One essential visit at AirVenture Oshkosh 2018 was to the Quad City booth in the Fun Fly Zone. This iconic company in the very light aircraft sector is celebrating 35 years in business. Hearty congratulations to this midwestern USA company for supplying highly affordable aircraft for more than three decades.
Even after the loss of their founder, Dave Goulet, the enterprise has carried the torch to the delight of many pilots.
Today, after all those years, the company can report more than 4,000 Challengers are flying. Along with a few other giants of light aviation, this is one of the great success stories in fly-for-fun aircraft. All have built as kits and one reason for this achievement is care in making the kit an easy project.
For its entire existence, Quad City has followed an admirable system: “Our philosophy is for [the factory] to do all the important and demanding structural work, including installing the controls.
Archives for August 2018
New Opportunities Coming for Light-Sport Aircraft — LAMA’s Advocacy Report
Things are looking up for Light-Sport Aircraft, rather fantastically so in my admittedly biased opinion.
While this space is usually dedicated to cool new airplanes — not boring government policy reviews …yawn! — this article will provide some rays of light to an industry approaching its 15th birthday (in September 2019). I think some of this may surprise you.
LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association (kind of a GAMA for the light aircraft sector) and its partner — USUA, the U.S. Ultralight Association — have been heads-down working on improving the opportunities for LSA.
Core-Four-Plus-One
In June 2018, a series of many meetings that began in 2014 came to an early but very promising point. Here is what I think this means for the Light-Sport Aircraft manufacturing industry and those who own and operate LSA.
LAMA took a long list of suggestions about the then-10-year-old industry and reduced it to four initiatives.
Gorgeous Ryan ST in 95% Replica Form — Vintage Aircraft Lovers’ Delight
One aircraft at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh really caught my eye. OK, truth be told, dozens of aircraft caught my eye but this shiny example seemed to be looking back at me.
We simply had to do a video interview with the developer of the 1930s-era Ryan ST because of its fascinating history and its handsome good looks. If you love vintage aviation, this should grab your attention as it did mine.
Nick Pfannenstiel is a young developer with a mission, to create or, more accurately, re-create the Ryan ST. He began the design phase of his 95% scale Ryan ST in June 2015 and construction began in early 2016. By 2018, you see the aircraft is nearly finished form.
Ryan’s ST featured two open cockpits in tandem seating with a semi-monocoque metal fuselage. A main steel ring forms the backbone of the Ryan ST replica but most of the fuselage uses aluminium alloy
The project is not merely a personal fascination for Nick.
SeaMax “Rebrands” Itself; Well Established SLSA Seaplane Ready to Launch
The LSA seaplane sector is one of the most intriguing areas of the diverse Light-Sport space. Development has introduced many fresh ideas to this class of airplane.
At present a few companies are actively delivering airplanes that have proven themselves over several years of operation. One of those is SeaMax, formerly delivered by a company known by its Portuguese name, Airmax Construções Aeronauticas.
Now, welcome the simpler SeaMax Aircraft.
The manufacturer of the SeaMax M-22 announced a company rebranding last week. As part of its strategy to enter into the U.S. market, the company changed its logo and named the company after its prominent aircraft model.
“Our new brand, SeaMax Aircraft LTDA, captures the identity of a legendary and globally known aircraft and incorporates [the model] into the spirit of our company, consolidating market recognition,” said Shalom Confessor, Executive Director of the company headquarters in the United States.
The company now known as SeaMax Aircraft reports manufacturing 152 of its amphibious aircraft.
First Vashon Rangers Delivered to Owners After Successful Oshkosh Debut
UPDATE: Video on Ranger at bottom…
Often at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh we see improved models among vast displays of showplanes. What we see less of are brand new offerings. Yet given the sheer number of aircraft, something brand new can surprise.
You probably already know about Vashon Aircraft’s Ranger (we reported it here) but attendees saw it for the first time at the big summer airshow.
We shot video with Vashon marketing maven Amy Bellesheim and owner John Torode at the event and you’ll learn more about Ranger from this duo when editing is completed. We recorded our usual large batch of fresh video; please be patient during the editing phase and check Ultralight News YouTube channel to see the latest.
Great Showing and Show
Amy reported, “We were overwhelmed with positive feedback” at Oshkosh. “We are up to 57 deposit holders,” she beamed.
Twin-Electric-Motor Biplane Made Mostly from Foam …and, Yes, a Human Flies It!
For your enjoyment, here is arguably the most unique airplane I found on the grounds of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2018 …and with around 3,000 show planes, that is truly saying something.
This aircraft is made almost entirely of foam sheets that you can buy at Home Depot or Lowe’s. It uses two electric motors for thrust. The aircraft is a biplane taildragger. Batteries provide the fuel.
Plus, yes, it actually flies! Catch some of the action in two videos below.
Award Winner?
This unusual arrangement was prepared for EAA’s tough judges. However it fared in that evaluation, this clearly wins an award in my mind for being highly original, unique, super affordable, and OK… it is rather delightfully weird, not that that I see anything wrong with that.
What you are seeing in the nearby photos and videos below is Peter Sripol‘s man-carrying scratch-built aircraft project.
Peter is a longtime modeler and homebuilder with a popular YouTube channel that boasts more than 650,000 subscribers!