Smokin' new product to hit the market

Jez Hopkinson, lead pilot of a four-ship aerobatic display team, likens flying with regular diesel oil for the smoke effects at air shows, to being stuck to the end of an exhaust pipe.

“I used to get sick all the time with the diesel fumes,” Jez, owner and co founder of the Yakovlevs Display said. “And with more than 60 displays flown every season, I was getting concerned for my pilots, as they are exposed to these fumes all the time. ”
Jez teamed up with Rob Midgley, the GA Technical Manager with Shell Aviation, to see if they could come up with a way to make display pilots breathe a little easier and make producing smoke safer and less harmful for the environment.

According to Rob, the smoke system created by injecting diesel into the exhaust of the aircraft, currently used by many aerobatic display teams leaves much to be desired. Depending on the type of aircraft a team uses, fumes from the smoke system can easily get into the cockpit, and into a pilot’s lungs.

“Many of the products used for smoke oil are not intended for ingestion,” he said. “The smoke produced from many of these products is not only unpleasant and pungent, but they also have the potential to produce compounds that could be harmful to health.”

And the pilots may not be the only ones at risk. The audience at air shows could also be affected by the tiny droplets of diesel still present in the fumes, as the smoke drifts over them with the wind.

Jez and Rob started a long process of trail and error, to come up with a better solution. And after well over a year of hard graft with the Yakovlevs, and many test oils later, they say Shell Ondina EL turned out to be the best option, environmentally friendly and food safe yet also  reasonably prices and not harmful to the aircraft or pilot. Shell aviation even sent out more than 10,000 litres of free samples to see how the product panned out among pilots. And the reviews have come back very,…very positive.

"This really is the dog's boll**ks in so many ways," said Barry Tempest, who was previously head of General Aviation in the CAA and has now taken part in air shows for the past five decades in his Skybolt aerobatic biplane.

“The only real reservation is availability, as one needs the stuff away from base and the ability to carry a supply in the aircraft is limited to that uplifted on departure in the smoke tank. It has been a grand introduction to this new product which I hope to use in future.”

Nigel Willson, who has his own Yak 52 display, agrees.
“Must say,” he said, “completely odourless and a joy, compared to diesel fumes.”

According to Rob, Ondina EL was originally developed for use in food canning plants, and so it’s actually classified as safe for human consumption.

“It’s better for your aircraft’s paint, the smoke it produces is much whiter, and it’s even less slippery then diesel oil,” Jez said. “Many of the teams and pilots on the display scene now use Ondina.”

Iain Jack, general manager at Shell said: “Shell Aviation is working really hard on this to try and make getting the Ondina to the pilots as easy as possible.”

The smoke oil comes in standard 209 litre drums, with free Delivery to any address you want, normally within four or five working days. To further show Shell Aviations’ commitment to making the skies safer for aerobatic displays, Shell is not only sponsoring the RAFA Shoreham Air show this year as normal, they are also supplying Free Ondina EL for all the display aircraft in 2007 to make this the first environmentally friendly  air show in the world.

For more information on Ondina, contact Jez Hopkinson at jez@aerobatics.co.uk, or 07801 021 029.