Take-off is imminent

Urs Villiger designed and built the "Fanjet 300” together with his team, and the first test flight is scheduled for this summer. The Zuger Zeitung newspaper visited his workshop.
 

It's an unexpected sight: a small aircraft stands behind the wide-open doors of a warehouse In Bösch, nestled among commercial buildings and office blocks. It's a futuristic-looking aeroplane with a pointed nose and a long cockpit. Not a model aeroplane, but a real one, and it will be flown by a test pilot this summer.

It has been built by Urs Villiger, a man who always answers questions as if the answers were already obvious. This doesn't come across as arrogant in any way; rather, it makes the other person sense how much time the 83-year-old has already spent with his flying machines. How many hours he has spent in his Villiger Aviation "tinkering lab" in Hünenberg developing and discarding ideas, how many new things he has created.

As he speaks, he wipes white spots from the blue paint of his latest prototype's wing with his thumb. The "Fanjet 300" is something between a propeller plane and a jet. Instead of a visible propeller or turbine, a large fan, a so-called impeller, works inside the fuselage. It draws in air and expels it at high speed to the rear. Visually, the small aircraft resembles a jet, but is technically closer to a propeller plane.

It is designed to reach speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour. By comparison: a passenger plane flies at a speed of around 900 kilometres per hour.

A parachute for emergencies
Villiger's two-seat prototype also features a built-in parachute, designed to safely bring the aircraft and its occupants to the ground if necessary. "If it can thereby land on a flat surface, it won't even be damaged," says Urs Villiger, with unmistakable pride in his voice.

Urs Villiger with his latest prototype, the "Fanjet 300."   
Inside the small aircraft: The custom-made impeller is visible on the left.        Photo: Matthias Jurt
 

From the time he was a child, Urs Villiger has piloted rudimentary model airplanes. A career as a professional pilot was never an option for him, partly due to his vision problems, but the self-employed general contractor turned his passion into a time-consuming hobby. From 1970 to 1976, he and some friends built his first glider in a hall under the bridge of the Katastrophenbucht in Zug (disaster bay), a space that was still accessible at the time.

This project is (probably) his last
Since then, he has added more models to his collection. His latest creation, the "Fanjet 300," is scheduled for test flights soon. But Urs Villiger will need a certification before he can bring the model to market in the "Ultralight" class. As this class is not yet recognised in Switzerland, the certification process will take place in Germany.

He is therefore going through the complex certification procedure once again. After that, he'll probably call it quits. "Enough is enough," he says. He no longer flies himself: he held a pilot's licence for 50 years, and travelled the world through his hobby, accumulating around 2,000 flight hours. For about ten years now, he has dedicated himself entirely to building his beloved small aircraft.

He finds working with his hands fascinating and, for a long time, it was a welcome counterbalance to his job as a construction foreman. "There, I just watched the work being done," he says. Engineer Jakob Straub and aviator Steven Dünki assist him in building the prototypes: without them, "none of this would be possible." They are now helping Urs Villiger with his dream of having the «Fanjet 300» fly through the air.
 

For more information about the VIlliger Aviation project:
https://villigeraviation.ch/