The Aero Club of Florina

The Florina Aero Club was founded in 1975 and is based at the homonymous airport of the city. In the same year the hangar was built to house the newly acquired 4-seater aircraft SOCATA RALLYE ST 150. The two existing domes were also constructed and are used as an office and the other as a warehouse.
Over time came the construction by the club team and in cooperation with local craftsmen and with the initiative of the Club President Mr. Iliopoulos George, of two light planes. The first plane built was wooden and used wood from old furniture. (Construction began in 1989 and the aircraft flew for the first time in 1994.) The seat placed in the driver’s seat was a wheelchair, the wheels came from a discarded motorcycle and the mechanical parts came from an old car engine. They named it “LYGKISTI”.
In a short period of time (2005) they proceeded to design and build a second aircraft from tin printers’ tin, in 1/6 scale. After a laborious five years of work and 3000 modifications to the original design, the second aircraft was built in full size, using aircraft aluminum. Named “ARCHON” (Archon SF-1), it flew for the first time in 2010.
Archon SF-1 belongs to the category of ultralight aircraft, single-seat, with an engine of only 46 hp, weighs 200 kg, withstands -2/4G, has a speed of loss of support of 65 km, and a maximum speed of 150 km.The Air Force received it positively.
The Florina airfield has a 900-meter central runway.
From 2014 to 2017, the Florina Air Club operated a Pilot School from which 15 pilots graduated, members of the air club.

TEXT: Iliopoulos Georgios
SOURCE: offroader.gr / Aeroclub of Florina.