FAA’s Light-Sport Aircraft category involves quite the intriguing mixture of aircraft. Fixed wing aircraft of many descriptions, weight shift, powered parachute, gyroplanes, motorgliders, seaplanes, of course, and, lighter-than-air. Every niche has been well explored …except for that last one.
Now comes FlyDoo from France, an LSA-category-fitting hot-air balloon. Designer Leandro Corradini thought he could deliver something that didn’t exist in the market so he set up shop to supply envelope, basket, burner, and more in a practical, lightweight, compact, and easy-to-transport and -store package.
FlyDoo breaks down compactly enough that you could easily store it in your house or apartment. He even shows pictures of transporting it to a flying field by adding a wheel and tow bar kit to the gondola making the aircraft into a small trailer that can be towed by a bicycle.
Leandro observes that established balloon manufacturers are accustomed to working in the FAA or CAA certified aircraft environment, often building large balloons used commercially to give rides.
Archives for September 2018
Gyroplanes Are Big Overseas — First Market Share Info for the USA
Updated September 26, 2018 — This article has been updated to include more producers. See at bottom. —DJ
Over many years, you have found LSA market share information on this website. Many have found this of interest …from businesses learning more about their market; to customers doing careful investigation before paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for a new aircraft; to government fulfilling its task of regulating industry; to insurance companies assessing risk of providing their product; and many other actors in the blockbuster movie that is light, recreational aviation.
I will have more to say about the broader LSA market share reports below but now I want to present the best information I have seen for Light-Sport Aircraft Gyroplanes.
…uh, except for one problem. No such aircraft category exists, SLSA gyroplanes, that is.
FAA has denied fully-built Special LSA status to rotary winged aircraft such as gyroplanes.
Equator Light-Sport Aircraft Seaplane Secures Crowd Funding; Makes First Flight
This article has been updated with a new image; a minor correction was made.
LSA seaplanes have provided some of the most interesting new developments in aviation. Perhaps interest stems from the vast numbers of landable waterways compared to runways. Perhaps it’s the versatility of amphibians. Maybe people are simple drawn by the good looks or unique qualities of entries.
Among the several projects, one of the most fascinating has been the hybrid electric seaplane called Equator P2 Xcursion, from Norway. I have reported on P2 Xcursion before; here’s the earlier article.
Years in the Making
CEO and lead designer Tomas Brødreskift reports the company has invested some 30,000 man-hours into the Equator Aircraft project. An engineer, private pilot, and recreational flying enthusiast, he acquired a passion for flying that most readers know well. Like many of them, he saw in the aircraft he was flying a lack of modern design.
Clamar Floats Moving to Brunswick, Maine; Joining Other Light-Sport Aircraft Companies
While weather starts to cool in the northern USA, in the sub-tropical south, it is still warm enough to enjoy float flying. However, even up north — Maine, in this case — seaplane activity continues to pace the LSA market.
Recently, seaplane enthusiast and businessman Paul Richards informed us of a move for a leading producer of floats for light aviation: Clamar.
Paul wrote, “Clamar Floats designs and produces straight and amphibious floats for experimental aircraft using high-tech materials and vacuum infusion technology to produce the lightest and strongest floats available.” Until this announcement, the company has been located in London, Ontario Canada.
However, Paul reported that Clair Sceli, founder of Clamar Floats, announced the upcoming relocation of Clamar’s manufacturing operations to Brunswick Executive Airport on the campus of Brunswick Landing in Midcoast, Maine. He said, “This is a 3,500-acre campus is the former Brunswick Naval Air Station now operated by the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority.”
The onetime military facility includes an 8,000 foot runway while the seaplane-accessible Androscoggin River water is less than two miles from the departure end of runway 01.
Hansen Brothers’ Airport Donation / 2 More Video Pilot Reports
This article was updated with additional photos; see at bottom.
Midwest LSA Expo held a special ceremony to honor two men in their donation of a beautiful LSA-like aircraft now permanently displayed on an striking pedestal near the airport entrance.
Lots of airports have military aircraft mounted on pedestals. Even AirVenture, base of the homebuilders, has military fighters on raised displays — including the famous “jet-on-a-stick” near the show entrance. These displays honor a warbird heritage but those aircraft aren’t what most members fly.
Enter Light-Sport Aircraft. While some have gotten deluxe far beyond the original concept — with prices to match — many affordable aircraft still make up the category of Light-Sport Aircraft, light kit aircraft, and ultralight aircraft. These aircraft are what “real” people fly.
Midwest LSA Expo has now reached its 10th birthday, staying focused on showcasing this sector of aircraft. So, perhaps it is fitting that today they had a ceremony honoring a donation of a futuristic jet LSA design (technically “LSA-like”).
Flying Aeroprakt’s New A32 Vixxen at Midwest LSA Expo in Mt. Vernon
Many pilots expect the first appearance of a new model at the biggest airshows, but here’s one of those times when the sector-specific shows win. It’s all about timing and the new Aeroprakt A32 just won it’s SLSA approval (#147 on our SLSA List). The Midwest LSA Expo is the first show after getting its documents, so here it is!
Videoman Dave and I spent the morning working on a Video Pilot Report. We captured all the video, spent an hour flying with multiple cameras mounted, and recorded what we call the “stand up.” This segment comes after the flight when I — can you guess? — stand by the the airplane and review it on the ground.
We loaded A32 Vixxen with six of our Garmin Virb cameras plus Dave’s new Garmin 360 cam. It was our first with the latter and, no promises, but that may hold some user-controllable footage so you can go along in an even more realistic way.
Light-Sport Aircraft, Light Kit Aircraft, and Ultralight — Show Season Starts Now
The biggest airshows in recreational aviation are history for 2018. I refer to Sun ‘n Fun, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, and Europe’s Aero Friedrichshafen. Now comes the sector-specific shows, sometimes called LSA Shows.
I love the truly big events as do most attendees and vendors. They are so well executed that I enjoy referring to them as “Disneyland for Airplanes,” (with a polite nod to the Magic Kingdom and its high-end theme park entertainment). I may have outgrown Disney but airplanes hold huge appeal for me and many, many others. The big shows boast hundreds of thousands of attendees throughout their event. That’s great!
The sector specific shows are much smaller. That’s a good thing.
Arguably, the most interesting shows are the smaller ones, those with more modest venues but where you can get more face time with company leaders or pilots. Not only can you have longer, more productive conversations but you can fly more aircraft.
Van’s Aircraft To Bring RV-12 Manufacturing Fully In-House; Here’s the Q&A…
Building kits for homebuilders and assembling fully built aircraft are two very distinct business models. In the early days of Light-Sport Aircraft, European producers enjoyed a head start in fully-built aircraft as their regulations were more accommodating.
American producers were the kings of kits, an effort that calls for good assembly instructions and technical support plus groups that can help each other. These two activities represent night and day differences.
However, in the years since the regulation arrived, American companies have significantly caught up.
Indeed, as September and the 14th anniversary of the SP/LSA rule arrived, Van’s released news of a major change.
“Van’s Aircraft is excited to announce that it is establishing its own aircraft assembly facility and team at its company headquarters in Aurora, Oregon,” the world’s largest kit producer said. “Future RV-12iS and RV-12-iST SLSA aircraft models will be assembled and delivered at this new facility.”
As many readers know, nearby Synergy Air was Van’s assembly partner for several years.
Legal Eagle Is An Exceptionally Low-Cost Ultralight Aircraft for Kit Builders
Perhaps not every pilot needs for aircraft to be affordable but a great many do. Plus, does not every pilot — every customer — appreciate a bargain?
In this article, I am writing about one of most affordable aircraft you can build. Legal Eagle is not available either fully built or in a full kit.
A genuine, qualifying Part 103 ultralight vehicle, Legal Eagle ultralight weighs only 244 pounds. The three axis aircraft is designed around the four stroke half VW engine producing 30 horsepower, more than enough power for most applications.
A slightly enlarged version of the original, the Legal Eagle XL Ultralight can handle a 275 pound pilot yet has an empty weight of just 246 pounds …so it also makes the grade as an ultralight.
The original Legal Eagle limited the pilot weight to 225 pounds. Physically bigger pilots also needed a wider, taller seat plus more wing area and span was needed to carry the added pilot weight.