As I’ve written a few times, I see a dichotomy in LSA designs. Landplanes appear to have entered a “mature” phase, where changes are incremental, evolutionary rather than revolutionary, if you will. I see nothing wrong with that. To the contrary, it speaks to an industry that knows where it is going and how to achieve design goals. Electric propulsion is still stirring things considerably (witness several recent articles here and elsewhere) but electric motors can work on landplanes or seaplanes.
To my view, it appears the lead in the most innovative design is being done in LSA seaplanes. Perhaps this was triggered by Icon and their A5. The California entry is handsome and well enough marketed to collect many orders. While finally coming to market A5 has been a decade in preparation. This left the door open for more highly innovative entries
Meanwhile existing designs such as Searey and Super Petrel have been much refined and have demonstrated meeting ASTM standards with Searey also achieving Chinese Type Design Approval.
Archives for June 2015
Super Duper Legend Cub with 180 Horses!
Whoa, big boy! When you have huge power available, you need to … well, go have fun! I’ve covered the Super Legend before (article & video), which had the multi-fuel, electronic ignition 115-horsepower Lycoming O-235 installed. Certainly that was and remains a solid powerplant but now the company has added a Titan engine that pulls like a team of stallions. Call it the Super Duper Legend Cub.
As sales of Legend Cubs and similar aircraft have shown, pilot interest in Cubalikes is strong. American Legend recently logged their 10th anniversary; they’ve been around since the LSA sector first arrived on the scene. However, they haven’t simply made the same old airplane in the same old way. Now welcome Super Legend HP.
Before Sun ‘n Fun 2015, the Sulphur Springs, Texas company announced they had added, “a host of new features for our Super Legend, adding functionality, comfort and safety to the lineage of Legend Cub aircraft.
Lightplane Electric Power … Pure or Hybrid?
With our friends at the prestigious Flying magazine putting Airbus’ E-Fan on their July 2015 cover, flanked by a major story inside, it seems everyone is following electric propulsion ever more closely. We’ve been doing it for a while as light aircraft are clearly the first place where electric power is best applied. Airbus may be planning an electric airliner but I don’t expect to see that anytime soon. Meanwhile the giant builder of airliners is indeed pushing forward with a two-and four-seat E-Fan.
However, I see another use of electric motors that strikes me as very compelling, and in the very near term. I wrote about a Spanish project earlier and here is another.
Many years ago when I was a young flight instructor, I dreamed up an idea called JERA, the Johnson Emergency Rocket Assist, born out of a small rocket engine that some gearheads were applying to go-carts on steriods.
Sling News & Video Maker Paul Hamilton
When you deliver an airplane to an accomplished video producer you are bound to get some great photos out of the deal. The images with this article show video impresario (and my longtime friend), Paul Hamilton, flying new Sling N288SL around beautiful Lake Tahoe not far from his home base in Nevada. Paul has been around light aviation for more years that he may be willing to admit. He has long promoted weight shift aircraft and was influential in developing early LSA training documents and videos in addition to making several video productions that were enjoyable to watch.
The Airplane Factory USA boss Matt Liknaitzky wrote, “It was another great showing for the Sling at Sun ‘n Fun 2015 and our team has been busy ever since.” Regarding the new delivery, he added, “In some recent exciting news, another Sling has stretched its wings! N288SL, a brand new Sling [powered by the fuel injected Rotax] 912iS, made the journey to its new home at Paul Hamilton’s Sport Aviation Center at the Carson City Airport (KCXP).
Icon Successfully Completed FAA Audit
Let the production begin! This, um … iconic company in the LSA space has been brewing for a long time, long enough that some aviators have been grumbling, wondering if Icon is “for real.” Today, the company announced that a week ago on June 11th, they successfully completed their FAA audit. That opens the door to serial production of a reported 1,250 orders as announced earlier this year.
In addition, some media persons including yours truly, will get to fly the machine during Oshosh in just a few weeks. I’m excited to see how this well-promoted, long-in-development aircraft flies.
“The successful completion of the FAA’s audit of the A5 is one of the most critical milestones in our company’s history,” said Icon Aircraft CEO and Founder Kirk Hawkins. “This means that after years of intense development by the Icon team, our customers and the media will finally get a chance to experience the A5 firsthand and form their own opinion.
Innovative Hybrid: Jet Power with Electric Motor
Some people, myself included, love soaring flight. As the following article from Dave Unwin explains, to use his words, “Soaring flight exercises a fascination that is both difficult to explain and hard to resist, sometimes called ‘three-dimensional sailing.’ Flying a heavier-than-air machine for several hours and hundreds of miles by using the atmosphere as the fuel possesses an undeniable attraction.” As he further explained in a longer article, the downside is getting airborne for soaring flight. Various alternatives have been explored. Some were reasonable; others were too marginal to be enjoyed. In the following piece Dave tells about a new aircraft that might solve this problem, one that can fit England’s innovative SSDR 300 (kilogram) category. —DJ
Article Updated 6/17/15 — ProAirsport announced, “We have now released a priority price of 39,950 British pounds (about $63,000). More details can be found on our website.” This is an excellent value for a motorglider.
PSA: An Affordable Aircraft?
The following article is a guest editorial by Chip Erwin, a name many rightfully associate with the highly successful SportCruiser LSA. A restless entrepreneur, Chip has been working behind the curtain for several years. He emerged with the Zigolo and is now proposing a fresh name for a segment that seems to have energy behind it. I have reported on England’s new SSDR 300 category and I have observed the rejuvenation of Part 103 vehicles. So, on our recent travels to China, I encouraged Chip to express what he has in mind.
Article Update 6/15/15 — At the end of this article see our video shot at Sun ‘n Fun 2015 regarding Chip’s electric motor and plans.
Is “affordable aircraft” an oxymoron? For most people, probably yes. One answer could be a class of aircraft I like to refer to as a PSA, or Personal Sport Aircraft.
Add-On Electric Motor Emergency & Boost Power
A few years back at Aero 2009, Flight Design and Rotax teamed up on a very interesting project. Based on the R-912 engine they added an optional electric motor that could provide additional torque (a characteristic electric motors have in abundance) for takeoff and climb or for emergency power in the event of a failure. The idea more than intrigued me and many others but it quietly disappeared.
Recently a Spanish university announced it had taken this concept to the next step. The team investigating this seemed focused on the emergency factor but opened the door to combined used of electric motor and gasoline engine. In case of a conventional engine failure, while very unlikely, an electric motor can, they said, deliver another 20 kilometers or 12.5 miles of range. That would be a literally saving grace to the pilot and occupants of a troubled aircraft.
Researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the Axter Aerospace firm developed an electric propulsion system to install in light aircraft to deliver extra power and range in emergency situations.
BushCat Available Several Ways, All Affordable
Let’s move right to an important point. BushCat is most interesting aircraft with unique features of interest to many and you are much more likely to afford the South African airplane with its 2015 U.S. price of $65,000. That figure covers the Rotax 100-horsepower 912 engine; you can pay somewhat less with the 80-horsepower that is more than enough engine to give this light aircraft plenty of performance. You could also save more by assembling a kit version of this Special LSA.
However, now BushCat has another feather in its cap, so to say.
SkyReach engineers were able to raise weight from 1,245 to 1,320 pounds by strengthening components like wing strut brackets, then followed by an intense program of flight testing to include an entire regimen of spin testing (the latter representing much more work than many pilots may think). What does this do for BushCat beside bringing its numbers up to the max allowed in the LSA category?
Is FAA Falling Behind Other National CAAs?
Let’s set the way-back machine to two dates and examine the actions of our good friends at FAA. One date was September 1982. Another date was September 2004.
Date #1 was the time when FAA announced Mike Sacrey and team’s remarkable Part 103. This rule has lasted for 33 years and continues to hold interest (see earlier article on the subject). Date #2 was when FAA announced the SP/LSA rule engineered by Sue Gardner and her team. I continue to applaud their initiative for both simplified rules where they stepped far back and let the market do its magic. Both have increased the freedom of pilots to fly what and how they prefer. Kudos, FAAers!
Part 103 is strictly single seat since the two-seat “103 trainers” were forced into ELSA status. Does a market exist for one-place aircraft? I always cite this survey result from AOPA. After many years of asking, the big member group determined the average occupancy of a GA aircraft was 1.6 persons.