The FAA just published a petition for rulemaking from EAA, AOPA, NAFI, and GAMA that calls for sport pilot instruction hours to count toward Private Pilot and higher ratings. *** The petition calls for a change in the current regs that disqualify flight training hours for counting toward higher ratings, if those hours were taught by a CFI-S, which is a flight instructor who only has the Sport Pilot rating. *** The petition addresses FAR Part 61 and seeks to simplify and harmonize all flight training areas, and beyond that, actually makes sense when you think about it. After all, why should sport pilots have to repeat their initial flight training because they learned the basics in an LSA from an LSA-only-rated instructor? *** FAA personnel upon reflection (and prodding from the above named orgs) seems to have realized the unintentional discrimination against Sport Pilot CFIs, and by extension, Sport Pilot students, among other considerations, was making a statement about Sport Pilot training (or CFI-Ss) being somehow inferior to traditional CFIs and their training methods, which is probably pretty silly when you think about it.
Archives for August 2011
Power To/From the People!
Stephan Boutenko has a big vision…and he’s taking it to E-street. *** Anyone familiar with Bend, Oregon’s Lance Niebauer, the successful Los Angeles graphic artist who decided to design an airplane and spawned the highly successful Lancair series of homebuilts, which evolved into the production Cessna Columbia composite four-seater, should check out another Oregonian with a big dream: Stephan Boutenko. *** He’s boldly going directly to the internet for public contributions to fund his electric S-LSA. The company name is Alternair, and the airplane is simply called the Amp — perhaps an unintentional play on the word imp, because it is a cute little thing…but with big dreams in its electric heart. *** A professional pilot and Embry Riddle grad with an Professional Aeronautical design degree, Boutenko hopes to progress the current electric-powered aircraft technology beyond demonstration-style or exotic motorglider models. *** The Amp, still in the design stages, will perform comparably to the current crop of gasoline-powered LSA…at as little as 80% lower direct operating costs.
Politics and LSA… 1st in a Series: Certification
In a series of posts from time to time, I will explore the relationship between government(s) and aviation. I plan to take a global view but the essence is this: Since the beginning of aviation (or at least since near the beginning) government has approved any aircraft the public may buy and fly. A newly designed model, after proving its airworthiness to company engineers and management, had to gain government approval before sales could begin. *** The cost curve has been steeply upward. Cirrus Design is a company whose emergence I watched very closely when I worked for BRS parachutes some years ago. We were deeply involved with Cirrus in the certification of a parachute system for the SR20. My front-row seat gave an intimate look into the approval process. Cirrus reported a cost of many tens of millions of dollars to get a Part 23 Type and Production Certificate. *** Then came LSA.
Out-Cubbing the Cubs… Can You iCub?
Sportair USA thinks the American Cub replicas — those from CubCrafters or American Legend — are rather expensive. After all, when LSA started and the European aircraft began arriving, those across-the-Atlantic manufacturers enjoyed very low wage rates and lower general costs allowing them to sell at prices below that U.S.-based producers could match.
A couple years before the first European LSA arrived, a euro and a dollar had roughly the same value. Then things started to change. Wages began to rise in eastern Europe. Simultaneously, the dollar began to lose value… or the euro began to gain (it doesn’t really matter which way you look at it). The two conspired to cause the price of European-built LSA soar in cost to American buyers.
Today, at least one (Allegro) and perhaps as many as four more European aircraft will be built in the USA.
Broad Smiles After AirVenture Oshkosh 2011
Reports continue positively for results at AirVenture 2011… despite FAA’s partial shutdown, a media frenzy over the USA’s debt ceiling, a roller coaster ride in the stock markets, and a continuing bum housing market plus general uncertainty. If you can smile after all that, things must be improving. *** GAMA’s report of Type Certified aircraft deliveries for the first half of 2011 shows sales remain far below manufacturing capacity. Thanks significantly to Cessna’s hastened deliveries of Skycatcher, the LSA sector is surviving a bit better; of course, LSA sell many less units than GA and account for much smaller dollar volume. Here’s more evidence of improvement… •• Icon Aircraft announced they secured 143 delivery position sales ($286,000 raked in) at AirVenture for their sexy new A5, expected on the market perhaps by 2012. Icon generously donated 10% of the take to EAA Young Eagles program. •• Flight Design continues to log orders for its LSA but their new four seat C4 has now garnered nearly 100 delivery position orders (at $7,000 apiece).
Best Bargain in a Ready-to-Fly Airplane?
Many pilots speak of airplanes they cannot afford. Indeed, $150,000 Light-Sport Aircraft are priced beyond common budgets. One way to solve this is through a partnership or fractional ownership… and I will be writing about partnerships later this year. *** Another way involves a ready-to-fly aircraft for under $15,000. You read it right: $14,995 for a ready to fly aircraft with many features you want including electric starting, flaps, brakes, tricycle gear, and instruments. I must also mention it successfully meets U.S. Part 103 ultralight regulations. Plus, it is great fun to fly! *** Welcome back to Terry Raber’s brilliant Aerolite 103… literally brilliant in day-glow orange (photo). An amazing value, let me list a few of the standard equipment items: Factory-built; Hirth F-33 engine with electric start & battery; nose fairing & windshield; instruments including airspeed, altimeter, tachometer, EGT, CHT, and clock; electric flaps; steerable nose wheel with suspension; and four-point restraint system (this list does not include everything you get).
What’s Going on at the Top? — Part 2
Earlier I wrote about several changes of leadership at LSA producers. Here’s a similar story, one I find quite amazing for its breadth. Consider this… The following organizations — some of the biggest and most influential in aviation — have seen longtime leaders depart: EAA, Sun ‘n Fun, Sebring Expo, and a couple years ago, AOPA. We’re used to frequent leadership changes at FAA, where people seem to move between jobs like a game of musical chairs, but the preceding private organizations had consistent leaders for a decade or more. *** Most recently, Tom Poberezny retired as Chairman of EAA. His departure was abrupt, with a hastily arranged press conference on day two of AirVenture followed by no Tom for the rest of the show he has managed for decades. The decision was speculated to be contentious but regardless of back office maneuvering, it seems a missed opportunity to publicly acknowledge more than a half century of guidance by the founding Poberezny family.
GLIDER and WHEELS are sold, Z5 HARNESS still available
Please click on archive list lower right of this page, or go here for harness details, and thanks for checking in.
AirVenture 2011 Wrap-Up and Summary
Oshkosh 2011 is history. By numerous accounts, this was a vast improvement over 2010 when the comments commonly went, “Well, I had some interest (in my airplane) and I hope to sell one or two… maybe.” This year I had easily 30 conversations revealing either outright positive successful results or varyingly robust mood indicators such as, “Looks like aviation has life in it again.” I heard from sellers and customers and rarely had to solicit their opinions. *** A number of aircraft purveyors said they took cash deposits and wrote firm contracts. I estimate about 30 aircraft sales by this method. Companies like Icon, Flight Design, and Terrafugia sold a large number of future delivery positions (more than 50, more than 60, and “several,” respectively). *** Icon neared or crossed the 500-on-order point, partly by “testing elasticity” in the pre-order market by lowering the A5 seaplane deposit to $2,000 from $5,000.