Hassfurt info, good afternoon from the Delta Kilo Juliet Tango November,…VFR from EBWE (North of Belgium) to EDQT request landing instructions. Delta Tango November welcome to Hassfurt, runway 11 in use, avoid build up areas in the vicinity of the airfield and do not overfly the airfield due to ongoing para-drop……..With these friendly words we are greeted to the Taifun fly-in that was held for three days 29,30 and 31st of august at EDQT commonly known as Hassfurt.

During the approach we noticed that , the airfield was covered with a cluster of Taifun aircraft

It was a challenge to still find a spot available to park our Taifun 17E motorglider between the huge flock of wide wingspan birds, however with the help from the tower soon we had a parking position.

Sadly enough we were unable to arrive the previous day. On Friday we performed an attempt but had to cancel our flight plan after being in the clouds at 850 Ft and very limited visibility due to fog….Anyway we arrived 24Hrs later as foreseen

‘Do you always speak that fast over the radio, you must be a jet fighter pilot no…?’ the tower controller asked me with a grin on his face, when we went up to the Tower to register our arrival? ‘You know here in Hassfurt we take our time….we speak very sloooooooooow here’! I countered is joke by answering,’ you know, Belgium is that small that you need to be very quick over the radio or you are already in on of the neighboring countries…’ With these pleasant statements the scene was set for the rest of the event.

We went up to the terrace for a cool beer, which tasted very well after a three hour flight in rather bumpy conditions. On this trip I invited my 77 year old father as Navigator who has never flown a Taifun but had gathered several thousand hours flying in his previous life on Alouette II Helicopters and Dornier-28’s in the Belgian army.

Meanwhile some Taifun were also returning for landing from a short visit to Burg Feuerstein!
So after being introduced to some Taifun pilots there was presentation of Limbach on how to keep your engine cool.

After the indoor presentation the contenders went for a small fieldtrip (luckily not to far from the bar). First we were introduced with ‘the cream the la cream’ of Taifuns; the Korff D-KODU Taifun equipped with a new type of propeller. There was a lot of mystery around the new propeller, which promises a significant improvement in performance.

Some further explanations followed on the EFI turbocharged Limbach engine and the new glass cockpit. According Rainer Korff the increase in weight on the engine is compensated by a lower weight on the avionics equipment, this makes sense doesn’t it?

The turbo charged engine gives you easy access to 15K feet however carefull Vne limitations sould be monitored when flying at hi altitude avoiding a wing flutter situation. In fact I discussed with some EFI Taifun owners and they all admit tremendous increase in climb performance and the possibility to go much higher with increased TAS. Even one owner installed additional oxygen bottles to be able to go up to 18000Ft. Of course this engine comes with a price ticket.

After Rainers explication the field trip continued to one of the Taifuns which underwent a 3000 Hrs inspection. Cornelia Korff the Maintenance Manager of Korff LTB gave a very enlightening presentation on what to pay attention to. A special focus on the wing folding/connection mechanism was given additional comment by the Taifun Designer Mr Fisher made this a very interesting expose.

The sun was going down meanwhile in gold sunset and we all satisfied our stomach with a barbecue and of course some additional German beers. The later it became the more adventourous the flying stories became.. For those who became cold a campfire was set-up in true boy-scout atmosphere. Yes indeed a beautifull end of a magnificent day…

The next morning we all joined for a common breakfast at the airfield. The return flight for most pilots was scheduled around lunch time however before we all boarded our aircraft there was going to be a Taifun Award for the oldest, the nicest etc….

What should be remembered is that the oldest Taifun Pilot was 82 years and the longest flight came from Stockholm Sweden. Last but not least there was a last Taifun flight Ursel Westphal. She totaled 2800 Hrs in a Taifun and the fly-in was going to be her last flight as Captain of the ship. Pretty impressive flying experience.

After the group pictures most crews retuned to there machines and fired the engines for a beautiful return flight. D-KJTN returned safely to Belgium on FL065 with a 115 Kts groundspeed…what a joy!

Of course I would like to give a BIG thanks to Henk, Manfred and all people involved who worked very hard to make this gathering a very big success!

Thanks also for the airfield director Mr Mendel for letting park the aircraft for free and with no landing charges!

Hope to see you all with even maybe some more Taifun’s next year!

Great people with a great aircraft!

 

 

 

Luc Vermeulen, D-KJTN

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