T he Gardan Horizon is an all metal four-seat touring aircraft. It's silhouette, a little "old fashioned", it's undercarriage appears to be a little narrow, it is nevertheless very comfortable and will accept a high cross-wind. Flying since 21/7/1960, 259 were built, fitted with Lycomings of 160hp and 180hp. It was certified in the "normal" category, all aerobatics are forbidden.

The aircraft being declared "Airworthy", oil and fuel levels checked, the pre-flight check is classic and calls for no comments.

Installation in the aircraft. The climb onto the wing root requires a decent leg length, then access to the cockpit is easy thanks to the doors which open partially into the cabin roof. The door closing is assured by a normal catch at shoulder level and by a turn-lock in the upper part of the door at cabin roof level. This is an essential part of the check-list, leaving the catch un-done will cause the door to billow outwards in flight. Seat positioned, seat belt tight, all the controls are easily accessible.

Start-up. Parking brake "on", fuel selector "open", battery "on", propeller fully fine, mixture fully rich, fuel pump "on", 4-5 injections on the throttle, then throttle open 2cm, clear prop - start. The engine idles at 1200 rpm, fuel pump "off", generator "on".

Taxiing. The aircraft is steered easily on the ground with the rudder bar, but avoid excessive speed, the brakes have a limited efficiency.

Run-up. ( Oil temperature at 40° or carburettor re-heat on if conditions dictate ) At 2 200rpm, cycle the propeller twice. The control for the propeller is a fine thread with a rapid manual override. Select magnetos at 2 200rpm with pitch fully fine, the tolerance for the rpm loss is 125rpm. Check generator is giving current.Fuel pump "on", doors locked and checked - do not forget to check upper lock, trim neutral to slight nose-up, gyro compass set, mixture fully rich.

Take-off, throttle fully open, lift the nose wheel at 50kt, the wheels will unstick at around 65kt. Take-off distance about 300m, zero wind conditions at sea level. A 15m obstacle is passed at 600m. Climb out is at 70kt, brake the spinning wheels and raise the undercarriage - 19 turns of the handle. The green light will go out and the red light comes on when the undercarriage is in the UP position. There is practically no adverse yaw, the aircraft is well balanced. The loading to maintain 70kt is 1kg. Fuel pump "off", throttle back to 2 450rpm and coarsen the pitch to 25" on the admission. Climb will be at 700 ft/min at sea level with full load.

In Flight. Engine settings for cruise at say 3000 feet will be, at 75%, 120kt TAS. At 8 000 feet TAS will be 124kt. Maximum still-air range, without reserves is 1 250 km. The flight controls are precise and harmonious, with very little friction. The longitudinal stability is correct and the effort gradient is in the order of 1,5kg/ 10kt. power. Pulling back on the column to reduce speed by about 10kt, the aircraft recovers to level flight after 1 or 2 oscillations. The effort on the column in a 60° bank in level flight at 115 kt is between 3 and 5 kg, according to C of G. Directional and lateral stability are good, the loading on the column increases in an out of balance turn. The recovery from a slip is within two ball diameters. The recovery from roll is clean and without oscillation. Stall. Throttle closed, aircraft at 70 kt with the trim at full nose up, a slow deceleration, a weak pull on the column, the stall warning comes in at 58 kt, there is vibration at 55 kt, but the aircraft has immediate recovery.

The approach. The aircraft initially trimmed at 80 kt, the lowering of the undercarriage, lock in position "down" and again 19 turns of the handle, the red light comes on, and then goes out when the undercarriage is fully down and the green light comes on. The lowering of the undercarriage requires a push on the column to maintain 70 kt. Longitudinal stability is correct. A balanced set up is 70 kt, 500 feet / min decent at 2 000 rpm, at 14" admission. The effort gradient is less than in level flight, but with light friction in the controls the correction is clean. The loads in directional stability increase normally with the slip. Lateral stability remains the same, with the aircraft inclined, releasing the ailerons leaves the aircraft inclined if the rudder pressure is maintained. This causes no difficulty to the pilot. The stall with throttle closed, aircraft trimmed to 80 kt, trim fully nose-up, light loads on the column, but correct signs, stall warning at 54 kt, minimum IAS at around 49 kt with a load at 850 kg.

On go-around from an IAS of 70 kt, there is a distinct effort to push the column of about 5 to 6 kg to maintain 70 kt.Landing. Nothing significant except a tendency towards nose-wheel shimmy if it is landed at too high a speed. The efficiency of the brakes is mediocre, they are "slower-downers" more than proper brakes. .

I n conclusion, a very agreeable and docile aircraft, homogenous and precise controls, honest performance, with a useful carrying capacity - only negatives are the shimmy on the nose wheel and the poor brakes.

EDITOR'S note. As a regular pilot of this aircraft, there is not a lot to add to this article from Jean CAILLARD, I will allow myself one comment, the small movements of the control yoke need to be made to avoid over movement of the ailerons, so as not to find yourself in undesired positions, but this is mainly a question of habit. The flaps are of course coupled to the undercarriage, you have therefore two possibilities, undercarriage up, flaps up, or undercarriage down, flaps down.. Lastly concerning comfort, understand that the seats for pilot and passenger are "rustic", this means a thin cushion of sponge on a wooden plank. This is as part of the charm of this aircraft as are it's flying qualities - even after 40 years.

The MAPICA would like to take this opportunity to thank Jean CAILLARD for having written this article, which is of course, more an "appreciation" of the aircraft rather than a true "Flight Test".