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Safety

Safety is the number one consideration before you go flying.

There are two main aspects to safety - the safety already built in to the aircraft (or ‘passive' safety), and the steps you can take to ensure you fly safely (or ‘active' safety). Specific items such as maintenance, training and safety bulletins are covered in this part of the website.

Passive safety

Passive safety begins with the design of the airframe. The Foxbat has an all-metal airframe.

Why metal?

Modern aluminium alloys are the most-used material in aviation today and are well-known for outstanding strength and fatigue characteristics, structural stability, durability and a very long service life - it is no co-incidence that commercial jetliners and most military aircraft are made from aluminium.

Modern aluminium alloy is also extremely corrosion-resistant (whatever composite airframe fans tell you!). An anodized coating, backed up by further anti-corrosion primer and paint on the Foxbat helps keep your investment in top condition, impervious to the weather - sun, UV radiation and humidity.

The accident safety advantages of an all-metal airframe bring significant value for the crew. Most aircraft accidents occur during two critical phases of flight: during or immediately after take-off or during landing manoeuvers, when the best ballistic parachute system cannot protect the crew. Aeroprakt has paid the highest attention to the construction of the cabin and the result is a structure which can absorb crash energy and protect the occupants.

An all-metal airframe has good impact characteristics, thanks to energy absorption by gradual bending and breaking of the metal structure, where composite materials can break or fragment dangerously.

Another aspect of passive safety is the flying/handling characteristics of the aircraft. When buying an aircraft, it cannot be emphasized enough: fly every contender on your list for at least an hour before buying! Some aircraft are much nicer to fly than others. Some just ‘feel' nice to fly and you can't define quite why. And by any standards, some really are better to fly - they have reasonably light controls which aren't too light and skittish; they have benign stalling characteristics (very important when you are near the ground); they are comfortable to sit in; they are easy to look out of (no ducking and diving to see out); and so-on.

The Foxbat is a very pleasant aircraft to fly because:

• at low speeds, the controls are light and effective
• at higher speeds they firm up, making long distance cruising a relaxed affair
• there is a panoramic view from the cabin, particularly attractive to instructors & students, and wonderful for sightseeing
• stall characteristics are extremely safe, with little or no tendency for wing-drop

 A final aspect of passive safety is often overlooked - how easy is it to get into and out of the aircraft? This may seem relatively unimportant at first. But if it is difficult to get out.....this is not a good thing if you need to exit in a hurry. Like in an emergency. Think about it.

The Foxbat is a supremely easy aircraft to enter and exit, not only a key safety aspect but also a boon to those of us whose joints are not quite as flexible as they used to be! There are no control sticks to contort over and you don't have to stand on the seats before struggling down into them.

Active safety

The very first element of active safety is based on thoroughly checking your aircraft before each flight - or at the very least before each day's flying. Every new Foxbat is delivered with comprehensive check lists for both pre-flight and pre-start actions. These should be followed rigorously.

The second element of active safety is being able to fly the aircraft in a variety of circumstances and the best way to ensure you are capable is through training and experience.

Finally, you should keep your flying experience current - ie regularly fly your aircraft. If you haven't flown for several months, (a) it is illegal to fly without a check flight with a qualified pilot and (b) you'll risk your own life and that of any passenger you take.

A word about airstrips

The A22 Foxbat will take-off and land in incredibly short distances - provided you are trained and experienced to use this capability of the aircraft. We strongly advise all new owners to build their experience of flying the aircraft and only begin to attempt to use the STOL characteristics of the Foxbat after at least 50 hours flying and 100+ take-offs and landings.

Novice pilots

As a general guide, a novice A22 Foxbat pilot (eg with less than 100 landings) should not attempt to use a strip shorter than 350 metres long, with no obstacles within 500 metres of each end. For a newly licensed pilot, even this distance may be too short.

After 100+ successful take-offs and landings, measure a distance of 100 metres on a much longer strip and practice taking off and landing within this distance. When this can be accomplished safely every single time, you can begin to use strips shorter than 350 metres.

More experienced pilots

However experienced you become, a minimum strip length of 200 metres with no obstructions within 200 metres of each end is about the limit of safe distances for a fully loaded Foxbat - longer if your airstrip is at altitude and/or at high temperatures. With considerable experience it is possible regularly to take-off and land in distances as short as 75 metres ground roll, but this is just not needed most of the time.

Take-off distances

The effect of terrain, height and temperature must always be taken into account. Here are some general rules of thumb for a Foxbat taking-off in still air:

• for short-grass strips, add 10% to the take-off distance on bitumen
• for long-grass strips add 40% to the take off distance on bitumen
• for every 5º Celsius in temperature over 15º add 5% to the take-off roll
• for every 100 feet above sea level, add 1% to the take-off roll

 For example:

Finally, don't forget other factors like humidity, runway slope, head/tail wind, crosswind, take-off weight, engine and propeller condition, and so on, all of which affect take-off (and landing) distance.