My video partner must be working around the clock as he prepared a blizzard of videos for release starting November 1st.
As you see in the list below, 20 videos will soon be available. I hope you’ll enjoy them.
Besides giving you info on various aircraft to see at the event, we hope to encourage you to attend DeLand #2. Videos are great and in them we try to ask the questions you would ask and to show you things you’d look for if you attended. Good as videos are, nothing substitutes for you being present to ask and look yourself. I hope you can.
Videoman Dave and I will be on-site all three days of the event. We will likely be a blur in motion dashing from one fetching aircraft vendor to another to gather more article material and video interviews. We also hope to record more Video Pilot Reports, as we did last year.
Archives for October 2017
Do You Avoid Taildraggers …and therefore Kolb Aircraft? This Proven Company Offers Options.
In the world of kit aircraft a few companies stand out for having delivered many kits that have launched into the air. Leading the success stories is Van’s Aircraft at nearly 10,000 flying — with around double that number of kits shipped. Van’s is trailed by Rans Aircraft, Kitfox Aircraft, and Kolb Aircraft.
Kolb estimates about 8,000 of their various models are flying today, a strong enough figure to make the Tennessee company one of the shining lights in the field of light kit aircraft.
However, Kolb has always had a problem. They build taildraggers.
After generations of pilots were trained in tricycle gear airplanes, many pilots aren’t sure about their ability to handle a taildragger. When landed other than straight and true, a tricycle gear airplane auto-corrects, swinging toward the nosewheel. A taildragger can, if handled poorly, result in the dreaded ground loop, meaning that the tail can swing to the side, potentially causing a wingtip to touch the ground.
AviNation …More than a Clever Name, Effort Aims at Inspiring Young Pilots
Every pilot I know… every aviation organization… every aviation government official… all acknowledge the same requirement for the future of aviation. We need more younger people entering this activity that we current pilots enjoy so much. I feel sure you agree.
However, despite the efforts of many smart people over many decades, the number of younger folks in aviation is smaller than we might like.
Now, let’s be clear. This is not an epic failure. We do have younger pilots involved today. Do you doubt this statement? If so, you are not alone but you may be wrong.
Consider this part of an article I published earlier: “Most pilots I know think the pilot population is graying quickly and that we may be in danger of running out of pilots. [The statistics on American aviators] say otherwise. The biggest single category may be [the one] you expect with those aged 50-64 counting 179,277 pilots.
You Love YouTube Videos. We Love YouTube Videos. See a Batch as DeLand 2017 Arrives!
Are you a YouTube fan? I don’t mean the company or its owner Google/Alphabet (which has removed videos for reasons only a YouTube censor could comprehend). What I’m a fan of is YouTube content creators.
Like literally billions of other people, I’ve come to depend on YouTube videos, whether for pure entertainment or when I’m trying to fix something in my house or on my car. As you probably know, YouTube will almost certainly have not one video to help or delight you, but dozens …on the same topic. More than 300 hours of video are uploaded to Google’s computers every minute of the day, 24×7. Amazing! More than 5 billion videos are watched every day by more than 1.3 billion people (and that’s without China’s 1.3 billion people as the government does not allow YouTube in that nation).
However, this post is not to sing the praises of YouTube but to bring to your attention the yeoman’s work done by my video partner, Dave Loveman, whom I’ve come to call “Videoman Dave,” because unlike yours truly, he tends to shy away from being the on-camera guy or even promoting his name.
DeLand Showcase #2 Coming in Early November… What to See
Given a successful Midwest LSA Expo, you could say the “LSA show season” is underway. This is proven by the upcoming DeLand show — the second annual event — followed by the 14th Sebring LSA Expo. Even before DeLand, for those in western U.S. states, is Copperstate (which is not a pure play LSA event but does have a good representation of them).
Why go to DeLand over November 2-3-4 of this year?
Several reasons come to mind. First, Showcase executive Jana Filip — who earned her stripes managing Sebring for several years — said exhibitor sign-up has been strong, meaning you can see many great light aircraft …more on that below. Second, weather in early November in Florida should be marvelous, even as the northern states head toward winter. Third, DeLand is one of those aviation-sports airports featuring one of the world’s most active sky diving operations.