Another LSA (and another from Czech Republic!) is about to land on our shores. It’ll be featured in my Cool Stuff overview story in the June issue of P&P, but here’s a sneak preview of the cute little low wing, and why I think it could be a winner for potential owners. *** It’s called Corbi Air Alto 100. *** Two veterans of the sport aircraft biz – Dan Coffey and Ron Corbi – have extensive backgrounds in sport aircraft maintenance and marketing. They saw through direct experience that many LSA had weak points that came out after extensive use in the field: insufficiently sturdy nosegear, cheap foreign tires (that were also a problem to reorder quickly). *** So they went to an established Czech manufacturer (Direct Fly) and asked them if they’d be willing to update their four-year-popular Euro bird with American components for ASTM-certification as an S-LSA for the states. *** Coffey’s and Corbi’s approach might be called “pre-emptive” maintenance – they intend to design out the very things that tend to fail in LSA. *** “Our focus with the Alto is to enhance the ‘maintainability’ of the airplane,” Coffey told me in a lengthy chat at Sun ‘n Fun.
Archives for April 2010
LSA Fighter Zoomin’
I had the distinct pleasure of closing out my 8 day stay in Florida for Sun ‘n Fun’s airshow with a visit to the MySky company at the fabulous Spruce Creek aviation community near Daytona, FL. *** My host was Prez Dieter Canje, who along with company principal and 30,000 hour pilot Tim Plunket, introduced me to the airplane. *** We were all set to shoot air2air and ground photography but Ma Nature had other ideas with some rain and overcast skies. *** I did the next best thing and copped a ride with Tim in the MS-1 prototype. *** And boy, am I glad I did. Or dude, am I glad I did. Whatever. *** First off, I have to say this was the best demo I’ve ever had, and here’s why: Tim spent a good ten minutes briefing me on the flight deck, controls, knobs and levers I’d be a-twiddlin’. Then he talked me through the maneuvers we’d be doing.
Cool Sectional Map-Based Portable GPS
Hands down my favorite of the entire Sun ‘n Fun show was the iFly 700 GPS which has nothing to do with the iPhone but is, for pilots, just as cool for its innovative features and really affordable price: $499! *** Super easy to do a flight plan: Tap an airport with your finger on the screen and menus pop up to select a waypoint or as your final destination. *** Never buy another sectional; they’re continually updated as part of the $69/year subscription service, which also includes IFR enroute charts and lots of other features. *** The company owner/designers told me there will be some eye-popping software upgrades coming down the pike. These guys have the programming mojo — one designed the Orbitz travel site for example. *** It comes with a suction mount, power cords, remote, carrying case and tons of features. *** Watch this company, it could be the beginning of a major product for in flight navigation.
Sun ‘n Fun 2010 Is A Wrap!
Sun ‘n Fun 2010 is history. Overcast skies and rain all day kept the crowds away — in droves. Still, it was a good show, with positive signs for the Light Sport Industry in the weeks and months ahead. *** I’ll be recapping highlights from the entire six days over the next several days; there were lots of cool events and gear I want to share with you. *** The short tell: overall attendance by most exhibitor accounts seemed a bit light over the week, but several airframe manufacturers reported modest to brisk sales. *** Generally, the consensus was one of guarded optimism. Some makers like Arion (Lightning) and Piper (PiperSport) sold 7 or more airplanes each. Others were happy with two or three. And some long-time, well-established companies had great leads but no firm orders. *** Of course, sales hyperbole is tempting to indulge in at a show: no one wants to admit to potential customers — and especially the aviation media — that they just spent thousands of dollars hoping to attract buyers and show the flag — and have nothing to show for it. It takes a lot of courage to hang in there in a down economy, and many of these folks have been running on fumes for some time now through the worst of it.
Lost In Alligator Land
Kids, don’t try this at home… or in the air. Well, unless you leave yourself no other choice. *** While flying a new LSA on the day after the Sun ‘n Fun airshow, my demo host and I were enjoying the puffy cloud kingdom somewhere not too far from Lakeland Linder Field in central Florida when the Garmin G3 center display went black. *** No amount of coaxing, button pushing, or breaker recycling would bring it back. We chalked it up to a new installation and the fact we’d sat on the ground for 45 minutes in the heat, in a ridiculously long line of departing airplanes — and a methodically sloooooow tower controller determined to go by the book while 30 airplanes sat watching their engine temps rise …and rise. This guy could learn a thing or two from the boys at Oshkosh about expediting departures. *** Anyway, here we were a few minutes later, tooling around the countryside, not overly concerned about losing the one display, when bip!, the other G3 display coughs, hiccups, and goes down, too.
Flying the Van’s Aircraft RV-12
While lots of attention was paid to the PiperSport at Sun ‘n Fun 2010, and while Cessna’s Skycatcher remains the dominant collector of order deposits, another legacy producer that has entered the LSA sector is Van’s Aircraft. *** By most reckoning, Van’s can lay claim to being the largest kit aircraft company in the world. Their LSA-sized RV-12 represents another indication that major manufacturers see merit in Light-Sport Aircraft. I finally got a flight in this new model; my full report will appear in a future issue of Plane & Pilot magazine but here are some sample bits. *** Most simply put, RV-12 is a Van’s. My experience in a RV-4 and -9 — plus affirmative comments from folks with much more RV experience — confirms the same great qualities found throughout the Van’s lineup. These shared characteristics include light responsive controls with ailerons truly pleasant.
Sun ‘n Fun: Sales Rumor Mill, contd.
Chatting tonight with Piper’s Chief Pilot Bart Jones as the fifth day of the six day airshow wound down, as our conversation drifted to our favorite LSA, I asked him, “Do you have any idea what kind of business Piper’s done?” *** I figured he wouldn’t have much to say on the topic as these are usually internal affairs, with the timing of info releases usually left to PR depts. *** So I was happily surprised (since we’d both agreed moments before that PiperSport was a mutual favorite) to hear him say, “Well, you know what? We’ve sold seven PiperSports so far!” *** My eyes must have widened a bit because he added, “and get this: that’s without doing any demo flights! We had a paperwork snafu, so we couldn’t even fly potential customers.” *** Looks like my prognostications and those of other industry watchers was right on: Piper’s impact on the LSA market could indeed be huge.
Honda-based Engine For Rotax Mounts
While talking to an enterprising Dutchman who markets several non-aviation, but exceptionally beautiful road machines and accessories (Can you dig a gorgeous, classic Carroll Shelby replica Cobra signed by the great man himself for $60,000?), he pointed to a man walking by and said, “There goes Eggenfellner, he makes a beautiful modified Honda engine for LSA.” *** A couple minutes later I wondered over to the motorhead’s booth and saw this gorgeous engine package, based on an inline 4-cylinder Honda automotive engine (he also builds a Subaru-based mill), that is finding its way into a number of experimental aircraft that take Rotax engines. *** The liquid-cooled Viking HF-110 has 9 more cubic inches displacement than a Rotax 912 ULS, weighs 31 lbs. more, and produces 14 more horsepower at 75% power and 15 more hp at takeoff rpm of 5400 – 400 less than the Rotax. *** It also has a 12 month/100 hour money-back guarantee (Rotax: 6 months and 100 hours) and costs $9,900 – and comes with alternator, ignition and fuel injection, exhaust, air intake, starter, radiator, prop drive unit and engine mounting brackets to align with existing Rotax airframe mounts.
Carbon Cub SS On Floats Beats Water Champ
Every year at Sun ‘n Fun the nearby Fantasy of Flight Museum puts on a Splash-In. Aircraft of the waterfowl persuasion, from amphibians to seaplanes to float versions of GA, Experimental and LSA types hang out and participate in some fun contests, including spot landing, grapefruit bomb drop and…short water takeoff. *** The last task is arguably the most visually exciting for its demonstration of sheer power-to-weight performance and other factors. *** Enter Goliath: Phil Lockwood’s legendary AirCam, a heavily modified ultralight Drifter with two engines that’s legendary for it’s short takeoff mojo on land and water. It can get airborne on one engine and climb at 200-300 fpm. Oh – and did I say that’s off the water? *** Enter the challenger: Although the AirCam generally competes in the above 200hp category, and the Carbon Cub has 180hp, the CubCrafters gang thought it would be fun to do.
Skyview Lands in Gobosh
One of the earliest and most popular SLSA on the market is the Gobosh 700. Co-Impresario Dave Graham extols its virtues of “aliveness” and my sentiments echo his: it’s a friendly, comfortable, responsive and thoroughly enjoyable airplane to fly. *** Dave’s installed the new Dynon Skyview into it, and calls the model the Gobosh 700DX. *** “It was very easy to install,” says Dave. “The manuals for the Dynon systems are exceptionally good. The sensor package that comes with the system worked right out of the box.” *** Price for the SkyView-equipped 700DX is $138,500, which represents a $3,500 upgrade from the Dynon D-180-equipped version. *** Standing all day in the hot sun and dusty wind day after day is the foot soldier reality for aircraft display folks. Everybody has their own outdoor strategy for showing wares to the public while never being too far from the plane. Here’s a shot of Dave Graham’s Gobosh “office”.
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