One of the Last German Airplane Manufacturers - Grob Aerospace

The manufacturing giant Boeing's newest Dreamliner - still in construction - is being hailed as a revolutionary breakthrough because it is made out of ultra-light carbon fiber (CFK). But Grob Aerospace in Mattsies, Bavaria has been producing planes consisting almost entirely of carbon fiber for more than 30 years. Grob's business jet 'SPn', the first carbon fiber passenger plane, is just about to be released on the market. The new passenger jet will be much more economical with fuel and much more stable than its competitors. The 8-seat plane costs 5 point 9 million euros. And 80 firm customers are already waiting. Made in Germany reporter Patrick Benning visited the innovative plane manufacturer. The company's risk has paid off, but the price was high: in 2006, a test pilot died in a failed test flight. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Accompanying his test pilots on their way to work has recently become a particular pleasure for Andreas Strohmayer. Grob Aerospace began building aircraft in Mattsies, Bavaria almost 40 years ago, but this is their first passenger jet. It might not be immediately apparent. But this plane is made not of metal but carbon fiber, which makes it rather special. Test pilot Tore Reimers: "For pilots, it's the performance that matters: a short landing distance, short take-off; climbs very steeply and flies fast and high." The Grob business jet is currently restricted to demonstration flights, cameras are not allowed onboard while the plane is in the air. Andreas StrohmayerM, Managing Director of Grob Aerospace: "We demonstrate the kinds of manoeuvres our business jet can perform -- tight turns, steep ascents, for example – to show what a powerful plane it is. It can do extremely well everything it is required to do -- and then some." Word of the new Grob jet's performance has gotten around. It needs less than a thousand meters of runway to take off and can even land on grass, unprecedented for a jet. We're given a tour of the factory. The firm has received 100 advance orders - at a price per aircraft of around six million euros. Grob Aerospace has benefited from the hype about carbon fiber in connection with Boeing's "Dreamliner". Strohmayer says: "Here you can see this carbon fiber structure really well. We have a 100% carbon fiber front spar. The unique feature for us is that the carbon fiber is stuck to the wing membrane. So it's a rivet-free structure." The fuselage of a comparable metal aircraft comprises around 10 thousand parts. Here the figure is just 150. Plus the jet's interior is more spacious than that of its rivals. Radically new methods appear to be the key. Strohmayer says; "Here we have a new mould, It's a single piece from the tip of the nose down to the end of the vertical tail fin. It's an all-in-one process. This is where the carbon fibers are added. And then this so-called 'honeycomb core' . These are really thin honeycombs that give the fuselage extra stiffness." Making an aircraft appears remarkably easy. Carbon fiber is more commonly referred to simply as 'composite' material. Once in a mould, it is air-sealed and cured. It might sound unspectacular, but the oven is rather large. The results are certainly impressive. "We saw these window frames beforehand in production. This is the hardened carbon fiber. It's robust, stiff ... You can't bend it." Grob Aerospace's core business traditionally comprised light training aircraft for the military . Carbon fiber, says Andreas Strohmayer, soon proved the material of choice for special aircraft like this. 37 years of experience with the material gave the firm the confidence to develop the far larger business jet. 2006 might have spelled the end; a test pilot died when his prototype crashed. A shock for Strohmayer: "A crash during testing is a tragedy for any company - but especially for a medium-sized enterprise like ours. There's the purely technical issue of the causes - and then also the human tragedy. Everyone knows each other here. So it's not easy!" Technical problems, we are told, are a thing of the past. Customer confidence has returned, despite ongoing official investigations. The carbon fiber revolution appears to be gaining strength - at Bavaria-based Grob Aerospace, at least.

DW-World | May 27, 2008

Tags:. .runway. .frames. .enterprise. .bend. .thin