By : Carl Booth

For many years Ikarus ComCo designs have dominated the three-axis market in Germany though their safety, ease of construction and rapid repair (we all know that helps). ComCo boasts that it can have n almost complete write-off flying again within a few days. This is no doubt largely due to that 'back bone' basic structure, evident in all Hans Gygax designs.

And so it was that on a beautiful spring day recently, I got the chance to put the new C42/912 through its paces, while sitting in the driver's seat (or in control, as I thought). Jorg Hannaman, the company's test pilot, came along to get me out of trouble if need be. Mengen field is an old wartime concrete 'never ending' runway, the only obstacles being other moving objects which are also trying to get safely back to earth.

Taxing was a piece of cake, especially with the excellent disc brakes fitted to the main wheels, needing only very slight hand pressure to slow the moving aircraft to a crawl. The only oddity for me was the rod/lever between my legs(?) And if Jorg had not told me it was the throttle, I might have mistaken it for a seat adjustment lever! Anyway, as Jorg had one too, the aircraft continued to roll down the runway under (his) power, and soon I got used to fiddling with this thing between my legs.

We had one short joystick in the middle for both of us .. Who has the coldest wettest paw of all? My clammy wet paw was gently but firmly guided by the master's warmer experience, as we asked control for permission to take off on 06, with a very high SE breeze.

The big 912 roared and we were soon accelerating down the same path that many ME 109s had taken before us. The light SE breeze eased the C42 off slightly towards the grass on the left, but with a little right pedal I was soon waiting for her to rotate. We were off in well under 100m with a little back pressure on the stick from Jorg. Realising that Jorg was really flying the girl, I sat back and enjoyed the climb out to 2,500ft at an astonishing 6m/s(1,200ft/min).

'Hang on and I'll do a stall' suddenly came over the intercom. I took a quick look back, and down at the ground, reckoned there must be enough height there to recover from a flat spin, and said nervously 'Ahhh..Okay'.

Watching the airspeed fall rapidly back past the stall warning and then into the unmarked area seemed an eternity. Showing a little experienced nervousness, I gently fried to push the stick forward, but to no avail... hell! He was holding it full back!

Well here we go Booth, I thought. The ASI was out of action and the VSI was showing 'descent'. We were in full mush, and then suddenly the nose fell through, giving an excellent view of the ground, and a Tornado (German Air Force) passing below us.

'Now you take it' came over the headset. Pulling up to get her flying hands-off was quite easy, and I tried to play it cool after that harrowing experience. Now I could play with her and try a few co-ordinated turns.

'Don't have to use the ailerons' came bawling back at me again, and I felt the hand of experience drag the stick back to the middle position. So I tried another bank without aileron co-ordination, and it worked. The C42 actually made a beautiful banked turn to the left. Then the engine stopped! Christ, he'd turned it off!

Another look out of the window to check for green fields, and another eternity of waiting for 'the master' to turn the bloody thing back on again. We were 'sailing' silently in a very gentle flat glide, without any need to push stick (maintain speed). He must know what he's doing I thought. So I just continued to watch, and wait.

After putting her through another set of short rolls and porpoising, and refusing my offer to result the engine, he set up a very high approach to 06. I heard the female voice again from the tower say 'Uniform Uniform cleared to land' and then felt the whole aircraft lurch, and rotate to the left.

I was now looking straight at the hangars to the north of the tarmac. He was side-slipping her in, as well, with a dead engine! Relief as we hit the tarmac.. The engine fired instantly as he hit the starter, and then 'you take it now' came over the phones.

Quite shaken now, I knew I had to cool it. We climbed out again with that phenomenal rate of climb, and reaching 2,000 ft I settled down for a look around. Up 'til now, I'd noticed in all the adrenaline flow, that the engine liked to turn at around 4,600 rpm, plus or minus 10% and we were usually flying at around 130 km/h (80 mph) (when horizontal!) This seemed to be the general cruising speed and the engine responded perfectly.

Flaps had not been necessary during the take off, but later proved helpful, functioning well to brake for an approach and not upsetting the trim of the aircraft to any significant degree. The lever is placed high in the middle, above the windscreen, and has the usual 15o and 30o settings, with negative (upward) setting as well (trim aid). Elevator trim tab is operated from a secondary smaller lever close by the flap lever, and the aircraft can be taken off by actuating the trim only.

Getting used to the 'throttle between your legs' was quite interesting. But looking at the advantages, it is a sensible alternative. However, knowing many pilots who like to store maps, food, cameras etc on their laps during flight, that could be a slight problem.

The instrument panel was full of all the usual goodies and we had no problem in asking the 912 how it felt, or whether or not we were going to fall out of the sky.

Soon after the second takeoff though, my microphone decided to quit and the intercom connection became somewhat limited. However, this was no fault of the C42, nor ComCo. Controls were excellent in all modes. The aluminium pushrod activation to the moving surfaces has proved itself to be a reliable safe standard.

It was fun playing with all the controls. At no stage in the air did I feel that we were not master of the ship.

The C42 reached immediately to all input signals I gave her, and there was no over reaction with elevator control during landing (porpoising). This can occur in aircraft where length of fuselage has been sacrificed in order to gain somewhere else.

Realising that I did have a few years of flying under my belt, Jorg gave me the chance to take the C42 for a sightseeing tour of the upper Danube valley, WNW of the home field.

With the reliability and power of that 912, it was fun sneaking along the valley, looking up at the trees on both sides. No bend in the river was too sharp - a little bit of aileron and she dropped the wings just where you wanted it. We returned to Mengen having used some 16 litres in the hour's flying time. And walking over to greet us was Hans with two bottles of beer.

Though virtually unknown in the US, ComCo aircraft has established a foothold throughout continental Europe. Moreover, company President Rolf Lieb mentioned that the Russians have shown considerable interest in the agricultural spraying merits of the C42.

The aircraft was lighter before 450 kg came in. Now, with the new regs and engines getting more powerful (912S 100 PS) weight has crept up to a full 450 kg MTOW).

Rolf Lieb has, despite many hardships, managed to stay at the helm of this successful enterprise.

Hans and I have managed to stay alive too, despite 25 years flying odd sorts of gliders together in the Swiss Alps, and crashing a few early models of those König three cylinder microlights. The C42, although a microlight, has nothing whatever in common with those days, except Hans Gygax.

Articles reproduced from Microlight Flying