AERIAL ADVENTURES
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Soon in 1980, Guy Delage experimented the third dimension,. First he became glider pilot. Then, he became plane pilot, then instructor for light aircraft piloting. He was also involved in the first experimentation of paragliding (years 1986-1987).
Quickly, he combined his various know-how (aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, composite construction) to create several innovative aircraft systems. Some of them have been patented (seaplane floats).
He flew all over the world and was associated with several humanitarian missions that lead him to rethink the reliability of the ultra-light aircraft. He decided to test a new machine by trying to connect Nantes in France to Recife in Brazil.
"I do not know if it’s the reading of Saint Exupery or Mermoz books who gave me the desire to know the places where they had traveled, their image and feeling. But the need to join Brazil in flight on a microlight trike led me into one of the most dangerous adventures that I have been given to achieve "
"It is the experience that left me the most violent taste of fear." It is particularly difficult to describe what microligh flight means in a tropical cumulonimbus, and I advise anyone who wants to know more about to read my french book "Atlantiques" edited by Ramsay. "
DECEMBER 21, 1991 : THE "Mermoz route" : MICROLIGHT FLIGHT FROM NANTES (France) TO RECIFE (Brazil)
microlight aircraft records not homologated because Guy doesn’t want to be feeled like a record chaser.
Longest distance covered non-stop: 2700 kms
Longest flight time: 27 h
Longer maritime survey on a microlight aitcraft
Material :
A one off trike designed and built by Guy himself. This aircraft was made of carbon fiber epoxy and Airex foam or Nomex core sandwich
Light weight 225 kg
Autonomy 40 hours (4000 km)
350 liters of benzin
Engine Rotax 912 (the third numero of this success story engine of Rotax!)
Wing (16m²) from Synairgie
Preparation :
- 6 months for aircraft designing and calculation (structure calculated by C. Baley)
- Two years of work on « vigilance and sleeping risk » with the teams of Rangueil CHU and Christian Bourbon of Toulouse.
- A year of work on the local prediction of cumulonimbus in the intertropical convergence zone with Météo France and the Center de Lannion (reduction of the time transfer to satellite data analysis)
- 2 biological simulation of 40 hours in the ULM in operation in the wind tunnel of the Toulouse CEAT
Stopover on airports :
Nantes, Toulouse, Barcelona, Castellon de la Plana, Córdoba, Jerez, Rabat, Essaouira, Tan Tan, Cape Juby, El Layoune, Dakhla, Nouadhibou, Nouakchott, , Island of Fernando de Noronha, Natal, Recife.
Encountered difficulties :
- ITCZ crossing (5 hours in the cumulonimbus), enormous turbulences.
- Exhaustion due to low frequency vibrations
- Lack of sleep for 27 hours of flight
