T
he Deutsches Zentrum für
Luft- und Raumfahrt (German
Aerospace Centre - DLR) is
Germany’s national organisation
tasked with research into aerospace, energy
and transportation. It operates Europe’s
largest civilian research eet, consisting of
12 highly specialised xed-wing and rotary
aircraft, which can deploy globally. The
aircraft are used for aeronautical exploration
or as research platforms for Earth, sea or
atmospheric studies.
The organisation’s Flight Operations team
is based at two sites, Oberpfaffenhofen, near
Munich, and Braunschweig, close to Hannover.
DLR’s Flight Operations team consists of
around 90 people, including 35 technical staff
and 16 pilots, responsible for maintaining and
operating the eet. Each aircraft ies up to 40scienti c missions per year, totalling around
250 ight hours per aircraft.
Oliver Brieger, a ight test engineer by
trade, is Head of Flight Operations. He
started his career with EADS and the US
Navy on the joint German-American X-31
programme and undertook courses at the
US Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent
River, Maryland, and the National Test Pilot
School in Mojave, California. He returned
to Germany and joined DLR in 2003 to work
on the Euro ghter Typhoon for eight years
as a ight test engineer before assuming his
current role in 2010.HALO
The largest aircraft based at Oberpfaffenhofen
is the HALO (High Altitude and Long Range
Research Aircraft) Gulfstream G550,D-ADLR (c/n 5093). The aircraft, based on
a production airframe, is a highly modi ed
science platform, which was delivered to DLR
in 2009. The initial funding for the aircraft was
provided by the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research and the Helmholtz-
Gemeinschaft and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
scienti c institutes. The HALO consortium,
formed by six German research centres
and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
(German Research Foundation), which
represents the country’s universities, are the
main scienti c users of the G550, although it
is also available to other organisations.
“On the G550 we are able to use six
hardpoints on the wings, we can mount a
belly pod, which can house, for instance,
radar systems, LIDAR systems, optical
systems, whatever is required for theDLR
PUSHING THE
BOUNDARIES
Researchers are
utilising DLR’s fl eet
of specialist aircraft
to gain a better
understanding of the
natural world and
how new technology
can play a role in
aeronautics. James
Ronayne reports from
Oberpfaffenhofen.
36 Aviation News incorporating Jets February 201836-40_dlrDC.mfDC.indd 36 05/01/2018 16:53