{"id":10720,"date":"2016-01-18T21:46:55","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T04:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=10720"},"modified":"2016-01-18T21:46:55","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T04:46:55","slug":"fly-by-wire-takes-on-a-whole-new-meaning-in-hamburg-miniature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/fly-by-wire-takes-on-a-whole-new-meaning-in-hamburg-miniature\/","title":{"rendered":"Fly-by-Wire Takes on a Whole New Meaning in Hamburg Miniature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your editor has several friends who lay claim to the appellation, \u201cferroequinologist,\u201d (student of the iron horse), meaning they fancy miniature trains and the layouts that support them.\u00a0 One friend helped construct a layout that takes up most of a good-sized building in Portland, Oregon \u2013 but even he would be dumbfounded by the massive installation in Hamburg, Germany \u2013 which includes an international airport in its midst that accounts for 180 takeoffs and landings per day and handles 1.2 million \u201cpassengers\u201d per year.<\/p>\n

Blogmeister Klaus Burkhard oversees a wonderful web site based primarily on ultralight sailplanes<\/a>.\u00a0 His writings have alerted your editor to the twin-motor self-launching ultralight Holliday Obrecht and his compatriots are building at EAA Chapter 309 in Charlotte, North Carolina; Snow White, an electrically-powered flying wing inspired by the Horton Brothers, and produced an expansive entry on the Volocopter that included detailed photographs and specifications.<\/p>\n

\"Miniatur<\/a>

Miniatur Wunderland’s airline terminal, emulating an international airport in miniature<\/p><\/div>\n

A recent entry on Hamburg\u2019s Miniature-Wunderland<\/em><\/a> told of the remarkable airport that has aircraft landing and taking off on slender wires, appearing from and disappearing into \u201cclouds\u201d at the ends of the runway.\u00a0 This particular airport may be the only opportunity for plane spotters to see a Concorde \u201cfly\u201d several times a day, along with a Super Constellation – one of Burkhard\u2019s favorites, an AN-124, and Red Bull\u2019s DC-6B.\u00a0 The mix of aircraft is a tribute to the designers\u2019 interest in providing a grand fantasy experience.<\/p>\n

One of the cleverest bits of execution in all this is the trade-off from the two rods that hold the airplanes in place as they approach and depart the 14-meter (46-feet) runway to the link that connects to the nose wheel and guides the aircraft along as it taxis.\u00a0 This part is similar to the nose-wheel or main gear motored devices that allow real jets to turn their engines off while on the ground.<\/p>\n

The imaginary Knuffingen International Airport operates 365 days a year, encapsulating its own 20-minute \u201cdays\u201d into repetitions of its well-choreographed routines.\u00a0 With orderly precision in the comings and goings of its aircraft, the site\u2019s access roads and parking lots resemble the chaotic bustle of real-world airports.\u00a0\u00a0 Service trucks perform all the tasks one would see at a grand airport.<\/p>\n