the World Aerobatic Championships-winning Zlin 50LS fitted with a Czechoslovak engine instead of the usual Lycoming, sits firmly on the ground. The introduction of the Zlin 50M, with its Avia engine, should not only cut the cost of advanced aerobatic training, but should also allow Moravan to sidestep its difficulties in obtaining hard currency to obtain Lyco- mings for the ZHn 50LS. Moravan reveals that the Zlin 50M proto type has begun flight tests and will be offered for sale in the West alongside the more powerful Zlin 50LS, which will remain in production. The Zlin 50M is on the ground only because it needs a precautionary but routine check before taking to the air for more tests, Moravan staff assure Flight. The nearby Let enterprise, whose only aircraft product for the last eight years has been the Let 410 turbine-twin commuter, has also started test flying a new type—a derivative of the L-19 Blanik which went out of production in 1981 after many hundreds A distinctive nezv nose profile betrays the replace ment of the 300 h.p. Lycoming by a 210 h.p. Avia engine in the new Zhn 50M were exported to the West. The new L-23 Blanik will be on sale in the West next year. Although these moves herald an apparent commitment to general aviation by the Czechoslovak Government, which owns the factories and heavily subsidises private flying in this socialist country, a Czechoslovak entry for this year's World Aerobatic Cham pionships, a prestige event to be held in Canada, looks unlikely. Trade officials make it clear that they think it more important to win sales than prestige. The Moravan factory, founded in 1934, lies in the agricultural region between Brno and the Austrian border, and is Czecho slovakia's leading general-aviation enter prise. Last year its 2,000 employees built 120 aircraft, mostly for sport flying, and exported half of them, both to Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) countries and to the West. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 2 July 1988 33
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