ULMEurope's Events




23.03.98

FLY IN GEORGIA
By Irakli Scamkochaishvili and Mary Ellen Chatwin
Flight over the Black Sea. In Georgia as in some other countries, ultralights can be seen as a hope to help in the rebuilding of the economy.

We time to time receive from our readers interesting informations, and requests for cooperation. This time, Mary Ellen Chatwin, a Swiss socio-cultural anthropologist living in Tbilisi (Géorgia), is our transmission help with Irakli, who wishes to promote the use of ultralights in Georgia to improve ecological control.

Irakli and his homemade UL

Irakli Scamkochaishvili, 42 years old, is a naval inspector in the Convention Inspection Office of the Black Sea, with the Georgian Ministry of Environment. This is an important work, as ecology is not yet well understood in this area, and he hence directly participates in the worldwide efforts to save the Black Sea.

While the means available to him have little to do with these used in Western Europe, he has the willingness to promote both the sport and the use of ultralights to ensure the required controls at low costs.

For comparision purposes, he is married, with one school-going child, and his monthly salary is about USD 20... making it pretty difficult to get modern ultralights as those we are used to around here.

Georgia is a State with about 5.5 millions inhabitants, about 1.5 time Switzerland's size, with high alpine mountains (Caucasus), lower mountains and plateaux areas, humid sub-tropical and coastal regions (Black Sea coast), temperate zones - Tbilisi, for instance, is an agricultural and wine-growing area -, as well as semi-desertic regions near Azerbaijan.

As such, Irakli had to build himself his first ultralight, which was unfortunately lost in the Black Sea. He is now building a three-axis, and in the meantime uses ultralights belonging to his friends. His new ultralight, bought damaged in Russia, andthat he is repairing, will cost him around USD 3'200 so that he can securly fly - a small local fortune.

Findinding the required means mainly comes from friends, and the kind help from 2 plane factories for some of the metallic parts... together with a lot of resourcefulness. He writes:

Ultralights came in Georgia from Russia in 1976. The first Georgian ultralight was built in 1977. An ultralight section was then integrated in the Georgian Aero Club which progressed until 1987, when the soviet economy breakdown and the difficult post-perestroika years stopped all airsports development in Georgia.

In 1993, the Aeronautic Federation was created my Mr. Gia Gegenava, and became member of the International Aeronautic Federation in 1994. They sent Georgia - and Irakli - numerous invitations for participation to international conferences and competitions, but the very difficult economical situation did not allow to attend.

Mountains at 3'000 m

Village on high plateaux

This sport is very popular, but is now in a difficult phase. Those who fly here are sometimes not informed about regulations, and take unnecessary risks. I hope this sport will develop more in Georgia, and that it will expand to include helps our development. My hopes are based on the fact that it is not a very exppensive mean of flying, has a good technical potential for many uses, and that self-building or assembly here is accessible.

With the caracteristics of the ultralight I am presently building, severall uses can be foreseen:

Agricultural: Targeted pest control. With special tanks, farm crop spraying can be efficient, with the rear propeller creating an aerosol effect effective on both top and underside of leaves. Ultralight can fly very low, thus are ideal for exact spraying. Mosquitoes and other insects can then be controlled.

Mapping: The picture above shows the kind of aerial pictures that can be achieved for maps corrections, an extremely important task in the Eastern countries, where finding an exact map is nearly impossible.

Environmental monitoring: Control of illegal wood cutting in forests, coastal protection against polutions by ships that cannot be seen from the ground, and protection of mountain lakes.

Athmospherical analysis: With a GPS and a simple air collection system equipment which is subsequently analysed in laboratories.

Mary Ellen Chatwin adds:

You can see on the pictures that the ultralights they use here are a world away of the luxury toys flown in the West. We would like to see the ultralight development here for constructive purposes - although the passion for flying will by far remain the greatest ultrlight-flyier motivation -, as the economic context of Georgia and similar former Soviet countries are calling for help. Innovative development technology, such as the use of ultralights, could be one of the answers to some of the many problems such countries are now facing.

Should you wish to help Irakli and Mary Ellen in Georgia, please contact ULM Europe. Should you have equipment or material that you do not use, or that has no value for you, contacts or usefull informations, we will coordinate their transmission.

Irakli visiting the high plateaux