If you’ve been following exciting developments like the Airbus/Pipistrel/Cri-Cri English Channel crossing, or for that matter any of the electric airplane developments, you should know that the ideal electric-powered aircraft today are the very lightest weight machines. However, another quality is just as important while we wait for scientists to significantly amp up the energy density of batteries. That quality is sleekness and I’ve been watching a Norwegian project from Equator Aircraft. Airplanes don’t get much sleeker than this. If it needed to be even more intriguing, consider that this project comes from a team that has also been involved with seaplanes, so how about a two-seat electric seaplane? OK, it isn’t ready yet but this is one I will continue to follow closely. Following is some detail on this fascinating entry that again suggests the tip of the spear in LSA design seems intently focused on seaplanes. Equator’ Aircraft P2 Excursion (abbreviated EQP2) is envisioned as a performance hybrid amphibian aircraft.
With our friends at the prestigious Flying magazine putting 
Israel's Ashot Ashkelon, Italian hybrid propulsion specialist Efesto joined with Italian light airplane manufacturer 
CFM Air develops and manufactures light planes such as the 
However, developers seem primarily focused on emergency use of HPS saying it adds, "a significant safety element in case of [primary engine] failure by providing extra flight time using the electric motor, also as a replacement for the Safety Parachute." Based on many years working with BRS Parachutes, I am certain HPS will not always "replace" the airframe parachute, for example, after a mid-air collision. Nonetheless, using HPS to solve engine failure or fuel starvation would be much less exciting than firing a ballistic parachute.
Safety is good, of course, but other uses can come with electric. For example, the Israeli/Italian team observed, "In addition, there is the thrust reversal mode for propellers using the electric motor, which makes it possible to stop quickly to shorten landing roll and extend the lifespan of the brakes, and the ability to charge the batteries and save energy."
On landing, they say the electric motor can be operated in counter-rotation mode, providing thrust reversal for shorter landing runs. The electric engine can also be used as an alternator for battery charging and as a starter for the main engine. Electric propulsion can also be used in the air, providing active vibration damping for smoother, low-level flight.
Developers said HPS provides the pilot with six minutes of critical flight time after engine failure, which they believe should be sufficient in which to find an emergency landing site and set down safely operating on electrical power only. HPS is currently offered for the 
A few years back at Aero 2009, 
Researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the 
The idea is to equip the plane with an electric engine mounted aft of the propeller but outside the engine compartment (at least in the test article). Such an installation suggests this could be an add-on to existing aircraft once the company decides to commercialize their work.
"If there is a problem with the main engine, this electric engine will start to function, which will provide an additional range of about 20 kilometers, enough for the pilot to land safely," said Barrado, head of the UC3M Electric Power Systems group and one of the other promoters of this invention.
The system features an electric engine that is connected to the conventional engine, a high-efficiency lithium battery, and an electronic system that draws energy from the battery and adapts it to the needs of the plane. It also has a battery charger which operates during the flight.
"We maximize the capacity of the battery in generating movement with the electric engine, and we have found that we can also use the system as a hybrid for light aircraft; the pilot can activate it when she wants, adding up to 40 horsepower for takeoff or whatever is needed," said Daniel Cristobal, now also with Axter Aerospace and an alumnus of the UC3M. "This way, it could be used as if it were an electric turbo to increase the power of the aircraft in certain maneuvers."
So, while the UC3M/Axter team see safety as the main point, they are pursuing this idea in the same general directions as Flight Design and Rotax did six years back. Note that the Tecnam P92 has a Rotax 912 for its main powerplant.
This system, which is being marketed and patented internationally, can be installed in light aircraft, new or already operating, they said. It might also eventually be applied to other types of aircraft, such as gyroplanes, gliders, drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles. Besides saving lives and reducing financial losses resulting from accidents, the UC3M group said its architecture reduces the airplane's operating and maintenance costs, lowers fuel consumption and reduces the emission of greenhouse gases and noise pollution.
I wish to give credit to 
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 
Quite significantly, BushCat's useful load now elevates to 617 pounds with 25 gallons of fuel. That means payload with full fuel is 465 pounds, which allows two 200-hundred pound occupants plus 65 pounds of cargo or other airborne gear. So, a very modest price — about what many expected eleven years ago when the SP/LSA rule was announced, all the more impressive as the time value of money has changed considerable in that period — and you get more utility for the dollars you spend. I'd call that win-win.
I find, as do many others I've asked, that BushCat is a handsome, rather gutsy looking light aircraft. Originally known by the name Cheetah, it has a distinctive cowling for a sharp look and is light and durable — empty weight is barely over 700 pounds — that helps assure robust performance. BushCat is flown with a control stick mounted between both occupants, forward of the central arm rest. As SkyReach notes, "This configuration allows the pilot to keep his or her hand on the stick at all times, freeing the other hand for the throttle and panel mounted instruments." Using a single joystick keeps control system complexity to a minimum and allows easier cockpit entry and exit.
A couple years ago, one of the bigger changes SkyReach engineers made to BushCat was a move from a more complicated braced undercarriage to a sprung undercarriage. The new design uses a slab-style aluminum spring gear that SkyReach says provides a more accommodating load dampening resulting in softer off-airport landings. This airplane does duty in South Africa fighting animal poaching and can handle rough-field operation. It also features removable doors, which may work well for the anti-poaching task but also appeals to those of use that like open cockpit on warm summer days.
BushCat is a sturdy airplane boasting a +6, –4 G rating. It's construction looks simple with a tube-and-gusset arrangement but such designs have proven themselves over literally decades of safe operation. Wing and fuselage use a trilaminate composite fabric covering that requires no paint, saving both effort and weight. Trilam is commonly used in the sailing industry for yacht sails and by hang glider producers. It is an incredibly strong material and has proved itself against the elements; sailboats spend a lot of time exposed to sun and salt water, both tough environmental taskmasters.
Represented in the USA by 
In closing this piece, I want to pay tribute to two light aviation kit builders. In the USA, the loss of Jeremy Monnett stunned many as he and assembly mechanic Mike Clark were killed June 2nd in an aircraft accident near the company's headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Jeremy successfully lead the Sonex company in recent years and used a degree in mechanical engineering to create a design of his own, the single-seat, folding-wing Onex ("One-Ex") introduced in 2011.
BushCat importer Daniela Knoll also reported some sad news from the SkyReach factory in South Africa. "Walter de Lange, General Manager of SkyReach, died last week in a weight-shift trike accident. We are all shocked by the news since Walter was a very experienced trike pilot and airfield safety officer," wrote Daniela. "A great man will indeed be missed."
I offer my sincerest condolences to the families of each man and thank both for their significant contributions to light aviation. I thought very highly of Jeremy and will miss his broad, warm smile. I did not know Walter well, but did interview him at Oshkosh in 2013.
Date #1 was the time when FAA announced 
FAA recently came out with 
"I was personally astounded. The consultation was very interesting. The LAA who had supported the old 115 kilogram rule (253 pounds, so almost identical to the U.S. Part 103 weight) suddenly came out against the rule asking for a wing loading restriction to be added. I guess they realized that it was a big threat to their monopoly. Even at the consultation stage &mdash after the proposals had been published &mdash the consensus was that eventually the wing loading restriction would be added. The CAA stood firm and the rule was passed without modification. It required an Act of Parliament to become law but eventually it was done."
"The main reason the CAA gave for changing the rules was to stimulate innovation and by picking a unique design code it would avoid sucking in a load of imports and motivate the local manufacturers. The question now was how can we best take advantage of the new freedom?" (I will have more on Graham's answer to this in a later article.)
So, what does the CAA SSDR 300 look like?
The "Dereg" category, to use Graham's shorthand, is very simple. CAA said, "Any microlight aeroplane [can qualify] that (A) is designed to carry one person; (B) has a maximum take-off mass of no more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) ..." — CAA allows 315 kilograms (693 pounds) when equipped with a mounted airframe parachute or 330 kilograms (726 pounds) for a single seat amphibian or floatplane. The last element is, "(C) ... a stall speed or minimum steady flight speed in the landing configuration not exceeding 35 knots (40 mph) calibrated airspeed." However, CAA cautioned, "... many aircraft with indicated stall speeds below 35 knots have calibrated stall speeds well above that figure."
How does England's CAA administrate this SSDR 300? They use a declarative system much like FAA originally specified with the LSA category. CAA stated, "The aircraft owner makes the declaration that their aircraft meets the requirements, i.e., ... falls with the maximum take-off mass and maximum stall speed."
CAA also noted that an existing two seaters can be made into a single seater to qualify so long as it meets the criteria referenced above. No annual inspection is required. Self launching motorgliders are also included but CAA drew the line at rotorcraft, allowing only fixed-wing aircraft, flex-wing (trikes), and powered parachutes. Neither is commercial use allowed.
In my opinion, this is an innovation-inspiring new rule and I commend CAA for talking this bold step. So, FAA ... ?
One of my favorite tales was taken from an old Delta Air Lines house magazine, the sort sent to employees of the company before email invaded our lives. Airlines have their own meteorology departments and the Delta guys once wrote, "Every time you forecast the weather, you know you're wrong; you just don't know by how much or when. If you are ever right, never let 'em forget it." Ah, yes, remember when we correctly forecast that big storm, back in 1967? I got a lot of chuckles from telling that story.
Weather forecasting is much better today, but statistics can often be wrong despite best efforts. Along this line, I heard from a reader, an engineer in Italy, "In your article '
In this update article, I wish to correct that shortcoming and add a couple more pieces of information. The result of my deeper examination pushes sport and recreational aircraft closer to 50,000 worldwide.
My Italian reader, who preferred I did not use his name, wrote, "Apart from being the country from where several LSA aircraft arrive — he mentions 
The Italian engineer continued with his amplification, "Although the number (13,000) includes 'ancient' aircraft from the '80s that might be out of commission now, I can confirm that well over 6,000 aircraft are flying from hundreds of grass strips and aerodromes across the country." As such, this places Italy — correctly so, based on corroborating information — in the top tier of countries with a large base of light and sport aircraft.
"The reason why [the aircraft count] is not so obvious," he further clarified, "is that the certification of pilots and aircraft is done outside of ENAC (Italian equivalent of FAA) and therefore does not get reported in the usual channels where numbers of registered aircraft are accounted."
"Ultralight (generally meaning the European name for light two seaters, not the U.S. superlight single seaters) registrations for Italy follow the [aircraft registration] format I-1234, or I-A123 now that we passed 10,000 registrations. I have seen I-C1xx (can't remember the exact number, but it means that we passed 13,000 registrations already)." He added, "I think we had over 2,000 in the last five years or so."
Looking at the pilot side of the equation, he noted, "On a forum I read the impressive number of 17,500 active ultralight pilots."
"So, despite the obvious intention of keeping a low profile to make sure that the Revenue Service does not develop some new creative tax to hit a vulnerable sector, it looks like there are plenty of pilots and planes filling our skies," the Italian writer concluded. He then invited, "Come visit and we'll be happy to show you around." That's an offer I'd like to take when I also wish to visit the large Tecnam facility in Italy.
My source finished his message saying, "I fly a older Aeronca with American N-numbers using an FAA Private certificate and therefore I don't even show up in that list."
I also managed to overlook two other countries of note. My apology and the only excuse I can offer is that 
Thanks to a solid effort by 
To provide some perspective, let's look at certified GA aircraft first. From its peak in 1978, U.S.-manufactured GA deliveries have fallen dramatically, by 93% from 14,398 single engine piston aircraft in 1978 to 986 in 2014. Fortunately, since 2000 the continuing drop is less severe, for example in 2006, worldwide GAMA members reported delivering a new millennia peak of 2,513 aircraft; the decline to 986 is a drop of 61%. The '60s and '70s were clearly the "golden era" for GA piston airplane production. Accounting for this drop, beside pilot population decreases (see below) and airplanes lasting so long — the average age of four seater is 38.2 years old — most competition likely came from non-flying activities. Among aircraft choices, Experimentals in the last two decades have grown 143% to nearly 25,000 aircraft. LSA in fully built or kit form add to GA's competition although much less so partly as Experimentals have been around much longer.
Overall, the overall GA fleet has held reasonably steady despite the references above, declining from a peak of piston airplanes in FAA's registry of 197,442 in 1984 to 137,655 in 2013, a drop of about 30%. When you add kit-built aircraft and LSA, the total fleet numbers look relatively stable.
In geographic location of that U.S. aircraft fleet the conventional knowledge about the biggest three states still holds, with California having 26,141 aircraft registered, followed by Texas at 22,851, trailed by Florida at 18,162. The next closest state (Washington) has barely half the Florida count ... but see below for where pilots live.
The number of airmen — pilots with certificates — explains some of the aircraft delivery decreases. From a peak in GAMA's numbers of 827,071 licensed pilots in 1980 to the current number of 593,499, I calculate a drop of 28% over 34 years. Keep in mind that nearly 47,000 of those airmen are not Americans but foreign nationals holding a U.S. certificate. Private Pilots have dropped by 51%, but many of those probably went on to higher ratings as ATPs grew by 120% in the same period to account for 26% of all certificate holders. No doubt related to that, CFIs grew by 67% to become 17% of all certificate holders and pilots with Instrument ratings also increased by 18%. Those holding a Spot Pilot certificate now totals 5,157, reported GAMA, while Recreational Pilot peaked at 343 in 1999 and has since shrunk to only 220 certificates. Neither of the last two amount to even 1% of all license holders though the other certificate categories have several decades of history the newer ones lack.
You might lament the Sport Pilot certificate numbers. Certainly, many in the GA world thought Sport Pilot was single-handedly going to grow the pilot population a lot more. While I do not believe that was ever a realistic expectation, here's some good news.
Most pilots I know think the pilot population is graying quickly and that we may be in danger of running out of pilots. GAMA's stats say otherwise. The biggest single category may be what you expect with those aged 50-64 counting 179,277 pilots but the surprising second largest segment is close behind. Those aged a young 20-35 years old number 173,396 pilots. The 35-50 cohort is much smaller, perhaps as they are busy raising families and paying for mortgages and college eductions for their kids.
In the top ten states for pilot populations, California still leads with 59,213 but Florida has climbed into the number #2 slot at 52,976 — and the state is number one in flight instructors with 9,592 — followed by Texas with 49,614 total pilots, Washington state (18,665), Georgia (18,131), Arizona (18,029), Illinois (16,307), New York (15,949), Pennsylvania (15,187), and Ohio (15,137).
Now let's look at LSA-type aircraft elsewhere in the world. I have 
Where I could identify microlights, ultralights, or LSA types, I calculated 19,613 aircraft in what might be called "greater Europe" (mostly EU countries). Making an informed guess of at least 4,000 "microlight/ultralight" for Germany — which country, as noted above, did not supply a detailed value for this category — and adding non-European countries such as South Africa (6,072 including "Sport, Recreational, and Experimental"), Canada (7,125 "ultralights"), and Brazil plus Asian countries (small counts for several nations), I make a best estimate of about 40,000 LSA-type aircraft outside the USA. This figure includes estimates for Sweden and Switzerland that did not break out their reporting. Also included in the 40,000 count is England with strong numbers of 4,029 "microlights" and 3,269 "Fixed Wing Aeroplanes of less than 750 kilograms" (1,650 pounds). See updated figures in 
WEEKEND UPDATE — Next week I leave for my first visit to China, specifically to Anyang City, by train a couple hours south of Beijing where the seventh running of an annual airshow is planned. I have only a sketchy idea what to expect even though Shu Dong Li of the 
In an interesting coincidence, I discovered a story about a Chinese fellow who built his own ultralight from available materials and took to the air in it. He's not alone in this, of course, but I found his work an intriguing example of ordinary Chinese citizens showing an interest in flying for fun.
An article in the 
The two news organizations reported that on a recent Sunday Yang successfully took off and landed 10 times in Jilin province, located in northeast China. According to writer Emily Chan he took the airplane up to 650 feet and has since logged 2.5 hours of flying time.
Builder and pilot Yang said that his aircraft, allegedly "made from scrap metal," can reach a top speed of 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph) and has a cruising speed of 80 km/hr or 50 mph. Yang's ultralight-like airplane has a wingspan of about 30 feet and weighs 242 pounds. Journalist Chan reported that he has test flown his creation on two other occasions, including a 54-minute flight on his late father's birthday last September.
As I looked at the photos for this airplane I knew it looked familiar, in particular a 
