Are Light-Sport Aircraft too expensive? With yellow taildraggers from some companies exceeding $200,000, it certainly sounds so. Gorgeous and modern carbon fiber LSA run $125,000 to $180,000. So, yeah, if your budget is leaner or if you merely want to keep the price tag down for a recreational aircraft, it’s tougher than imagined before the SP/LSA regulation was announced in 2004.
Tougher, but not impossible. In fact, I’ve long maintained that we do have more reasonably priced LSA for sale but some folks want the more expensive, every-bell-and-whistle aircraft even while they resist the prices such gear costs. Our PlaneFinder 2.0 feature tries to address this with a price above-or-below $100,000. Even determining that can be difficult as some aircraft offer most optional equipment as standard while others prefer a very basically equipped airplane for a low price and let buyers add the stuff they want. Fair enough; a free market in aircraft should offer more choices and let the buyer decide.
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SkyReach (Aerosport) — BushCat
If you’ve been saying that Light-Sport Aircraft are too expensive, here is an airplane that may force you to readjust your thinking. While some carbon fiber beauties are indeed rather costly, BushCat has always been one of the true bargains. True, it is simpler in construction but that also means it is lighter which helps it perform well. In early 2017, BushCat starts at just $65,000 ready-to-fly. By any measure that’s a bargain. Find out more detail in this video from the Midwest LSA Expo 2016.
SkyReach — BushCat with higher gross (2015)
BushCat has long be both a very interesting design with features you will not find on other aircraft and it has a price point that most can consider. Prices changes so check with the supplier, but at $65,000 in 2015, BushCat deserves your examination. Now, it is even more capable with a new gross weight hitting the upper limit of 1,320 pounds meaning you can carry two 200-pound occupants and 65 pounds of baggage or other gear. Have we got your attention now?
BushCat Available Several Ways, All Affordable
Let’s move right to an important point. BushCat is most interesting aircraft with unique features of interest to many and you are much more likely to afford the South African airplane with its 2015 U.S. price of $65,000. That figure covers the Rotax 100-horsepower 912 engine; you can pay somewhat less with the 80-horsepower that is more than enough engine to give this light aircraft plenty of performance. You could also save more by assembling a kit version of this Special LSA.
However, now BushCat has another feather in its cap, so to say.
SkyReach engineers were able to raise weight from 1,245 to 1,320 pounds by strengthening components like wing strut brackets, then followed by an intense program of flight testing to include an entire regimen of spin testing (the latter representing much more work than many pilots may think). What does this do for BushCat beside bringing its numbers up to the max allowed in the LSA category?
Shark Attack — Review and Video of a Striking Mosaic-Ready Aircraft
Readers who scour the Internet looking for fascinating Light-Sport Aircraft may already know Shark. Conceived by Jaro Dostal in the Czech Republic, this design is the latest from a man who has a long, storied history of aircraft for the light aviation set.
Jaro’s work included the Skyboy from the early days of LSA and later the MD-3 SportRider. Both won approval from many pilots.
All Jaro’s designs have one common easily-seen design characteristic: his shark fin vertical tail. Of course, this one is no different in that respect but it is the first to openly embrace the name. With this speedy aircraft already flying in North America and with more on the way, I couldn’t resist the compelling “Shark Attack” title. Let’s check it out.
Shark.Aero
Shark is built at a factory in the country of Slovakia in a region said to be well known for producing innovative designs.
There’s a New Rotax Service Center In Town: LEAF Acquired By APS
Advanced Powerplant Solutions (APS) is a new company under the new ownership of Jeremy and Daniela Knoll, who you may know of AeroSport fame, that has purchased Leading Edge Air Foils, LLC (LEAF), which, among other things, was a Rotax independent service center for the central US. APS will carry on the Rotax-oriented business from LEAF from its base in Delavan, Wisconsin. They’re based at Lake Lawn Airport (C59), about 40 miles southwest of Milwaukee and 35 miles northeast of Rockford.
Joining the Knolls will be Brett Lawton, as their technical director. Jeremy and Daniela say that they are “dedicated to maintaining the legacy of LEAF while integrating innovative solutions and expanded service offerings. Customers can look forward to a comprehensive range of Rotax engines, parts, technical support, repair, and maintenance services. Our goal is to be the central hub for Rotax services in the USA, ensuring reliability, expertise, and the highest standards of customer service.”
While the company is getting spooled up, maintenance classes are on hold until Fall 2024.
2023 Is a Wrap! — Aero Showcase at DeLand Airport Colorfully Closes the Airshow Year
Is a Showcase an airshow? Or is it a trade show? Is this the same as an event once called the DeLand Sport Aviation Showcase?
To these questions, you could reply, “Who cares?” This year’s Aero Showcase displayed a worthy selection of handsome airplanes. What more do pilots want? Entry and parking were free. Amenities were good.
Aero Showcase 2023 was like that fantasy where a rich friend with a collection of cool airplanes gets them all out for you to look at and perhaps fly.
Sector-Specific Shows
Interested pilots could and did take demo flights at DeLand 2023 in one of the aircraft for sale. This is a very easy and welcoming airport to such flight activity. Aero Affinity and Aero Showcase partner Doma Andreka took several prospects aloft in his Magnus Fusion 212. This is the lone LSA model that offers aerobatic capability (article), assuming you select the UL Power engine approved for inverted flight.
Midwest LSA Expo — Opening Day Highlights Strong Aircraft Turnout and Lots of Demo Flying
One sure way to know if a show works is to observe vendor participation over a number of years. As this is my 14th year attending the Midwest LSA Expo, I can tell you 2023 represents a strong turnout. Companies come back year after year because it works to connect them with interested customers. Both sides end up with smiles.
In this article, I will give you a glimpse of what you can see if you can attend on Friday and Saturday. For those that cannot come, this will provide some taste of what happens in Mount Vernon, Illinois in early September. Hopefully, you can come in 2024.
Every image you see below shows that vendors did not just bring one airplane to test the market. In every case, these companies brought two, three, or even four aircraft to show. That’s very rare even at AirVenture or Sun ‘n Fun.
What this illustrates is that the Midwest LSA Expo (about an hour’s drive east of St.
Midwest Expo 2023, Zenith’s Homecoming, Aero Showcase, and a New Owner of Jabiru
When AirVenture Oshkosh ends, you can almost hear a national sigh as if to denote the flying season is over. EAA’s magnificent summer celebration of flight leads to Labor Day and into fall.
Fun flying in northern climates might begin to slow but in the southern half of the U.S., flying for fun is entering its best season.
As if to prove the point, coming up soon:
15th annual Midwest LSA Expo,
Zenith’s 32nd Annual Homecoming event follows the Expo, with even larger crowds,
Aero Showcase’s second event is scheduled and being promoted, and
down under — where Australis is exiting winter (yeah, weird, huh?) — big changes for Jabiru
Midwest 2023
I’ve taken to shortening the event name to “Midwest (Year)” because I say or write it so often. This show — as you might expect, in the Midwest USA — has become a foundation of my aviation calendar. I only missed one year due to a hurricane in Florida where I live.
Kitplanes For Africa… Where Bushplanes Are Big — Really Big — and Capable
I first ran into Stefan Coetzee and KFA at Aero Friedrichshafen, my favorite light aircraft show in Europe. I was caught by the clever name. Easy to say, “KFA” sticks in your mind like a catchy tune.
Kitplanes For Africa sounds like a company making aircraft that should have superior bush capabilities. It was a handsome aircraft and I felt readers would enjoy it but they had no American representation at the time so I filed the discovery away under: “Promising.”
The bigger and more accurate picture is that KFA is yet another light aviation success story for South Africa*.
Almost half-way around the world, South Africa fell out of many conversations once the apartheid struggle finally ended in the 1990s. Yet despite years of ugly headlines, the country’s interest in aviation has been strong and building. Companies are producing lots of aircraft. (The Aircraft Factory alone produces 20 Sling aircraft each month, and has plans to increase to 30, employing almost 500 personnel.)
KFA was begun roughly when apartheid ended, so it shares no history with that difficult period.
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