Pilot September 2017

http://www.pilotweb.aero Pilot September 2017 | 29

how to manually separate yourself
from the seat if it doesn’t happen
automatically, which it should, and how
to manually deploy the parachute if it
doesn’t happen automatically. Which it
had bloody better do!
I am now reasonably comfortable,
strapped in tight and connected to the
aircraft via several tubes. The narrowness
of the cockpit makes you feel part of the
aircraft, being plumbed into it increases
that feeling. Now for a look around the
environment: between the back of
Brenninkmeyer’s head and me is a Perspex
barrier or dummy screen and below that is
the instrument panel. It has a very military
look but I wouldn’t call it particularly well
laid out. Many of the gauges I’ve never
seen in any aircraft I’ve flown−like a
Mach meter (which reads to Mach 1.2),
exhaust temperature and percentage rpm.
Most of the other instruments are familiar
such as a VSI, altimeter, ASI and fuel
contents. The latter reads up to 20 and
that isn’t gallons−it’s two thousand
pounds of Jet A1. We will use up a large
chunk of it in our forty-minute or so flight.
There’s another gauge on the panel that
I haven’t mentioned and that one gives
you the position of the tailplane. The Gnat
has an all-flying tail like the Piper PA-28.
It’s hydraulically operated (there’s a
pressure gauge for the hydraulic system).
Edwin gave me a very thorough
description of what happens when the

trim system packs up but it’s so

complicated that I didn’t really understand

much of it. Basically you have to fly the

aircraft on a small trim tab−but even that

isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. (By

chance I bumped into an ex-Gnat pilot

just a few days after flying this one and

the first thing he mentioned is the

trimming system. “It failed on me once

and I couldn’t stop the thing climbing.

Had to go inverted to stop it going to the

moon.” Right.)

and carefully to North Weald’s runway,

paranoid about a stone or other FOD being

sucked up into the Orpheus. As chief

engineer Peter Walker tells me later, it will

be a lack of engines that will eventually

ground the Gnats. From where I’m sitting

the aircraft seems to be very manoeuvrable

on the ground, helped naturally by its

compact size.

This is it then. Lined up and ready to go

and I’m beyond excited. The acceleration is

far from extreme (a big-engined Extra feels

faster off the mark) but is very linear and

doesn’t tail off. Wheels up and the bottom

of Stansted’s controlled airspace is 1,500ft

above us. We’re heading out east towards

the coast north of Felixstowe purring along

at 250kt. This is our speed limit if we are

not on someone’s radar screen. Wattisham’s

radar is up the spout today so we’re

going to call up Southend and as soon as

that’s done the man in front can pour on

more gravy.

This low there is a speed sensation. It’s

not otherworldly as we’re only going about

eighty knots faster than my RV’s full-chat

speed−for now. “You have a go,” says

Brenninkmeyer from the front. The throttle

is on the left side of the cockpit so I’m

forced to use my right hand on the stick,

which is the opposite to what I’m used to.

I can’t do a swap anyway because the

handgrip is contoured for a right hand.

Brenninkmeyer told me that the Gnat reacts

quickly to control inputs, has a very fast

Flight Test | Folland Gnat

Preflight ritual: Edwin checks the flaps, hidden from his sight by the wing, and a ground crewman confirms their position

The narrowness of

the cockpit makes

you feel part of

the aircraft

You start the Gnat’s Orpheus engine by

compressed air supplied by a device called a

Palouste. It’s a gas turbine that was used to

start many jets of the period, including the

Buccaneer. Apart from the baby in the seat

in front of me on a recent flight home from

Italy, I have never come across anything so

small that can make so much noise.

Brenninkmeyer gives a thorough and

fascinating commentary over the intercom.

He hits the igniters as compressed air

spools up the engine and the engine is lit.

So smooth, with a very tolerable whine

that I’m sure is a lot noisier to ears outside

the aircraft. Brenninkmeyer taxies slowly