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French team visits Waupaca

Homebuilt plane rehearses for air show

By Angie Landsverk


Before Lionel Adroit flew his team’s one-seater homebuilt plane in this year’s EAA AirVenture air show, he flew it to the Waupaca airport.

“The first time the group flew it in this country was yesterday (July 18) in Waupaca,” said Lucie Chapirot-Sarda.

The plane is a CriCri (cricket), and she is part of this plane’s Team Cricri, from France.

“Our team all works for Airbus,” Chapirot-Sarda said.

The CriCri was designed by Michel Colomban, and the first flight with his design was in 1973, she said.

“He has designed several aircraft. He was an engineer with Airbus in the 1970s,” Chapirot-Sarda said. “He still lives in Paris. He knows we’re here.”

The CriCri is the smallest twin-engine manned aircraft in the world.

There are currently about 30 of them in flight around the world.

When people buy the plans for one, they then have to build the plane themselves.

Adroit built every part of this CriCri.

“It took him 4,000 hours to build it in his garage,” Chapirot-Sarda said. “It took him six years to build.”

In 2014, it was awarded the best homebuilt from a bundle drawing by the French Homebuilding Federation.

The homebuilt features two 12-horsepower lawnmower engines, she said.

When filled with fuel, this CriCri weighs about 170 pounds, and its maximum takeoff weight is 375 pounds, she said.

“He’s a pilot and will be flying it in the airshow,” Chapirot-Sarda said of Adroit. “He takes off from on top of a car.”

The team’s CriCri is scheduled to be part of the AirVenture airshow on Thursday, July 26, and Saturday, July 28.

Daniel Pratviel is driving the car, and Chapirot-Sarda is the co-driver.

“We did several airshows starting in 2015, 2016 and 2017,” she said.

The plane was in airshows throughout France, and the team was then invited to display it in Oshkosh.

Chapirot-Sarda said they shipped the aircraft in a boat from France to the United States.

“Since we’ve never done a show in the states, we had to be evaluated to display in Oshkosh,” she said. “That is why we’re here in Waupaca. You can’t do practices in Oshkosh. It’s too busy.”

Each year, Waupaca Municipal Airport-Brunner Field is used by numerous pilots who are part of the AirVenture airshow.

On July 18, the team did a test flight from the roof of a car, at Waupaca’s airport.

The next day, the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Council of Air Shows did their inspections.

“The validation went very well this morning. We’re happy,” Chapirot-Sarda said.

That afternoon, the team prepared for Adroit to fly the CriCri from Waupaca to Oshkosh.

“It’ll be a normal departure,” she said.

When Adroit is part of the airshow this week, the plane will take off from the roof of a 2018 Ford Explorer.

She said Ford is lending the team that vehicle for the airshow performances.

“The aircraft will also be on display daily in the Ford area in Oshkosh,” Chapirot-Sarda said.

This is not the first time a CriCri is there.

“In 1981 (the design) was displayed for the first time in Oshkosh. It was the first and only time it had flown in Oshkosh,” she said. “Another one came in 2009, but didn’t fly. So now we’re going to fly it.”

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