Like their counterparts in the Czech Republic, Poland's small aerospace manufacturers have had to sink or swim in the choppy waters of the global marketplace, inheriting plenty of engineering expertise from the former state-run industry but having to learn quickly about marketing to aircraft buyers around the world, often with little help from their government.
The country holds the honour of having the first aircraft to be certificated by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) under its new community standard for very light aeroplanes (CS-VLA). The Aero AT-3 R100 received its EASA type certificate in February. Warsaw-based Aero started on the AT-3's forerunners the AT-1 and AT-2 in the mid-1980s. They were operated by the Polish forestry patrol service and occasionally for charter. The Polish civil aviation authority, the ULC, certificated the aircraft in an experimental category, until a decision was taken to harmonise Polish rules with the European joint aviation requirements (JAR) in 1996. This ruled out public use of experimental aircraft. Aero says it received little communication from the ULC before this change. Aero then embarked on a lengthy certification process, during which the authorities acted as "a block rather than a conduit", says company chief executive Tomasz Antoniewski.
The first version of the AT-3, which had only minor design changes from the AT-2, was certificated for domestic use in 1999. Aero switched to a 100hp (75kW) Rotax 912S engine in 2001, necessitating a one-year redesign to accommodate the extra 25kg (55lb) of weight. During this time, the company subcontracted certification experts from EADS-owned PZL Okencie to perform aerodynamic, strength and handling tests in a bid to speed up the bureaucracy at ULC.
Antoniewski maintains that, because the ULC was only used to approving larger aircraft, it understood little of the procedures for lighter types. "We had to find ways of meeting their requirements; for example, when we asked them whether we needed static tests or whether analysis was enough, they replied that we had to deliver both," he says. In the event, around 2,000h of tests were completed.
Armed with CS-VLA approval, Aero can embark on a sales drive in Europe, marketing the all-metal low-wing two-seater to flight schools as a cheap alternative to more advanced but potentially fragile composite aircraft. According to Antoniewski, the most likely customers are "schools sensitive to total cost of ownership performing 5-6h per day with learner pilots treating the aircraft roughly". The CS-VLA ticket means it is able to sell the aircraft anywhere in the EU and the company is negotiating with distributors in Germany, France and Spain to add to an existing UK dealer. Once sufficient sales are reached, the company hopes to move into serial production, establishing a plant in Mielec.
Poland's general aviation manufacturers have also grown disillusioned with the country's aerospace industry association, made up largely of the various companies spun off from the state-owned PZL in the 1990s. Instead, Aero has got together with several other start-ups, mainly based in the Bielsko region of southern Poland, to form the Bielsko Aviation Companies Association. Antoniewski says the informal grouping is "not a general aviation manufacturers' association yet, but there are signals that the companies want to join together in some ways for mutual benefit". The first example of this cooperation will be a joint stand at this month's Aero 2005 in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
JUSTIN WASTNAGE / WARSAW
Source: Flight International
