Mosaic is coming! Are you ready?
OK, Mosaic is still around 15 months away (based on FAA’s often-repeated statement). But good companies plan ahead for changes they can foresee. Icon is moving to increase capabilities on their A5 LSA seaplane… plus, the company is responding to customers who gave feedback to the California aircraft manufacturer.
As most readers now know, Mosaic LSA can be larger and therefore they can carry more. While these airplanes remain more than a year from first deliveries current LSA models are expanding their capacities in preparation.
Go Bigger!
Icon Aircraft released news about the 2024 A5. “After nearly two years of rigorous R&D, testing, and production preparation, Icon is excited to announce that it has increased the gross weight of the A5 by 60 pounds, resulting in a new useful load of 490 pounds (up from 430 pounds),” the company stated.
This change comes from a gross weight increase to 1,570 pounds.
Archives for February 2024
News Bits — Sun ‘n Fun 50th Birthday, Hexa Draws Big Media to Lakeland, VREF & LSA
To start off your new workweek, here are fresh light aviation news bits from last week.
Not all aviation news items justify a whole article but that doesn’t mean these accomplishments should be ignored. Here are three such items. Each exerts an influence on the future of flying.
Let’s get the newsday started…
Whoo Hoo!
Sun ‘n Fun Turns 50!
Keen to celebrate their 50th anniversary, Sun ‘n Fun sent out a special invitation that may be of great interest to fly-in campers.
Sun ‘n Fun e-blasted, “6 Things To Do When You Land at Sun ‘n Fun 2024!” The half-century-old event runs April 9 to 14, 2024 in Lakeland, Florida.
After you park your airplane and find your camping spot for the week, head on over to The Island.
Check in at the Pilot Welcome Center brought to you by Phillips 66.
Visit the Island Country Store and stock up on your basic necessities.
Flight of the Phoenix (Motorglider) — Top 50 Video Star Is Back with News
The Top 50 video series has gone over very well and continues with this post about the Phoenix LSA motorglider. If you thought it disappeared and were unhappy about that, have I got good news for you!
I am aware of a very positive development regarding Phoenix that I am working to confirm. As soon as I have fuller details I will update this article but the prospects for LSA motorglider look promising.
In North America, Phoenix Air USA is run by Ed Babovec (email) and he is excited about 2024. …more as it unfolds.
Motorgliders as a subset of all aircraft enjoy some very special privileges that endear them to the recreational flying community. In particular, motorgliders do not require an aviation medical. That alone makes them desirable but long-gliding capabilities make them safer to some pilots and simply more enjoyable to others. Let’s look a little more deeply.
Top 50: Just Aircraft Escapade > Highlander > SuperSTOL and More…
Here we go again… in a great way, I hope. Returning to our Top 50 Video series, we come to Just Aircraft and their jaw-dropping SuperSTOL. At airshows in recent years, lots of pilots spoke with excitement about STOL competitions. Just’s SuperSTOL was often part of the conversation.
Videos highlighted in our Top 50 series are the most popular 50 selections from a library of about 1,000 videos appearing on Dave Loveman’s Light Sport and Ultralight Flyer YouTube channel. They represent the “Best of Dave & Dan” videos as determined by your views.
Just Aircraft has a long history of building close to 1,000 aircraft, the company said in early 2024. A large share of these, around 800, were SuperSTOL kits. The lines are a bit indistinct because SuperSTOL is at heart a Highlander kit hopped up on steroids (or the airplane equivalent). These days, Highlander remains a good seller for Walhalla, South Carolina-based Just Aircraft, said main man Gary Schmitt on a recent phone call.
Rotax Aircraft Engines Fly-In World Tour 2024 — Dates Announced for Global Series
For some years, Rotax Aircraft Engines has invited their worldwide flock to Wels, Austria. This charming town north of Salzburg is near the home of Rotax’s headquarters in Gunskirken.
On three separate visits to Rotax I was able to attend one of their Fly-in events plus a special visit just for aviation journalists.
Beautiful and inviting as Wels is, this is not an easy visit for folks from the company’s far-flung customer base in nearly every country on Earth. So, in addition to inviting the world to their headquarters event, Rotax is going abroad.
Get ready for Rotax’s World Tour 2024!
The Biggest goes Bigger
BRP-Rotax is the Austrian subsidiary of BRP Inc, “a leader in the development and production of propulsion systems for the recreational and powersports markets,” according to the company.
Founded in 1920, BRP-Rotax builds innovative Rotax four-stroke and two-stroke high-performance engines used in products such as Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo personal watercraft, Can-Am onroad and offroad vehicles, as well as for karts and sport planes.
First One in the USA — Flying TL’s Luxurious, Mosaic-Ready Sparker Aircraft
Some pilots can hardly wait for Mosaic. It takes all kinds, of course.
Many aviators want to use Sport Pilot’s no-medical aspect to fly a Cessna or Piper that they can buy inexpensively (or already own). That makes sense. These affordable aircraft are familiar and proven, even if they are products of the 1950s with mostly analog instruments and powerplants that burn 10 to 15 gallons per hour of 100LL.
Another group, owners of modern LSA, wants a little more weight than allowed by current regulation. Still others may want to fly at night or in IFR or to use an economical LSA for some form of aerial work.
Then we have what I’ll call the Mosaic LSA crowd. These are pilots with larger budgets — perhaps they sold a Cirrus or Bonanza and have equity to put toward a new aircraft. These experienced pilots are accustomed to well-equipped aircraft with generous cruise speeds.