Fresh from its deployment to investigate Eyjafjallajökull's atmospheric impact, a Dassault Falcon 20E "ash hunter" aircraft belonging to German aerospace centre DLR is on display at the show - with "100 years of the ILA" emblazoned on its nose.
Amid aviation's volcanic crisis the aircraft was deployed to measure ash concentrations at altitudes of between 6,550ft (2,000m) and 39,350ft.
In service since 1976, it is deployable at altitudes higher than those at which civil aircraft fly. It can be used to obtain readings in the vicinity of thunderstorms or just 30m behind the engines of a commercial aircraft.
In the middle latitudes, the 20E can reach the lower stratosphere, a focus of much recent research on account of the receding ozone layer.
Additionally, the DLR is giving an air show debut to its Antares DLR-H2 aircraft, which, it says, is the first manned aircraft powered by fuel cells and capable of taking off, flying and landing without producing any CO2 emissions.
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Meanwhile, the DLR's Airbus A320-232 Advanced Technology Research Aircraft, the largest member of its fleet, is appearing in its new DLR livery. The centre has also brought to ILA its Halo - high altitude and long-range research aircraft - a Gulfstream G550 executive jet that can be used for atmospheric research and Earth observation, in the tropics and in the intermediate layer between the troposphere and the stratosphere. Like the ash hunter, the Halo is sporting the slogan "100 years of the ILA".
Completing the DLR's ILA line-up are its EC135 FHS (flying helicopter simulator) testbed - jointly developed by Eurocopter and Deutschland and Liebherr Aerospace Lindenberg - and its Dornier 228-101, used to investigate airflow, optical sensors and air guidance systems, as well as remote sensing.
The DLR is also using the show to share findings from research into gas-to-liquid aviation fuel and carbonfibre reinforced polymer construction (as deployed in Airbus A340-600 slat sections). The work of its Schools' Radio Laboratory at Göttingen will similarly be shared, while in the Space Pavilion its exhibit will include the humanoid, remotely operated SpaceJustin service robot, as well as a model of an AsteroidFinder space telescope.
Source: Flight Daily News
