Two western U.S. shows are filling the aviation calendar at the end of October. They are the last two major events of 2014. Next up will be the Sebring Expo in January 2015. While I attend the Flying Aviation Expo in Palm Springs, California, I am once again amazed that the West has never truly generated any strong aviation events. The Copperstate event is one of the most long-lived at 42 years. More on that below. Yet with California alone having more pilots and aircraft than any other U.S. state — indeed, more by itself than many countries can boast — it has long puzzled me that the trend-setting state has never birthed a great aviation trade show or expo. The biggest events remain in the eastern part of the country led by AirVenture Oshkosh and Sun ‘n Fun. Even in the LSA space the stronger events are in Sebring, Florida and Mt.
Archives for October 2014
Touring All-American Propeller Maker Sensenich
In Light-Sport aviation, we have many international suppliers … of aircraft, engines, instruments, and much more to include propellers. I embrace the worldwide suppliers and don’t fret about America’s position. The truth is, any international supplier has to have a U.S. representative so American jobs and profits are part of that global supply chain and most aircraft built overseas have a substantial percentage of U.S.-produced components. Still, as an American, it is great to see solid U.S. companies prospering. One of those is Sensenich Propellers and last week, I took a tour of this enterprise based in Plant City, Florida (near Lakeland, where Sun ‘n Fun is headquartered).
I was shown throughout the facility by President Don Rowell, a 37-year employee of Sensenich (pronounced SEN-sen-ick). He directly manages the Plant City operation since 1993, after relocating from the company’s founding plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Both facilities continue to operate and are divided by prop material.
Ownership Changes at Remos
This is one of those bad news—good news stories. The bad news for Remos Aircraft is being forced to file for what Germany calls “creditor protection” and what Americans might regard as bankruptcy. Tough times for the onetime high flying company that ran full page ads in America’s largest aviation magazines. The good news is that this is not the end of the story. A few weeks ago I heard through sources in Europe that Remos was filing documents to go out of business. In this case, the rumors turned out to be correct. However, shortly after the old company filed documents, a white knight stepped in to revive the company. This happened once before but this time the change of ownership has the experience of its predecessors. Remos AG is now emerging as the successor to Remos Aircraft GmbH Flugzeugbau. The company remains quartered in Pasewalk, located an hour’s drive northeast of Berlin.
Touring Aviation Stalwart Continental Motors
Continental Motors is known to generations of pilots and not just in the USA. However, I’ll bet most readers do not know that the storied company once produced a radial engine. The company started business way back in 1905 as a builder of truck engines for the U.S. Army. They entered the aviation market in 1929 with the seven cylinder A-70 powerplant. A year later Continental introduced A40 that went to four horizontally opposed cylinders in what is sometimes called a boxer engine. “We were the first to introduce the horizontally opposed cylinder configuration to help increase aircraft speeds,” observed the company. Rotax has generated well deserved publicity with their efficient fuel injected 912 iS but Continental noted that they were “the first to introduce both fuel injection and turbo-charging in general aviation aircraft (both in the 1960s).” They do not offer such configurations for Light-Sport Aircraft, at least not yet although in 2009 Continental threw support behind the new segment introducing the O-200 lighter weight engine that comes in at 199 pounds.
AirCam Owners Know How to Have Fun
I’ve been on a couple AirCam outings and I have two points about them: (1) Owners of this unusual airplane are often fairly well-off people and see a golden opportunity when invited by the good planners at Lockwood Aircraft; and, (2) These pilots know how to have fun with their airplanes, flying to some delicious locations. Previous fly-outs included Jekyll Island, Heaven’s Landing, Cedar Key off Florida’s west coast, and the Bahamas. If you don’t know AirCam here’s a video that gives a bit of the flavor of this amazing aircraft. (I readily admit to a positive bias for the machine as I have had the chance to fly a good number of hours in it and earned my multi-engine rating in one … but that’s another story.)
On the two occasions when I’ve joined the AirCam’ers on their fly-outs (or is that “fly-ins?”), I’ve discovered that these folks have uncovered some wonderful places.
P1NG … Fully Refreshed from Brazil
P1NG is not a sound nor golf equipment. The clever name (that’s a “1” not an “i”) is similar to a plane you know as the Paradise P1. Now get ready for the “Next Generation” P1, or simply, P1NG. The P1 you may have already seen was designed around a four-seat model with the aft cabin simplified to a luggage space. More on the entire family of Paradise airplanes below. P1 and P1NG offer more cubic area than most cockpits in light aviation. Besides a spacious cabin the front seats remove in a few seconds allowing an occupant to stretch out fully in its length. Alternatively, P1NG could easily carry golf clubs (you probably ought to load the American Ping brand), a family pet, camping gear, or anything else that fits within the weight & balance envelope. Though absent from the U.S. market for several years, Paradise reports good business in their native Brazil, a large and aviation-active country.
Corvair Power at Zenith’s Open Hangar Day
Zenith Aircraft has shipped thousands of airplane kits and have examples of Chris Heintz designs flying all over the country and around the world. The kit company run by Chris’ son Sebastien has been at it nearly a quarter century in Mexico Missouri and in my humble opinion deserves the success they’ve achieved by operating the business professionally and by serving their customers well. Two of the many ways this happens is through their Open Hangar Day event — which they’ve hosted since moving to Mexico — and by supporting just about every powerplant aimed at the light recreational aircraft market. Recently I wrote about Viking engines and I’ve often written about Rotax, Jabiru, Continental, and UL Power. One that I’ve left out of the review has been William Wynne’s Corvair-based powerplant and I am pleased to correct that oversight.
FK Lightplanes/ScaleWings SW51 Makes Maiden Flight
(This article has been updated in June 2018 to reflect a new manufacturer.)
At Aero 2013, I covered one of the most interesting replica airplanes I have ever seen in many years of scouring airshows for light aircraft of interest. My videographer and I did a video story about this exciting project. The airplane was again displayed at Aero 2014 though not in such a high traffic location but that hardly dampened enthusiasm. No question … FK Lightplanes continued their approach of great showmanship in displaying the most authentically realistic reproduction of a 70% scale P-51 Mustang you can imagine. Most replicas have to approximate some qualities but FK Lightplanes and their design partner, Austria-based ScaleWings AeroTec, made what they are now calling SW51 into something different. It has detail beyond what you can envision without seeing the construction in person.
First named FK51, SW51 reproduces the 100,000 or so rivets and screws that put together an original World War II vintage P-51 Mustang.
Giant Companies Enter Aviation; Should You Worry?
What do Airbus, Google, Facebook, Amazon, DHL Logistics, and Domino’s Pizza have in common and why should you care? All are very big companies, considerably bigger than most aircraft builders. Here’s what else they all have in common: all of them report developing aircraft and will be seeking their chunk of airspace, those same friendly skies that you and I enjoy using for our sightseeing or other airborne fun. They also have highly paid lobbyists to convince government to let them do what they want. Little airplane companies cannot afford a lobbyist. |||| On the opposite end of the spectrum are hobbyists. Amazon will sell you a drone with a camera for as little as $50 and ones for around $1,000 can easily occupy the same airspace you want to use this weekend. I don’t know about you but while I like all things that fly, the prospect of drones buzzing about willy nilly gives me a case of the creeps.