“We are Arizona’s newest aircraft manufacturer,” said Garrett Komm when we finally located him and his bright blue and silver aircraft.
A fan of this particular flying machine had approached me at Copperstate and said, “You gotta go see this airplane. Tell him Russell sent you!” (Thanks, Russell!)
After wrapping up a couple other video interviews, Videoman Dave and I left the main exhibit area to seek out Russell’s discovery. As we came upon it, parked among other transients to the light aircraft area at Copperstate, we both found it vaguely familiar. Well, it was vague for me. Dave was sure right away.
That’s because Gair-Planes‘ Mule started life as the Merlin from Canada and Dave was associated with the project for a time. Garrett had also worked with the Canadian designer so they compared notes for a few minutes.
I’d flown one of these for an hour or so many years ago.
Archives for February 2019
AeroJones Unveils Their Six-Axis Full-Motion Flight Simulator for CTLS
At a major show in China called Zhuhai visitors saw something: a new 6-axis LSA flight simulator. The developer is AeroJones Aviation, the CTLS manufacturer for the Asia-Pacific region. The company exhibited their simulator to a warm reception.
General aviation is beginning to develop in China lead by airport construction at hundreds of the country’s huge cities. As I’ve written before, I have no doubt the airports will be built, but actual flying at most of them — by Light-Sport Aircraft or other recreational aircraft — seems somewhere off in the future.
China has a massive job ahead. Chinese business people have proven very capable of building many things, but developing a culture of the citizenry flying in light aircraft still has quite a distance to go. However, AeroJones new simulator may help the country take a huge stride forward.
First, Simulate — Then, Go Aloft
Chinese citizens play games, including flight simulators, as much as (or perhaps even more than) Americans do.
Copperstate Day 3 — Going Aloft in the Flying Legend Tucano Replica Light-Kit Aircraft
On Day 3 of Copperstate at the Buckeye Air Fair, crowds were again strong and the skies gradually cleared for another day of flying in the smoothest air I’ve felt in some time.
What made this extra special was a chance to go aloft in the Flying Legend Tucano Replica, a scaled down version of a well-known Brazilian military aircraft.
Indeed, the fighter-like shape and paint job of Tucano beckoned convincingly and I went aloft with Flying Legend USA representative, Giovanni Matichecchia …yeah, I told him I’d just call him Giovanni. He grinned and said his last name was tough even for Italians. This capable 27-year-old pilot is off to the airlines one day but is doing a fine job of demonstration flying Tucano for media types like me and potential buyers of this eye-catching machine.
Flying Legend’s Tucano is a scale replica of well-regarded original.
Copperstate Day 2 — Big Crowds Plus Flying Sling TSi with Rotax 915 Power: Superb!
I have to admit my pleasant surprise. This tie-up of Copperstate and Buckeye Air Fair might be exactly what is needed to generate a major show in the Southwestern USA.
Let me be fair. Other West Coast aviation events have interesting qualities but none has ever risen to the level of AirVenture Oshkosh or Sun ‘n Fun. Those two dominate general aviation events. Both are “back East.”
With big pilot and aircraft populations in California, Arizona, and Washington, why have we no major shows in the West? No one I’ve asked can explain the riddle but could Copperstate Buckeye Air Fair be the right combination? Only time will tell yet on Saturday, crowds were as thick as Oshkosh, albeit in a much smaller area. City planners offered an airshow and lots for attendees to look at plus the Copperstate trade show alongside the Buckeye Air Fair gave the public close access to pilots operating all manner of light aircraft.
Copperstate Day 1 — Wild Sky’s Goat, a Special Light-Sport Aircraft Trike Built to Last
The Copperstate airshow is on in Arizona! Put on by a new combination of Copperstate leadership in cooperation with the town of Buckeye Arizona — which has been hosting its own Buckeye Air Fair — the new event is off and running in its new time slot of early February. For most of its 46-year-long life Copperstate has been in October. Showing the city’s support, both Buckeye’s Mayor and Vice Mayor were present at opening evening ceremonies. Some 20,000 people are expected.
Videoman Dave and I are on-site and working. We’ve already captured a few new interviews for you. On Day 1, one aircraft in particular caught our eyes.
Wild Sky Goat
In many years of reporting on light aircraft, I have flown a lot of weight shift control trikes. I love flying trikes. I’ve flown simple ones, super-deluxe ones, tough ones, and ones that weren’t so tough.
Eurofly Minifox — Light, Low-Cost, Single-Place Aircraft …Oh, and Fun!
“I knew we had all the pictures we needed but I was having a blast and just wanted to keep flying Minifox,” wrote British aviation writer, Dave Unwin. In this article we welcome Dave back to give his description of a fun, highly affordable Part 103-compliant ultralight.
Minifox by Eurofly is a lot of pure flying fun, and it was just joyful to spend an agreeable afternoon on a well-tended grass strip shooting a series of touch ‘n’ goes in an open-cockpit single-seater.
Upon spotting Minifox at a show I was instantly intrigued and inquired with Dave Broom of Airplay, the UK agent for Eurofly of Italy. Dave told me that a Minifox kit could be completed for less than £19.000 or about $25,000. That’s not a lot of money for a brand-new flying machine, and it occurred to me that such a price could help reverse the current trend of making aviation ever-more expensive.
2018 Light Aircraft Market Share Numbers — Now Optimized for Smartphones
At the recently concluded Sebring Sport Aviation Expo, I heard from a number of pilots and vendors about this website publishing fresh market share data. This clearly has value to anyone in the business but it also brings rewards for pilots trying carefully to choose a new aircraft.
Having roamed widely around the Internet to check multiple references, I can confidently state that this information is available from no other source.
Even though our information comes from FAA’s registration database, as our earlier articles about this renewed effort explained (here and here), the computer records needed some serious massaging to properly interpret a large number of make and model variations. Even a recently retired FAA official told me his former office has already begun using our Tableau Public presentation because the data is more user-friendly.
Yet again, I am motivated to give Steve Beste an enormous “Thank you!” for his dedicated effort to take FAA’s data, make complete sense of it (no small task), and to then work with the folks at Tableau to make this information available to you.