Country of origin:

France

Description:

Two-seat light touring and training monoplane

Power Plant:

One 48 kw (65 hp) JPX 2050/4 T60A four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The cost of the modern-day light training aircraft, and the cost of the fuel and servicing, has increased dramatically over the years, and to this end a number of manufacturers have looked at ways and means of reducing costs.  One example of this was the Robin ATL [Avion Tres Leger], also known as the Bijou ATL, which was designed to meet a requirement of the French Federation Nationale Aeronautique, which subsidised 500 French flying clubs.

Initially the JPX Bouchoux two-stroke engine was chosen as the power-plant, but eventually a Volkswagen engine of 1600 cc was modified to 2050 cc and this became the definitive power plant. Two basic models were available, the Club with the 48 kw (65 hp) JPX 4T 600A engine for training work, or the Voyage with the 56 kw (75 hp) JPX 4T 75B engine for the private owner.  Construction was of composite and wood. The fuselage was moulded in two halves and cured in an autoclave. The structure consisted of double fibreglass skins bonded to Nomex honeycomb core.  The wing had two main wood spars, the rear carrying the aluminium ailerons and flaps. The centre section was aluminium and the wing covered overall with Dacron.  The “butterfly” tail was Dacron covered wood, and metal “ruddervators”.

The prototype was first flown on 17 June 1983 with a 35 kw (47 hp) JPX PAL 1300 three-cylinder, two-stroke, radial engine but this was found to be subject to vibration. It was re-engined with a conversion of a Volkswagen engine, and this engine formed the basis of the engine fitted to the 132 aircraft produced between 1985 and 1991. This engine was heavier than the engine initially proposed and the aircraft’s wings were swept forward to maintain the centre of gravity. However, the aircraft still suffered engine problems and a Limbach dual ignition unit producing 52 kw (70 hp) was fitted to aircraft supplied to the German market. Ten examples were built with the Limbach engine whereas the remainder of production aircraft had the single-ignition JPX unit.

Three basic variants were produced, the ATL Club, which was the basic model named Bijou on the British market; the ATL Club Model 88 being a late production model with a smaller propeller giving better ground clearance and having a larger fuel tank; and the ATL Club Model 89 which was the Limbach engine model referred to above.

First of the type seen in this region was F-WFOA, a demonstrator for the Australian distributor, in early November 1985, for which the registration VH-JXY was reserved.  It was demonstrated at the Schofields Airshow at that time. The distributor Paxford Aviation announced it had the rights to sell the type in the Pacific region and a facility would be set up at Port Macquarie, NSW to assemble the aircraft. Plans were announced to deliver 60 aircraft in 1986 and 80 in 1987, with 150 to be built at the Port Macquarie facility in 1988.

French production at that time was not able to meet orders, and it was expected Australian and South Pacific requirements would be met by the production facility at Port Macquarie. However, F-WFOA was the only aircraft imported and, after storage for sometime, it became VH-IPT (c/n 14) registered to P & T Aviation of Bankstown, NSW.  It seems at some stage the registration was changed to VH-JXY and it was based at Orange, NSW. However, it was withdrawn from use as the registration was allotted to a Robin 2120 and the registration VH-IPT was allotted to a Zenair CH-601. The subsequent fate of the Bijou is not known.