Aero Observations: Of Diesels, Electrics and Good PR

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Of all the shows I attend, Aero is the only one that I wish would run a day longer. That there was so much to see at this show that I was aware of but simply couldnt carve the time to explore makes me wonder what I completely missed. Next stop AirVenture, I guess. But theres stuff here that isnt at AirVenture.

The big thing at Aero was diesel and the continuing evolution of electric airplanes. Pipers announcement of the Archer DX got mostly positive if not rave reviews, probably because buyers in Europe were expecting something like it and are expecting more like it. They seem to understand that the DX is all about fuel availability and economics in a way that U.S. buyers dont, because even if avgas is expensive, we dont have much trouble finding it. Thats not always true in Europe and it definitely isnt true in Asia and Africa, two other markets where the DX will live or die.

When I was shooting the beer garden scene for my wrap up video–and yes, real journalism does happen in beer gardens–I asked the Germans I was sitting with what they thought of the DX idea. They liked it, but when the conversation turned to a comparison of diesel cars versus airplanes, they conceded performance is an issue. I hesitate to lump all Germans into a singular, homogenous monolith, but drivers here like fast cars and I suspect those who are also pilots buy the big Audi and Merc turbodiesels in higher numbers than the general population does. My beer garden companions told me as much. And the fact is, when all of the diesel conversions are compared to the gas equivalent, theyre slower in climb and dont carry as much. They can hold their own in cruise at higher altitudes.

So theres a tradeoff for cheaper operation. The essence of good transportation is speed and while those big Mercs blasting past us at 220 kph on the autobahn show that car makers have figured this out, aircraft manufacturers havent yet, at least for conversions.

Electric Flight

Electric airplanes were the focus of a big display in the entry foyer at Aero this year. The star of the show was E-volos Volocopter, and deservedly. You can see a video on it here. I have to say, this thing is one of the coolest aircraft Ive seen. Ever.

Right now, its really not much more than a lab experiment, an oversized electric UAV. But you can clearly see the potential. It hasnt flown manned yet, but probably will later this year or early next. E-volos Stefan Wolf told me that battery capacity continues to be limiting and unlike supporters of electric airplanes who imagine leaps and bounds in battery technology, Wolf sees incremental improvements-10 to 15 percent every couple of years. So like other aircraft manufacturers, E-volo is considering a serial hybrid design that would use a small gasoline engine driving a generator. Thats a challenge for at least two reasons: one is weight, the other power, because the Volocopters 18 electric motors, while physically small, have limited power output.

Because the Volocopter uses multiple rotors and fly by wire, it turns the usual helicopter control logic on its head. As you can see in the video, theres no collective and no pedals; everything is done in the software by varying motor speed. As Wolf explained it, the Volocopters steady state, hands off flying condition is an automatic hover. Theyre going to need to do some serious debugging of the software to get that right. Still, I cant wait to fly the thing. I think it has potential.

WACO Hit

For the first time at Aero, Peter Bowers of WACO Classics had one of his airplanes on display, the WACO YMF-5 the company builds in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was a huge hit. Every time I walked by, the display was mobbed. The Chinese seemed to love having photos snapped in front it. In the next hall over, there was a rather smaller but equally elegant Bucker Jungmann, but it didnt get near the attention that the WACO did.

Theres probably enough wealth around the world to make a marketing effort for expensive biplanes at Aero worth the expense. The Chinese seem especially attuned to airplanes as status symbols and I cant think of a better one than a bright red biplane with a gleaming wooden propeller. In halls filled with gleaming plastic aircraft, the WACO stood tallest.

Flying Around

Last year, I reported on the FlyEcoengine, a three-cylinder diesel adapted from the European version of the Mercedes Benz Smart Car. I got a chance to fly in an FK9 equipped with the FlyEco on Saturday–just a little toot around the Friedrichshafen area. Ill have a report on that a bit later. For now, Ill say this: The engine/aircraft combination is insanely efficient-about 90 knots on under two gallons an hour.

Ive only flown in the Friedrichshafen area during Aero a couple of times. The airport is a short walk from the exhibition halls and its relatively easy to get out on the flightline through a security station. Aero is not a big fly-in event. Id guess there were about 50 or 60 aircraft parked in the grass parking area. Most of them were ultralights, with a smattering of Pipers and Cessnas.

And although I think Aero beats the big American shows on almost every count, this aint Oshkosh. Given the regulations here and the fact that Friedrichshafen is an air-carrier airport, I was surprised to see a grass runway next to the single main runway here. It was being used for GA arrivals, which were then taxied to a grass parking area.

The ATC style at Oshkosh is run-and-gun with a lot of improvisation to stuff as much traffic onto the runways as possible. (But then for $400,000 for the week, you sort of expect this, no?) Here, its much more structured. We had to rush like crazy to meet a defined VFR takeoff slot and when we finally did, the tower was handling very little traffic. I was supposed to fly another aircraft later in the day and we just couldnt get a slot to do it. Thats not much of a factor for the show, because this is mainly a trade expo, not a fly-in.

Good PR, Not So Good PR

As a chronicler of the passing parade, I keep informal score on how companies manage their own news and public relations. Im not sure the American companies here take fullest advantage of the strong press support Messe Friedrichshafen offers. Some had announcements or press conferences concurrent with other events and some didnt bother with a news release, which the Messe is exceptionally good at disseminating. And here, my annual shout out to Sabine Zorell and Gabi Frank in the press office. I cant imagine two more helpful people.

My top marks go to Tecnam, who had an energetic, voluble Brit named Andy Patsalides doing the ringmastering for the companys announcement of its aircraft for disabled pilots. Patsalides appears to be a publicist hatched in the old school. He connects journalists with sources, then gets the hell out of the way. Without my asking, he snatched me from shooting the Archer DX, which was directly across from the Tecnam booth, and put with me Fabio Russo for a video interview.

As I was setting up the camera, he was marshaling someone else to do still photos. Sounds like a guy whos just doing his job, but in the world of marcomm (marketing and communications) so many companies just dont. And a tip of the hat here, too, to Jackie Carlon of Piper, who did a nice job with the DX rollout.

Then theres Textron. This company just cant seem to get it right. We had a little cappuccino clatch in the press room trying to decide if Textron is actually trying to tarnish its image with the press and public. If they are, theyre succeeding nicely. Remember the little dustup Cessna CEO Scott Ernest caused at NBAA last fall when he made it clear he didnt want to answer queries at a meet-the-CEO session? Improbably, they managed to reprise it on a smaller scale. The German-language fliegermagazine presents annual awards to manufacturers and this year, the light jet category award went to Cessnas M2. They sent their European piston guy to accept the award and when he was asked if the M2 was bought by owner-operators or companies, he replied that he had no idea; his gig was pistons. An uncomfortable silence settled on the crowd. (Dude, fake something!) Predictably, the halls were soon buzzing with, did you see the Cessna guy? and not in a good way.

At all of these shows, were usually given some kind of access to executives for interviews and we try to accept it. Its our job to tell their stories and we try to do it as fairly and accurately as we can. These talks can be for background or off the record, as many are. But an interview I had with two Textron executives, arranged by an outside PR firm, was so filled with evasions and we dont comment on that that my recorder and notebook were functionally empty. A colleague from the UK had the same experience. So we wasted a lot of each others time and gained nothing for readers or for the company. Note to Textron: This is not the way other companies do this. Id urge some rethinking. Well all benefit.

Where Was Diamond?

Not at Aero this year. When the major European airframer is AWOL, people notice. And they did. Dieter Stricker of aeromarkt told me it was like Ford skipping the Detroit Auto Show. For its part, Diamond says theyll be back next year; theyre alternating years with a presence at the Berlin Airshow one year, Aero the next.

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