• Welcome aboard HomebuiltAirplanes.com, your destination for connecting with a thriving community of more than 10,000 active members, all passionate about home-built aviation. Dive into our comprehensive repository of knowledge, exchange technical insights, arrange get-togethers, and trade aircrafts/parts with like-minded enthusiasts. Unearth a wide-ranging collection of general and kit plane aviation subjects, enriched with engaging imagery, in-depth technical manuals, and rare archives.

    For a nominal fee of $99.99/year or $12.99/month, you can immerse yourself in this dynamic community and unparalleled treasure-trove of aviation knowledge.

    Embark on your journey now!

    Click Here to Become a Premium Member and Experience Homebuilt Airplanes to the Fullest!

Aero Friedrichshafen 2014, an extensive report

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

autoreply

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
10,824
Location
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Aero 2014.

Well, first some general impressions.

I was there for work. Lots of interest for our design, which was most encouraging. Also a downer, the LTF-L class, being the below 120 kg empty weight class in Germany, not requiring a medical is no longer “certifiable” in Germany. Certifying it abroad and then getting it admitted in the German 120kg class still works.

It's processes like this that makes me – and many others – sore cynics when there's any talk about deregulation. LTF-L already was very demanding, not too far shy of CS23 I'd figure and it all went down from there. So I hope you folks will forgive my cynicism, when there's talk of deregulation either here or in other countries, because the outcome is all too often the opposite..

It seemed quieter at the aero and the audience seemed down a bit compared to last year. Aero reports that numbers were slightly up though. The sailplane manufacturers weren't there, nor were a few of the other well-known names, meaning the enormous hall A1 (you can literally park a few A380's in there...) was closed and so was A2. The other thing I noticed though is that the audience seemed more focused; more people seriously considering buying an aircraft, avionics etc, less “tourists”. Not necessarily a bad thing.

The Aero is probably one of the biggest GA gatherings WRT the variety of products. No airshow save for a Zeppelin NT doing tours helps a lot, as does having very few families or “tourists", so focus is on the trade show.

I haven't spent any time on many products, including avionics, bizjets, gyrocopters (though there were dozens and dozens of different models of them) and choppers, so this report shows only a fraction of what there was to see.

If I'm not mistaken, last year too I was complaining about the endless amount (easily 50 to 70 different manufacturers) that had the low-wing, Rotax-powered, composite, tricycle MLA/LSA. Virtually all of them seem to be modest designs at best. Thick layers of shabby composite layups (once you look up into a gear door or inside a flap), far too heavy (MLA=1000/1050 lbs MTOW..), lots of plaster to get a shiny gelcoat and plenty of aerodynamic details that make any sailplane pilot or aerodynamicist cringe. Of course there were some exceptions to this, of which I'll talk more later.

No big news this year, though the personal highlights were some designs I'd never heard of before.

I shot some pictures. Some are not entirely sharp, had some problems with autofocus. Beware, it's almost 200 pictures, so if you're in a hurry :gig:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/31hnoxchktjf4on/98xXs_rCki

To be added:
Amphibians
Non-conventional designs
Turboprop Prescott Pusher
Dyn'Aero current status
ELA1//
 
Last edited:
Back
Top