The flying car powerfully captures the imagination of many, pilots and general public alike, despite the fact that none (yet) have ever achieved market success. For some years this field lie fallow with no introductions for several decades. Then, thanks to the creation of the Light-Sport Aircraft sector came Terrafugia and their intriguing Transition. The Massachusetts enterprise has received enormous media attention. Similarly, the I-Tec Maverick also proved popular with journalists. Lately the SkyRunner from England gained plenty of coverage from a splashy introduction at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida boat show. Now, China has its hat in the ring. Consider Carcopter from ML Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. Terrafugia uses folding wings and a pusher Rotax engine. I-Tec uses a powered parachute held in position by a telescoping carbon fiber pole. Carcopter is, as the name implies, a rotary winged flying machine. Think of it as a gyroplane but with a folding mast and rotor blades that fold aft.

Cool It! — Scott Severen of US Aviation — the central Texas general aviation dynamo — is a man on a mission. He showed an AMT FlyCool installation (video) on a Flight Design CTLS at Sun ‘n Fun that was a surprisingly clean installation considering he brought all the air conditioning parts in his airline luggage. By AOPA’s fall Summit, he had refined it considerably (photo). Now the installation features a handsome louvered right side baggage door that brings fresh air in and exhausts warmer air. The panel switches are permanent and in the warm Texas sunshine, the system had great appeal. It adds surprisingly little weight (22 pounds); cost varies by installation but is much less expensive than old style air conditioning systems for airplanes. One downside is a loss of some luggage capacity but for example, a flight school wouldn’t care. Their students could chill instead of sweating through their flying lesson.

I wrote about Free Bird two years ago, to the surprise of many readers who thought, well … different things about Iran, most of them not very positive. We tend not to realize how media reporting and statements from government officials influence our views of a place like Iran. I don’t doubt that some of the crazy things we hear about do indeed happen. Yet I suspect the country is significantly composed of citizens that probably have little control over the direction their government chooses. So, with this update, I plan to tell you a little about what it’s like for the Dorna Aircraft Company to operate in a country like Iran. Think whatever you will, but you likely see attractive aircraft comparable to those from many countries. “Oh, you want to see the Dorna Aircraft showroom,” a Tehran visitor might ask. “Ah, go to the Negar Tower and take the elevator to the 23rd floor.” According to marketing and business development point man for Dorna, Sajad Entesari, “I think it’s highest show room in region.” With his father Yaghoub, Dorna’s CEO, this family-run Iranian airplane producer has some struggles operating in the country, as you might expect.

My LAMA Europe counterpart and friend, Jan Fridrich, took another trip to China in October as he attended Xi’an, said to be the largest General Aviation exhibition in the country. While the show was large with expansive, expensive exhibit stands, airplanes were sparser than events such as Aero Friedrichshafen. Like a few American events (thinking of AOPA’s just concluded Summit and NBAA’s giant show), Xi’an’s convention hall housed indoor displays while the “static” display of more airplanes was at an airport. U.S. organizers usually try to colocate these two displays. In contrast, Jan reported, “The static exhibition was at the airport in Pucheng, which is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Xi’an! Practically speaking, it was only accessible by bus and only during one official day and the journey takes 2.5 hours … Without Chinese friends it is very complicated to get anywhere.” Jan added that viewers at the airport were unable to get within 60 feet of airplanes.

In just-completed October, ByDanJohnson.com repeated a remarkable number: 70,000+ Unique Visitors, defined as a separate computer [IP] address, came to the website in the two fall months of September and October — after the main airshow season concluded. Before I go any further, let me say, “THANK YOU!” For a specialty website focusing on Light-Sport Aircraft plus kit airplanes and other aircraft Sport Pilots can fly to reach such a large group of visitors suggests that interest in this segment is strong. This may be despite the still-sluggish economy or perhaps it is precisely because of it. LSA and the Sport Pilot certificate are the most affordable ways to own a new airplane or to get started in aviation so I see a bright future for the sector. On this website we try to present information you want and it seems we’re succeeding. We’ll keep working hard; you can count on it.

In the last days of October, another fascinating UK light aircraft took to the air after several years in development. The brainchild of Giotto Castelli and Tony Bishop takes advantage of SSDR, a British CAA initiative with the longer name of “Single Seat Deregulation,” proving as has the LSA movement that reduced government control allows innovation to blossom. The British program allows aircraft weighing less than 115 kilograms to bypass conventional certification. A test pilot took the canard design up for its first official flight recently logging about 30 minutes up to 4,000 feet and 80 knots to conduct initial handling trials. After a post-flight inspection, data analysis, and refueling, he took it up again for its second, one hour flight to explore the envelope further, including stability, control and canard stalls. Then on October 30th, with notoriously difficult UK weather still cooperating, former BAE Systems chief test pilot Keith Dennison demonstrated e-Go to an invited audience of customers, investors, volunteers, suppliers, friends and family at Tibenham airfield in Norfolk, England.

Recently I became of aware of one of those “Oh, wow!” airplanes, one that can generate much the same response as Just Aircraft‘s attention-riveting SuperSTOL. At first glance, DoubleEnder intrigued me. At opposite corners of the USA, we now have twin Rotax engine sport planes: the long proven AirCam in southern Florida, and a newer sensation, Double Ender in Alaska. Some readers may believe neither fits this website’s focus on LSA, light kits, and aircraft Sport Pilots can fly; like AirCam, Double Ender weighs too much (2,500 pounds gross) and has too many engines (dual Rotax 914 turbos each modified to 130 hp) to be an LSA. However, both are sport planes powered by Rotax engines. Plus, look at the accompanying photos. They inspire by showing flight qualities similar though not identical to AirCam. So, here’s a preliminary story of this unusual aircraft.