Years ago, back in the early days of the Light-Sport Aircraft sector exploding into the world of aviation, of affordable aviation, one of the early entries was SeaMax, from a Brazilian-based company called AirMax.
An old friend in the business and a supremely capable pilot named Carlos Bessa helped SeaMax successfully prove standards compliance to win approval as a Special LSA (#63 of 143 on our SLSA List). Although Chip Erwin’s Mermaid was attracting a lot of attention at the time, SeaMax was an attractive offering.
Another longtime friend in the business, Tom Peghiny — the man behind Flight Design USA but also an astute observer of light aircraft — urged me to go examine the SeaMax. He thought it possessed qualities I would appreciate. He turned out to be spot on.
Subsequently I flew SeaMax for about four hours with Carlos, spread over a few days.
Archives for November 2017
Rotax iS Lane-Light Problems? HDX to the Rescue!
When Rotax moved their 912 iS Sport project from engineering to production, the big Austrian engine manufacturer elevated their already-immensely-popular 9-series engines to a higher level. Beside fuel injection, the company added electronic engine controls more advanced than any other in their inventory.
If you’ve flown with the iS Sport as I have you know it has terrific performance — torque was increased through an enlarged airbox along with other minor refinements — plus it gives even better fuel consumption. When flying with Aerosports‘ Jeremy Knoll at DeLand 2017, I heard that his trip from Wisconsin to Florida in the TAF Sling yielded fuel consumption rates of 2.7 gallons per hour at cruise. Man! That is some fuel efficient flying and that is part of what Rotax achieved with their iS model. They will use that technology plus more on their coming 135-horsepower 915 iS due on the market next year.
Race Around DeLand Showcase 2017 …Video Views of Most Aircraft
If you did not get to DeLand Showcase 2017, the second running of this new LSA, light kit aircraft, and ultralight show, we’ve given coverage with more to follow, but you might really like the quick view of most aircraft on exhibit at the event just concluded.
As some were starting to pack out on the later hours of the last day, Videoman Dave and I did a quick race around all the airplane exhibits. We’ve done this before and viewers seem to like it as it provides a bit of information about many airplanes while providing an overview of how the event appeared.
The video speaks for itself and we hope you enjoy.
I marvel at how efficiently and quickly Videoman Dave assembles these videos. This one was especially fast but he will be putting some major hours assembling a whole batch of perhaps 30 new interviews plus several fresh Video Pilot Reviews (VPRs).
DeLand Showcase 2017 Records Growth — Customers Flew & Bought — Vendors Smiled
The second year of the DeLand Showcase is over. Most folks I asked judged it a success. Year #2 year of this three-day event again logged weather that could not have been better. Sunny blue skies dappled with puffy Cumulus clouds, modest winds, and temperatures in the 80s (high 20s C° for our metric readers). DeLand is two for two!
What more could you ask? Well, that depends.
Customer traffic “was up every day over the same day last year,” observed show director Jana Filip. That is certainly trending the right direction. Was it enough growth to satisfy a key component of these shows, the vendors? That depends on whom you ask.
One prominent company told me they did not know if they’d be back next year, but few will be surprised to see them return anyway. After spending money on the exhibit space and the logistics of moving aircraft, preparing for the show, and housing staff on-site, vendors seem ever to yearn for more “foot traffic.” While acknowledging the yearning, most sales pros know that the question that truly counts is… Did enough customers show enough interest that you took orders or at least obtain qualified leads?
The Triumph of LSA — Helping the Entire World of Aviation (that’s no exaggeration!)
[from a talk given at DeLand Showcase 2017…]
After more than 13 years of LSA, I believe the industry can stand tall and proud…
Even with more than 140 attractive, innovative, and roomy LSA of every description, much of what makes LSA a strong and worthy addition to aviation is less obvious to many.
Sure, pilots love the nuts and bolts and hearing about performance or flight characteristics of our favorite aircraft but what has really brought LSA to the forefront of aviation… worldwide?
I’m lucky. I’ve had a front row seat to what I consider to be the greatest modern story in aviation.
Since the 1970s, I watched hang gliders evolve into ultralights and ultralights transform into LSA. Then I watched as a worldwide fleet launched into the skies over the past 15-20 years. This has been humbling to experience and a source of constant delight …as well as a source of material for thousands of articles and hundreds of video.
DeLand 2017 Day One is History; Flying the Evektor Harmony LSA (Video)
We spent the first day of the second year of this event zooming around DeLand Showcase 2017 shooting several videos for you and I have a sample MiniVideo for you to view. This short take is modest compared to the more professionally-edited ones my video partner SportAviationMagazine.com will produce from the footage we shot today. Here’s the link to Videoman Dave’s YouTube channel where you can find hundreds more.
Long days at the show filled with interviews, photo taking, and discussions with industry leaders and aircraft representatives swallow most of the available time. Yet these brief videos provide quick views and I hope to add more at DeLand and other events. Offer a comment if you like them.
The Evektor Harmony LSA is represented in the USA by Dreams Come True, run by Steve Minnich (who by the way has flown the subject aircraft some 700 hours …though the aircraft obviously has received plenty of care and attention).