ULMEurope's Events




23.03.98

AVIONS MIGNET
Will you believe it ? This is the Cordouan above ! At least the test cell that allowed the Cordouan to exist.

Writing about Alain Mignet is not so easy, as Mignet's name is an intimate part of the civil sport aviation development in France and worldwide from the '20's. His grandfather, Henri Mignet, is the finder of the "living wing", of the Flying Flea that result from this concept, and studied a number of flights concepts, including helicopters (the HM 7, with a... 11 CV motor !).

Roaring 20's: The sky is reserved to an elite, that truely forms a social class by itself. Henri Mignet has a different point of view: to grant access to the sky to everybody, while ensuring a better security.

His views will bring him a number of enmities, while he was one of the very few to put his talent and courage for the good of everyone. He had a vision, that was partly the starting point raising interest of the public towards aerial sports.

Should you wish to know how he came to these ideas, as well as their developments, buy "Le Sport de l'Air" at the company headquarters, his book - edition 1994 -, out of which the picture left is taken. You will learn a lot about aerodynamics and a number of other subjects, in a layman's words, and interesting book for the ultralight flyer.

Henri Mignet started by building conventional aircrafts, then rejected them as being much too dangerous. He then, step by step, built the "living wing" concept which in turn led to the Pou du Ciel (Flying Flea), and then to today's Balerit and Cordouan.

As a summary, Mignet's concept allows to make simple to handle the most dangerous air phenomenon that all pilots are faced with: the stall. This caused the majority of fatal injuries since aviation's birth, and still continues today. His principle is that two staggered wings, one of which with variable pitch, "simply" allow the airstreams to remain glued to the profile of the wing, therefore avoiding the stall. Such a plane simply "parachutes", while remaining perfectly under control on all axis. Well, then why are not all planes fitted with this wing ?

Answering this question is pretty complex, but the main factor is definitely the well known inertia and resistance of the aeronautical industry to any change, anything new. Just have a look at how hard it is for a new ultralight motor to be accepted, although they at last bring modern solutions for our ULs. In addition, at that time, these were two-axis airplanes.

But let's come back to the Cordouan. This ultralight will this year be 10 years of age ! Its first development goes back in 1988, and we saw some of its early drawings (picture below).

At that time, the Mignet familly saw the ultralight movement's evolution, and wished to offer its customers a more conventional ultralight than the Balerit, of course keeping its safety caracteristics. Hence the tractor configuration, and the modifactiona allowing it to be flown as a usual three-axis craft. The first flight of the test cell was made in 1989, and was then improved to the ultralight we know today.

The HM 1100 Cordouan flew its maiden flight on June 18, 1996, and was flown in front of the public in June 1997.

Since then - among other things - it flew the Tour de France, and showed its ability as a travel ultralight, with nice performances with a cruise speed around 160 km/h (Vne 190 km/h) with a Rotax 912, and a 4.5 m/s climb rate at full load.

Like the Balerit, the Cordouan keeps its ability to be really folded in a few minutes by one single person. Folded, it enters a parking space of 5.07 x 2.50 x 2.31 m.

That is certainly a good point, as our ultralight hangars tend to be crowded. It can as well be loaded on its trailer. The simplicity of the folding mechanism is a true plus.

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