Holy Economics 101, Batman! *** X-Air LLC just sent out a release that caught my eye. *** X-Air is the Bend, Oregon-based LSA manufacturer that makes an ultralight-style flivver directly targeted at those recreational flyers and wingabees (flight-dreaming wannabes, get it?) on a tuna sandwich budget. *** The tube-and-fabric, fun-flying X-Air LS has a lot to offer for those less concerned with high-bucks style and more motivated by low-cost substance, in this case saving the Benjamins during flight training. *** A new X-Air LS goes for around $60,000 and burns 4 gal/hr! That translates into low-cost flight training, as well as dirt-cheap recreational-flight renting or club/shared ownership flying. *** The basic Sport Pilot license, with the minimum 20 in-flight training hour requirement, is already affordable when compared with a Private Pilot’s license. *** Now, students could find themselves spending 50 clams per hour instead of 200 in a Skyhawk.
Archives for December 2009
AOPA Picks LSA for Sweepstakes Giveaway
AOPA kicked off its annual Aviation Summit, in Tampa, FL this year, with a pretty cool announcement: it’s annual Sweepstakes Giveaway aircraft will be an LSA: the Remos GX. *** The news here is this is the very first time the pilot’s membership organization has made their big prize a Light Sport airplane. *** Remos is serious about becoming top dog in the LSA sales race as it continues to heavily promote its aircraft and support services far and wide. Although still #4 in overall U.S. LSA sales, Remos aircraft have been selling at a faster clip than any other manufacturer the last year or so. *** Meanwhile, AOPA Prez Craig Fuller, Remos Mng. Dir. Corvin Huber, and our pal, LAMA Pres. Dan Johnson led the unveiling of the Remos before the attendees at Tampa’s Convention Center this morning.
Electric UL Getting Ready for Prime Time
Hungry for something new about electric flight, I swapped emails with Tom Peghiny yesterday. Tom’s the majordomo of Flight Design USA (top-selling CTLS LSA) and Flightstar (longtime maker of 3-axis control ultralights.) *** e-Spyder, the electric-powered single-seat ultralight he’s developing in congress with Yuneec, the powerhouse electric aircraft manufacturer that recently opened a 250,000 sq. ft. plant in China. *** Tom filled me in on the evolution of the production prototype. Denny Franklin, the Gyro Gearloose (i.e. intuitively brilliant) engineer and designer behind venerable designs such as the Drifter ultralight, is working up a longer wing with a sheared tip. *** Equally legendary hang glider sailmaker Steve Pearson of Wills Wing (top hang glider mfg.) is making a pattern for the new wing that will use a higher-camber airfoil than the first prototype. *** Wills will make the envelopes for the e-Spyder from a laminate covering material that’s 35% lighter than the 4 oz.
FAA Recommends Safety Mod for Zodiac CH601XL
AMD, makers of the Chris Heinz-designed Zodiac CH601XL and CH650 light sport/experimental built aircraft, just got some bad news from the FAA. *** In its Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin CE-10-08, FAA urged pilots and current builders not to fly either model until they make structural modifications to the aircraft. *** Yet another accident involving a CH601XL brings the number to five in the U.S. and several overseas, with numerous fatalities reported. Consistent reports of control surface flutter and in-flight structural failure have plagued descriptions of the accidents. *** FAA directed its recommendation at: “all serial numbers, including special light-sport category aircraft (S-LSA), experimental light-sport aircraft (E-LSA), and experimental amateur-built aircraft” of the two models, citing “several areas of concern regarding the CH601XL…that may impact the overall safety of the design. Those causing the greatest concern are as follows: *** Wing structure: …the basic static strength of the CH601XL/CH650 does not appear to meet the intent of the ASTM standards… *** Structural Stability: …buckling in the wing structure, including in the center section.
ZAP! Goes An Electric Record
More haps on the electric flight front: At Yuneec Aircraft’s new 250K sq. foot factory airfield in Shanghai, China, Gerard Thevenot, the pioneering French hang glider designer and pilot who blazed foot-launched trails starting in the 1970s, set an electric-flight endurance record in a Yuneec-powered hang glider. *** Flying his own trike design, the go-juice came from a new “longer version” of Yuneec’s Power Drive 10Kw motor system. The flight lasted 1 hour 16 minutes. *** The news here for LSA followers is the ongoing commitment Yuneec has to powering all types of light sport aircraft, from hang gliders, paragliders and trikes like Thevenot’s to the ongoing development of the e-430 two-seat LSA we’ve talked about this year in Plane & Pilot. *** According to Yuneec’s website, Thevenot reportedly made just a couple test flights, then jumped up and set the record. He’s hoping to increase the duration to 1 1/2 hours any day now.
FAA Recommendation: Ground All Zodiacs!
The hubbub continues to brew around airworthiness concerns for the AMD Zodiac 601 and it’s sibling 650 model. Scroll down this page for background on the story. *** Spicing up worries over Zodiac airworthiness comes news of a potential conflict between NTSB and FAA regarding what level of action the fedgov should have taken – months ago. *** Timeline… *** Thursday: For the first time ever, FAA ordered no new airworthiness certificates will be issued for the entire fleet of Zodiac CH-601XL series aircraft until safety mods are installed. *** Friday: NTSB, in an advisory news release, reported yet another Zodiac in-flight break-up – and fatality. The Board took the opportunity to remind us that it had urgently recommended to FAA – back in April 2009 – that it ground the design, after numerous crashes and fatalities, until the problem was effectively addressed by the manufacturers (AMD for SLSA, Zenith for kits).
Keeping Up With Flight Design
My former rock-and-rollin’ Sport Pilot flight instructor and flying buddy John Lampson and I took advantage of the gorgeous New England fall weather yesterday to sharpen up with a Flight Design CTSW thanks to another old flying pal, Flight Design USA prez Tom Peghiny. *** John and I revisited the spirited handling of the SW by jumping up to 3,000 feet and cruising through glass-smooth air over the lovely Connecticut and Massachusetts countryside, cloaked now in the gray wiskers of leafless trees. *** I also caught up with some of the latest developments for the company, including the new postage stamp released in China featuring the CTLS. *** The CT is the only LSA in the aviation stamp series, which also included GA aircraft from Cessna, Cirrus and Diamond. *** I wonder if President Obama is being made aware that private aviation is beginning to happen in China, as airstrips and infrastructure are being built all over the country for a burgeoning middle class that wants to fly.
Knockin’ Around The Campus
With the holiday season about to land on our heads, who’s got time to see who’s doing what around the industry? Me, that’s who. *** Hit the links below to some recent news and events: *** Chesapeake Sport Pilot hosted an event recently on its home turf, to celebrate opening a new 6,000 sq. ft. building for its light sport training ops. CSP claims 70 active LSA flight students and 300 LSA renters. *** Many years ago I built an experimental Kitfox (s.n. #124 – last I heard it’s still flying, 22 years later!) The company has been through several iterations and owner changes since then but it’s back to the future and running strong as Kitfox Aircraft LLC, run by John McBean of Homedale, ID. Now they’ve got an SLSA version of the lovely taildragger, base price around $83K, also available in tricycle gear.
Post-Turkey Day Update
“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! Actually, it’s both…and edible!” *** Fresh but larger in girth from the great American pastime of massive calorie infusions and days of leftovers (turkey sandwich/curried Turkey/cranberry yogurt surprise (don’t ask) etc., let’s see whassup around the old info-hangar. *** Looking to e-gab with other light sport enthusiasts? There are some cool sites around with lots of hands-on topics such as training, maintenance, fun flying and more. Here are a couple I’ve come across that seem well-attended: Sport Pilot Talk and South Africa’s AvCom with a look at Light Sport and GA flying in the southern Hemisphere *** Lots of links here to tons of general LSA sites : Light Sport Aircraft HQ *** Flight training resource guide: Pilot Journey *** Experimental/homebuilt and light sport discussions (Jabiru and Rotax forums here): Wings Forum *** BTW: Sebring’s annual Light Sport Aviation Expo is kicking off Jan.
The Times, They Are A-changin’
Just got off the horn with Mike Zidziunas, who’s Mike Z Sport Aviation, Plant City, Florida, is a viable model of how a small LSA flight training operation can thrive. *** Mike started ops in 2005 and during the busy seasons (any time it’s not sweltering), has had as many as 9 students taking lessons in his Ikarus C42 trainer at one time. A dozen of his students have gone all the way through to get their Sport Pilot licenses. *** In what he calls a bit of a “scoop”, he told me that Plant City Airport, the FBO where Mike hangs his shingle, has seen the light. *** Plant City, just five air minutes away from Lakeland Linder Regional, Florida’s host airport for the annual EAA Sun ’n Fun Fly In, is a popular place for vendors such as Diamond and Cirrus to demo their planes.