Keeping the sky safer for airliners at modest cost. Flight Design CT pressed into air
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Keeping the sky safer for airliners at modest cost. Flight Design CT pressed into air
European travel was again interrupted by the eruption of the Grimsvötn volcano in Iceland. Airborne ash from these volcanoes represents a major expense for airlines and airports plus inconvenience for passengers.
The Eyjafjallajökull eruption, in April 2010, caused the largest closure of European airspace since World War II, with losses estimated at between 1.5 and 2.5 billion euros. How does one determine the extent of the problem compared to last year’s eruption? The answer: Very economically, with a Flight Design CT microlight.
The Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring of the Fachhochschule Düsseldorf (FHD) lead by Prof. Dr. Konradin Weber conducted volcanic ash test flights over northern Germany, especially in the region of Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig, Holstein. The London Volcanic Ash Advisory Center had predicted significantly increased volcanic ash concentrations for this region due to the eruption of Grimsvötn causing
airport closures as a safety precaution.
The test flights were carried out on behalf of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (German Weather Forecast, the federal German organization responsible for measurement of airborne radioactive particles etc.). The aircraft selected for this measurement was a high performance light aircraft called the Flight Design CT fitted with a laser-based particle spectrometer (GRIMM OPC). After the volcanic ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano a year ago this equipment was used successfully gaining international attention. The aim of the 2011 testing flights over northern Germany was to obtain data in-situ regarding the volcanic ash cloud, and in particular to gain data on the level of concentration and the distribution of volcanic ash. During the flight, ash particles were collected from the air for later examination using electron microscopy.
The research aircraft operated by Professor Weber and his team detected structures of the volcanic ash cloud at an altitude range 2.300 to 3.200 meters. At this altitude, the volcanic ash cloud was observed as a horizontal gray-brown seam. The volcanic ash concentrations measured in the Bremen-Hamburg area proved to be comparatively low. The cost to determine this was a fraction of the expense if large aircraft were used for this investigation.
The next use of this equipment is planned for early July 2011. “The Measurement campaign will run from 1 to July 10 at Etna volcano in Sizilia, Italy,” stated spokesman Uwe Post.
“We are proud to help aviation safety in airliners through the very economical use of our CT aircraft,” reported Flight Design GmbH CEO, Matthias Betsch. “While we enjoy flying our aircraft, our personnel also use airline travel and we are pleased to help insure their safe travel.
Flight Design is a 24-year-old air-sport products producer based in Germany. The company remains the worldwide market leader thanks to its well-received CT series of light aircraft. More than 1,700 of these aircraft are flying in 40 countries. One of the first aircraft certified under ASTM International standards in 2005, the CT (“composite technology”) remains the top-selling LSA in America through six consecutive years. Flight Design sold the first LSA to India and was the first LSA to earn Chinese Type Design Approval. Three times a CT has been flown around the world.
Keeping the sky safer for airliners at modest cost. Flight Design CT pressed into airborne ash measurement duty - Pilot Magazin
The Eyjafjallajökull eruption, in April 2010, caused the largest closure of European airspace since World War II, with losses estimated at between 1.5 and 2.5 billion euros. How does one determine the extent of the problem compared to last year’s eruption? The answer: Very economically, with a Flight Design CT microlight.
The Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring of the Fachhochschule Düsseldorf (FHD) lead by Prof. Dr. Konradin Weber conducted volcanic ash test flights over northern Germany, especially in the region of Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig, Holstein. The London Volcanic Ash Advisory Center had predicted significantly increased volcanic ash concentrations for this region due to the eruption of Grimsvötn causing
airport closures as a safety precaution.The test flights were carried out on behalf of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (German Weather Forecast, the federal German organization responsible for measurement of airborne radioactive particles etc.). The aircraft selected for this measurement was a high performance light aircraft called the Flight Design CT fitted with a laser-based particle spectrometer (GRIMM OPC). After the volcanic ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano a year ago this equipment was used successfully gaining international attention. The aim of the 2011 testing flights over northern Germany was to obtain data in-situ regarding the volcanic ash cloud, and in particular to gain data on the level of concentration and the distribution of volcanic ash. During the flight, ash particles were collected from the air for later examination using electron microscopy.
The research aircraft operated by Professor Weber and his team detected structures of the volcanic ash cloud at an altitude range 2.300 to 3.200 meters. At this altitude, the volcanic ash cloud was observed as a horizontal gray-brown seam. The volcanic ash concentrations measured in the Bremen-Hamburg area proved to be comparatively low. The cost to determine this was a fraction of the expense if large aircraft were used for this investigation.
The next use of this equipment is planned for early July 2011. “The Measurement campaign will run from 1 to July 10 at Etna volcano in Sizilia, Italy,” stated spokesman Uwe Post.
“We are proud to help aviation safety in airliners through the very economical use of our CT aircraft,” reported Flight Design GmbH CEO, Matthias Betsch. “While we enjoy flying our aircraft, our personnel also use airline travel and we are pleased to help insure their safe travel.
Flight Design is a 24-year-old air-sport products producer based in Germany. The company remains the worldwide market leader thanks to its well-received CT series of light aircraft. More than 1,700 of these aircraft are flying in 40 countries. One of the first aircraft certified under ASTM International standards in 2005, the CT (“composite technology”) remains the top-selling LSA in America through six consecutive years. Flight Design sold the first LSA to India and was the first LSA to earn Chinese Type Design Approval. Three times a CT has been flown around the world.
Keeping the sky safer for airliners at modest cost. Flight Design CT pressed into airborne ash measurement duty - Pilot Magazin
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Hmm, I wonder what this guy has to say about that BBC News - Ash plane 'finds a lot of muck' in UK airspace
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Probably worried he might get competition to his own companies more expensive platform?
Having said that moderator or not I thought his discussion was emotive and unscientific in the way it was put over.
But then having been bombarded by science regarding global warming and the huge costs that have entailed maybe a bit more carbon pumped into the astmosphere by volcanos might warm things up now the scientists have decided that the planet is infact cooling.
No wonder we are all losing confidence in the boffins
Pace
Having said that moderator or not I thought his discussion was emotive and unscientific in the way it was put over.
But then having been bombarded by science regarding global warming and the huge costs that have entailed maybe a bit more carbon pumped into the astmosphere by volcanos might warm things up now the scientists have decided that the planet is infact cooling.
No wonder we are all losing confidence in the boffins
Pace
Last edited by Pace; 13th Jul 2011 at 09:57.
I thought his discussion was immotive and unscientific in the way it was put over
No wonder we are all loosing confidence in the boffins
No wonder we are all loosing confidence in the boffins
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The Grimm Sky-OPC was one instrument being flown by the UK aircraft at the time of the E15 eruption, and one had been fitted on the flight talked about in that interview. A very reliable source close to the moderator in question tells me that the "mucky" BBC interview was actually the chap's informal brief to the TV crews before several much more measured interviews - that they didn't use, presumably because he used too many long words and measured scientific language.
The source also tells me that the UK response was from two government funded research aeroplanes, not a company, and that central government still hasn't paid all of its bills for that. They probably saved the UK economy several hundreds of millions, and as a result are left half a million down and have withdrawn both aircraft (a D228 and a BAe-146) from availability for civil contingency work.
UK Met Office is currently in the final stages of commissioning a C421 to do the same job, with a lot more instrumentation than the CT can carry and a couple of scientists on board. In particular it'll carry a vacuum pump sampling system which will work: at the speeds and with the power and payload available on a CT I don't believe that that aeroplane can usefully capture samples - you just couldn't put a big enough pump on it. The Met Office aircraft is "G-HIJK" and being called "MOCCA" - Met Office Civil Contingency Aircraft
The Grimm is a fantastic instrument however. I'm told. By a reliable source. A sensible use of the CT, which as an aeroplane probably cost a lot less than the instrument it's carrying. However, the CT is not going to fly at 20-30,000ft for 4+ hours at 250+ knots groundspeed carrying a downward facing LIDAR to map the ash plume, which the BAe-146 did do, and MOCCA will be able to do (okay, not at 250 knots) sometime in the next couple of months once it's been flight tested.
P
The source also tells me that the UK response was from two government funded research aeroplanes, not a company, and that central government still hasn't paid all of its bills for that. They probably saved the UK economy several hundreds of millions, and as a result are left half a million down and have withdrawn both aircraft (a D228 and a BAe-146) from availability for civil contingency work.
UK Met Office is currently in the final stages of commissioning a C421 to do the same job, with a lot more instrumentation than the CT can carry and a couple of scientists on board. In particular it'll carry a vacuum pump sampling system which will work: at the speeds and with the power and payload available on a CT I don't believe that that aeroplane can usefully capture samples - you just couldn't put a big enough pump on it. The Met Office aircraft is "G-HIJK" and being called "MOCCA" - Met Office Civil Contingency Aircraft
The Grimm is a fantastic instrument however. I'm told. By a reliable source. A sensible use of the CT, which as an aeroplane probably cost a lot less than the instrument it's carrying. However, the CT is not going to fly at 20-30,000ft for 4+ hours at 250+ knots groundspeed carrying a downward facing LIDAR to map the ash plume, which the BAe-146 did do, and MOCCA will be able to do (okay, not at 250 knots) sometime in the next couple of months once it's been flight tested.
P
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BBC interview was actually the chap's informal brief to the TV crews before several much more measured interviews
Would rather he had said "No one in the whole history of aviation has ever been killed by an encounter with ash! unless they smoke".
Pace
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Possibly true.
Amazing how your media training goes out the window when you had 4 hours sleep, worked 28 hours of the previous 36, and just flown a 4 hour science flight doing something nobody's ever done before with a crew and instrument fit pulled together at a few hours notice.
Had they not flown, and not said anything to the media, it's interesting to speculate what your, and the media's response would be?
P
Amazing how your media training goes out the window when you had 4 hours sleep, worked 28 hours of the previous 36, and just flown a 4 hour science flight doing something nobody's ever done before with a crew and instrument fit pulled together at a few hours notice.
Had they not flown, and not said anything to the media, it's interesting to speculate what your, and the media's response would be?
P
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Pilotage
As a Captain on private jets I am aware of long hour days
But misplaced interviews costs our industry £Millions and the jobs of our pilots.
As stated in long threads on the subject no one in over 60 years of aviation and well before we had this scientific measuring equiptment has been killed by an ash encounter which cannot be said for bird strikes or weather encounters.
A lot of panic reactions are motivated by the media who in turn motivate the politicians who in turn overreact to be seen to be doing something.
addendum
Having said all the above I do acknowledge the need for intensive actual testing to confirm the computer generated predictive flows of ash and their density levels at different levels which to date have been grossely innacurate.
What density levels actually reflect DENSE is another question???
Pace
As a Captain on private jets I am aware of long hour days
But misplaced interviews costs our industry £Millions and the jobs of our pilots.As stated in long threads on the subject no one in over 60 years of aviation and well before we had this scientific measuring equiptment has been killed by an ash encounter which cannot be said for bird strikes or weather encounters.
A lot of panic reactions are motivated by the media who in turn motivate the politicians who in turn overreact to be seen to be doing something.
addendum
Having said all the above I do acknowledge the need for intensive actual testing to confirm the computer generated predictive flows of ash and their density levels at different levels which to date have been grossely innacurate.
What density levels actually reflect DENSE is another question???
Pace
Last edited by Pace; 13th Jul 2011 at 16:08.
