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Flying the Taifun 17E by Ron Clarke
The day was cold and bright, with a mist hanging over the whole area, but perfectly flyable. With a busy schedule we had to settle on a fairly late afternoon start, but there was sufficient daylight to allow an hour of general handling to explore the delights of this fine looking aeroplane. Before setting out, Ian went over the controls and instruments for me to become familiar. For a regular Piper Warrior and Grob 115 flyer, there were quite a few differences. The Taifun has a manually operated retracting undercarriage, air brakes and three stages of “normal” flaps. It also has a “reflex” position for the flaps which moves them upwards a smidgeon to give increased cruise speed and efficiency. There is a variable pitch prop – obviously when you glide in this aircraft you want to minimise the drag, so the prop can be fully feathered. So, having got a notion of what all these different controls and switches did, off we went. Ian allowed me to taxi whilst he kept a sharp eye open on where the wing tips were, because they did seem an unusually long distance from my cockpit position! The taxi was a bit of a weave as I got used to the feel of the rudder controls, and the vernier throttle control. There are no pedal brakes, the wheel brakes being operated on the ground by the air brake lever – clever!
We turned and headed out into the setting sun towards Sandbanks, and with all the mist around, the ground view ahead disappeared, except for the dark outline shapes of large buildings. We did half an orbit over Bournemouth square to demonstrate the great visibility afforded by the bubble canopy, and continued to 1900 feet at Sandbanks and on towards Purbeck. I did not see Corfe Castle until Ian asked me turn towards the coast, because of the mist and low setting sun, but we were really not there as tourists, but to familiarise me with the feel of the aeroplane and its controls. We crossed the coast near St. Albans head to the East of the Lulworth danger area, then flew along the northern edge of Danger Area 031 towards Swanage. With the sun behind us, all became clear; with the aeroplane trimmed out through the sliding lever on the centre console, we could relax and enjoy the view in what is obviously a very stable aeroplane.
Below us, the ground was bathed in extensive patches of mist, but we could easily make out Blandford and the surrounding countryside. We were now travelling along at over 100 knots, a decent speed for your average touring hack, but this was a glider! Ian demonstrated the reflex flap and we had a choice of fuel conservation or increased speed; we demonstrated 110 knots, but settled on fuel economy settings. The big blue lever on my left was the combined air brake and wheel brake, so throttling back to 60 knots, I was invited to deploy the air brakes and we immediately began descending at around 800 feet per minute whilst maintaining the 60 knots, and all without deploying any flap – just the facilities you need for getting into a tight field. We regained 4,500 feet and paddled around, enjoying the scenery. We did a couple of clean stalls to test the stall warner, and these really were non events, with just some gentle buffet, and no sign of a wing drop. “How about stopping the engine” asked Ian. “Er, no I don’t think so”, I replied. Well, I ask you, flying around normally in Cessnas or Pipers or Grobs, you go out of your way to manage the mixture and the carburettor heat, to prevent the possibility of the engine stopping! Here was Ian, operating on a perfectly good engine, suggesting that we stop it! You can imagine my dilemma and the auto response of thinking “don’t stop it!” However, after a moment’s reflection, thinking that Ian is a good pilot and knows his aeroplane, I agreed to suspending the propulsion, saying to myself, “Please God it will start again!” And thank goodness I had agreed, for with the engine stopped, and the propeller feathered all was calm and quiet and we cruised along at best glide speed of 60 knots. . Some instrumentation closes down when the engine is stopped, but essential items like the radio and transponder continued to function. “Take your ‘phones of", invited Ian. He kept one side on to monitor Bournemouth Radar and I took mine off completely. Hardly any noise, but for the steady swish of the air over the canopy, and without the aid of the microphones we could chat quite normally. A wonderful experience as anyone who has flown gliders will know. We did this for around 10 minutes, and we only lost about 2,000 feet. Time to restart - what if the engine would not restart? Ian did some quick mental arithmetic and worked out that we could easily make it in the glide to Compton Abbas with height to spare. That was comforting!
“Let’s
try a windmilling restart to conserve the battery” suggested Ian. Oops
another new experience coming up, I thought. Ian prepared the engine and
prop pitch for restart, and I pushed forward the stick and we started to
dive quite steeply (it seemed to me!) with nothing happening. Then the prop
started to windmill slowly and within a second or two the engine fired and I
pulled out with maybe 2g pressing us down in our seats. All very straight
forward and routine to a motor glider pilot, but to a Cessna/Piper/Grob
pilot, quite a new experience.
We called up Bournemouth Radar over Tarrant Rushton for permission to enter the zone and we were given a clearance to left base for runway 08, but unusually, because of the mist and the late hour we could not make out any feature to guide us for the run in. A track of 120º takes you from Tarrant to the Airport, and it was then I reminded myself that there was no gyro compass, like the Cessnas and Pipers, only a magnetic variety above my head. It was no problem to use this instead of a gyro compass, but again a new experience. Ian mentioned that he has flown to various destinations in France relying on the magnetic compass only, and let’s face it folks, it’s all the early pioneers of flight had to guide them. Otherwise, the Taifun has a full instrument fit, and exceeds that of the of Pipers or Cessnas. Not long afterwards, we saw Ferndown Industrial Estate appear through the murk, followed quickly by the airport lighting. We were soon on left base for 08 at 1,000 feet circuit height and with two Falcons coming in on a 12 mile final we didn’t hang around. Although Ian had invited me to land, he was keen to demonstrate a steep approach, so he proceeded to Final still at 1,000 feet, and then let everything out. Speed back to 60 knots, and gear down. Out with the air brakes, and with full flap selected we descended at a really steep angle, with the runway lights stretching out into the distance. A gentle flare, and a sustained hold off, had us settling on the runway as smoothly as you like. I taxied us back via Romeo and Whiskey to Dorset Flying Club totally exhilarated by my experience.
But we
were not yet finished for the day. With high winds and low temperatures
forecast, Ian wanted to make his aeroplane safe for the night so we set
about placing canopy, engine, propeller and wing covers in place, ready for
Ian to put some secure tie downs in place. It was getting on for 1700, and
we had spent an hour exploring the features of this marvellous little
aeroplane. If you want to learn more on the Taifun you can go to the Taifun websites www.powerglidertaifun.de or www.members.cox.net/motorglider/taifun Apparently the firm went bust developing improvements, for example to give it an electrically operated retracted undercarriage; a shame really for the concept to my uneducated mind seemed to be spot on, giving the glider pilot great flexibility of operations, not requiring any tow aeroplane, or cable launching facilities, but with full autonomy and a glider’s performance. I am going to do it again in the summer when there are thermals about. Just think you could take off and fly to the thermal activity on a thimbleful* of fuel, then spend the next three hours thermalling, or going somewhere, and landing back again on a thimbleful* of fuel – that would be really inexpensive flying and very green indeed. *Pedants please note that a thimbleful is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the picture? There are other opportunities like this around the airfield if you want a change from the usual Pipers and Cessnas. For example, Bournemouth Flying Club are offering aerobatic lessons. These are conducted by Chief Flying Instructor Vic Foyle, in their Beagle Pup, at a cost of £92.98 for half an hour. Contact BFC via the link on this site. Me? I’m a straight and level person and would probably have difficulty hanging on to my stomach. Others thrive on it! If you want to repeat my experience in the Taifun 17E, then contact Dorset Flying Club and their Chief Instructor Ian Gumbrell on 07976 359199 or 01 202 466038. I know you won’t regret it! |
It’s
never boring flying the popular Piper and Cessna aircraft, but occasionally
the opportunity to fly something different, and more challenging, crops up
and this was the case when I heard about the Valentin Taifun 17E which is
based at Bournemouth. Flying partners Bill Field and Terry Mobley had tried
it, and from what they told me, it sounded quite intriguing. It is a low
wing motor glider, constructed from composite materials and quite rare,
there being only 3 on the U.K. register. This particular one is operated by
Dorset Flying Club situated at Aviation Park West and I gave proprietor and
Chief Instructor Ian Gumbrell a call to fix up a weather dependent date to
fly this unusual aircraft - unusual for the average PPL - but not to
experienced glider pilots.
Happily
runway 08 was in use so we didn’t have far to taxi with limited daylight
available to us. Ian invited me to do the take off, so with 15º of flap and
progressive increase in power, we were soon accelerating down the runway in
a more or less straight line, as I accustomed myself to the feel of the
steering. “Pull her off at 45 knots and then check forward” Ian had said,
so dutifully when the ASI got to 45, I eased back on the stick and we became
airborne and remained in ground effect as the speed built up. The take off
would not have won any prizes, but it was safe! I kept the speed down to 65
knots, which is the limiting speed for the undercarriage doors. As we ran
out of runway, Ian retracted the undercarriage, and what a neat design
arrangement this is. The undercarriage operating mechanism is situated in
the centre console and really is neat. To raise the undercarriage there is
a winding handle which takes about 20 turns for complete retraction. Then
you slide forward the winding mechanism to close the undercarriage doors,
all in one smooth operation. The result is a very slippery aeroplane with
very few bits sticking out, just what you need for an efficient glider. You
do the reverse operation to lower the undercarriage and there are bright
comforting red and green lights to tell you all is well with the wheels!
Over
Swanage we turned into the sun again and headed for Wareham and the north to
explore some of the other features of this comfortable aeroplane. We began
a cruise climb over Wareham heading for Blandford. Bournemouth Radar called
us a short time later to advise us of a Ryanair 737 in the vicinity making
an ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach. We spotted it well below us and
to the East and it was comforting to know that our progress was being
monitored by Bournemouth Radar. We levelled out at around 4,500 feet, from an
80 knot cruise climb, interspersed with demonstrations of best rate of climb
of 60 knots.
