Eight Comets visit the UK

A mini armada of eight FK-12 Comets flew to the UK last weekend flying into the airfield at Fowlmere near Cambridge. The Pilots and passengers flew to the UK to attend the Flying Legends warbird airshow held at nearby Duxford. Among the eight was the "Monster Comet" D-MXZZ

The Comets that flew to Fowlmere, UK were,

D-MCVW, D-MEJH, D-MOKU, D-MOND, D-MTAP, D-MVCW(2), D-MXZZ and OO-F77.

FK-12 Comet S2 D-MXZZ at Fowlmere UK 11.7.15

The Monster Comet is powered by a UL Power 350is engine uprated to produce approx 140HP. The engine is fully aerobatic with fuel injection. This machine first flew in October 2014 and is based at Giessen, Lutzellinden ( EDFL ). A second Monster Comet is currently in production.

Some info on the UL Power 350is engine here

See Youtube video below of the Monster Comet in action

Steve

Lycoming Comet - N647RL

Readers of the FK-12 Comet Blog may recall that Renegade Light Sport USA having been working on installing the new aerobatic Lycoming AEIO-233 engine into Comet N647RL.

The following photos show the installation of the Lycoming engine - Renegade have also modified the tail wheel too.

The Lycoming powered Comet has now flown and Chris Bailey at Renegade says ""It's set up perfectly now and flies like a dream with 2000 fpm climbs and it only weighs 756 pounds""

 

 
 For more information please contact Renegade Light Sport via

http://www.renegadelightsport.com/ 



Steve

New FK-12 Comet delivered to Italy

March 2013 - A brand new FK-12 Comet has just been delivered to Pietro in Italy.  This Comet S2 is the first to feature a fuel injected Rotax 912iS engine and is painted in an attractive orange/white/black colour scheme with the side code "21".  The aircraft will be based in the Venice region of Italy.

 
I understand that this aircraft will be exhibited at the Aero 2013 trade show at Friedrichshafen in April 2013.

Thanks to Pietro for this news, congratulations on your new Comet and enjoy your aviation.

UPDATE  - this new 912iS powered Comet was exhibited at Aero 2013 at the end of April now wearing its new Italian registration I-B551.  

Steve

FK Lighplanes - Hansen Air Group - Renegade Light Sport

The following news update has recently been posted by the Hansen Air Group relating to the joint project to install the new Lycoming AEIO-233 engine into the FK-12 Comet over in the USA.


""We regret to inform you that FK Light Planes and Hansen Air Group have decided to terminate our business relationship with Renegade light Sport. They were contracted to design an engine mount and install Lycoming O-233 engines in the FK 12 Comet. The FK factory has determined that a factory designed engine mount and installation will better suit the needs of the customers. FK has several decades of aircraft design and manufacturing experience including more than tens years with the Comet alone. We believe that they will quickly produce a superior design. Standby for further updates.""

Readers of this FK-12 Comet Blog will recall that two new build FK-12 Comets ( c/n 102 and 103 ) arrived with Hansen in the USA in Jan 2012. 

Let's hope the new Lycoming engine gets airborne in an FK-12 Comet soon.


Steve

Lycoming Comet - Tests

Renegade Light Sports have recently posted a video on youtube showing the Lycoming IO-233-LSA engine during ground trials in December 2012 - congratulations to all involved - hopefully "first flight" soon.

Steve

Hansen Air Group exhibits Comet with Lycoming

Hansen Air Group have exhibited a FK-12 Comet fitted with the brand new Lycoming AEIO-233 engine at this years Sun N Fun aero trade show at Lakeland, Florida, USA.

The Lycoming AEIO-233 offers inverted flight allowing the Comet to be fully aerobatic in the LSA catergory.

Two Comets in the USA have recently had this new engine fitted by Renegade Light Sport  - flight trials will start shortly. 


Steve

Two more FK-12 Comets for the US - New engine too

Hi


Good news from Hansen Air Group of  Georgia, USA - they confirm that they have two new build FK-12 Comets on order for delivery to the US in late 2011.

These two aircraft will be fitted with the brand new Lycoming IO-233 engine ( rather than the normal Rotax 912 ) - the new engine will be installed by Renegade Light Sport - this will allow the FK-12 Comet to operate as an aerobatic Light Sports Aircraft ( LSA ) in the US.

More info on the new Lycoming IO-233 engine here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoming_IO-233

http://www.lycoming.com/news-and-events/pdfs/233-engine.pdf


UPDATE 16th Nov 2011 - More info with thanks to Tony

http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2011/11/14/renegade-light-sport-developing-acro-engine-for-lsa/#more-53612



Steve

Inverted FK-12 Comet - Upside down testing in Italy

I'd like to thank Fausto for sending me the photos below and the news about his FK-12 Comet in Italy c/n 066.

The Rotax 912 engine has been modified to allow inverted flight - the images below show the testing process in progress with the FK-12 Comet upside down in a test rig.

Engine running

Good luck with the testing process and please let us all know how your flight trials progress.


Steve

FK-12 Comet c/n 2 D-MVML

I would like to thank pilot and owner Johannes Seidl for the following information about the history of his Comet D-MVML c/n 2 ( who can tell me please the fate of Comet c/n 1 D-MPLI ?? )

D-MVML started life as a B&F factory supplied kit - the kit was built in 1998 and was fully assembled by 1999. The first flight of this aircraft took place in May 2000 at Dankern.

Johannes bought the Comet secondhand in 2006 from a flight training school - at the time of purchase this aircraft had some minor damage to the wing tips and the bottom of the rudder. He decided to install a new Jabiru 3330 engine into the airframe and also replaced the undercarriage with a wider span undercarriage supplied by the aircraft manufacturing firm Extra. Test flying started in May 2007.

Johannes had the aircraft completely overhauled by B&F Protech at Krosno in Poland between November 2008 and April 2009 - the photo below shows the aircraft after the overhaul with the Jabiru engine and wider undercarriage span. 

So far this aircraft has now flown approximatley 250 flight hours with almost 100 flight hours on the Jabiru engine. The aircraft operates from an airfield near Cologne.

Johannes says   " The Jabiru is a fantastic engine with the characteristics and sound of a "big" biplane. The torque is very high and the rpm is much lower than a Rotax. Cruising with 2600 Rpm is very relaxed flying (About 98 kt/ 18L per minute fuelconsumption). "

A new more aerodynamic cockpit windscreen will be fitted later in 2010.


D-MVML features in the Youtube video link below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpIa25IyIoI&feature=related


Thanks Johannes for sharing the life story of your FK-12 Comet.


Steve

FK-12 Comet with Jabiru 3300 engine

FK-12 Comet with Jabiru 3300 engine

Aerokurier Magazine of June 2006 ( ! ) reported the following relating to Comet D-MOBS.

""Andreras Lehmacher has equipped his FK 12 Comet with the six-cylinder Jabiru 3300 (120hp/88kW). The air sports aircraft office of the Deutscher Aero Club has awarded a Provisional Airworthiness Certification to the re-build, and the flight trials have been running for several weeks. It was clear after the first hours in the air that the Australian engine was a good fit for the agile biplane. It now climbs at 1,500ft/min at 120km/h, and at 2,400 rpm it advances at 155km/h."" with thanks to Aerokurier magazine.

UPDATE 1.9.09 - Andreras Lehmacer has contacted me and confirmed the above news item and also that two other Comets have now modified with Jabiru 3300 engines, these are D-MUZZ and D-MVML - Thanks to Andreras.

FK-12 Comet D-EZWO - video

This Comet is c/n 37 and was built from a kit - it first flew in December 2006 at Mainz-Finthen in Germany.

This aircraft is powered by a Wankel rotary fuel injected fully aerobatic engine rather than the usual Rotax 912. In addition the aircraft has a Silence Aircraft 2 bladed automatic variable pitch propeller.

D-EZWO has been designed to operate with a MTOW of 520 Kg allowing full two seat operations with a full fuel load - because of this the aircraft could not be registered in the German microlight registration sequence of "D-M......" ( MTOW 450 Kg ) - the aircraft is as far as I know the one and only "D-E....." registerd FK-12 Comet.







I'd like to thank Hans-Jurgen Hundhausen for his help with information about the unique special FK-12 Comet D-EZWO.

D-EZWO - a special FK-12 Comet

I'd like to thank Hans-Jurgen Hundhausen for providing some more information about the unique FK-12 Comet D-EZWO.

This Comet is c/n 37 and was built from a kit - it first flew in December 2006 at Mainz-Finthen in Germany.

This aircraft is powered by a Wankel rotary fuel injected fully aerobatic engine rather than the usual Rotax 912. In addition the aircraft has a Silence Aircraft 2 bladed automatic variable pitch propeller.

D-EZWO has been designed to operate with a MTOW of 520 Kg allowing full two seat operations with a full fuel load - because of this the aircraft could not be registered in the German microlight registration sequence of "D-M......" ( MTOW 450 Kg ) - the aircraft is as far as I know the one and only "D-E....." registerd FK-12 Comet.

The aircraft has flown approx 35 hours by May 2008.

So if you see this unique aircraft take a closer look as it an extra-ordinary FK-12 Comet !