3 September 2015
Three of the latest Robin DR401 aircraft will be at a fly-in and demo day being staged by UK distributor Mistral Aviation at Elstree on 5 September. One of the aircraft will be fitted with Robin’s latest innovation, the ‘Swiftwing’. Of the other two aircraft, one will have Oratex covering and the other Diatex, the current factory options.
The DR401 Swiftwing was launched at AERO Friedrichshafen in April this year and, as the name suggests, presents a lower drag wing.
Mistral Aviation boss Steven Bailey explains: “The idea arose from a desire to make the upper surface of the Oratex wings look neater.
“The wing construction requires stitching from the top to the bottom surfaces of the wing. The stitching loops through the upper and lower surfaces and the loops are covered by tape running perpendicular to the leading and trailing edges.
“With a Diatex covering, the wing is painted with about 20 layers of paint so the edges of the tapes can be blended and are not very obvious. Because Oratex is not painted (the paint is impregnated into the fabric) the edges of the tape on an Oratex wing are very obvious and the wing does not look as neat.
“We, and many others, did not have a problem with the appearance of the Oratex wing, but some people did not like the look. Hence the Swiftwing which has a 0.6mm laminar of wood placed over the tapes to give a completely smooth upper surface,” Steven continues.
“Apart from the appearance, the upside of the Swiftwing is lower drag. The downside is a little extra weight but an Oratex covered aircraft with Swiftwing still weighs no more than a traditional Diatex covered aircraft and retains all the Oratex advantages of durability and ease of maintenance.”
The demo aircraft will include one with a Garmin G500/GTN 750 avionics suite, and one with the latest MT Scimitar propeller. Robin boss Guy Pellissier will also be on hand.
The Robin fly-in starts at around 10.30am. Anyone flying in to Elstree should check the airfield’s procedures (link below) and ring 020 8953 7480 for PPR.
