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REMOS GXeLite: Super Diet?

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

All photos courtesy Remos Aircraft

This Remos panel chart also shows a Flymap moving map.

Sign of the times: cut costs wherever possible. And kudos to those LSA makers who can cut weight too! *** Remos Aircraft has a lower-priced, dramatically lighter version of its flagship GX that bears closer scrutiny. *** It’s called GXeLite, and lists at $133,924.The model is targeted at pilots, clubs and flights schools that don’t feel the need for all the latest high-tech glass and embellishments. Typically, “loaded” models like the GX and new GXNXT models price out at well over the wallet-flattening $150K mark. *** The eLite is dramatically lighter in empty weight too: just 638 lbs. (My recent flight report on the NXT listed that model’s empty weight at 718, or 90 lbs. heavier!). That would allow full tanks as well as some truly hefty passengers too, since the useful load is 682 lbs.! *** The main steps taken to lighten the load on the eLite include reinstating the composite landing gear, using carbon fiber instead of metal wing struts, new carbon fiber seats and a new instrument panel, which is lighter as well as lower. *** All of this adds up to good news for people interested in Remos. I’ve found the GX in general to be among the easiest, most enjoyable all-around airplanes I’ve ever flown. It has a wonderfully harmonious control balance, light, solid control feel, well-behaved takeoff and landing characteristics, and is simply a joy to fly.The eLite also offers a ballistic parachute safety system as an option rather than standard equipment, along with that lower-profile panel which enhances forward visibility. *** The panel still mounts a good rack of gadgets, starting off with Dynon's workhorse D-180 EFIS/EMS panel and Becker’s Com AR6201 transceiver and BXP6401 transponder. Power comes from the proven 80 hp Rotax 912. *** Even though the lower-cost electrical system eliminates interior lighting needed for night flight (something day VFR-restricted Sport Pilots don't deal with anyway), the eLite still has anti-collision, position and landing lights. *** An interior storage area has been removed and there is now only one coat of paint, to help with the load-lightening engineering. *** But think about that Remos diet plan: they took an already-light weight LSA airplane and managed to trim more than 11% more! *** Owners can still opt for all the Remos options the more robust models have, but I’d like to compare this lighter version to the heavier GX to see if there’s an appreciable difference in crosswinds and turbulence. 

Sign of the times: cut costs wherever possible. And kudos to those LSA makers who can cut weight too! *** Remos Aircraft has a lower-priced, dramatically lighter version of its flagship GX that bears closer scrutiny. *** It’s called GXeLite, and lists at $133,924.The model is targeted at pilots, clubs and flights schools that don’t feel the need for all the latest high-tech glass and embellishments. Typically, “loaded” models like the GX and new GXNXT models price out at well over the wallet-flattening $150K mark. *** The eLite is dramatically lighter in empty weight too: just 638 lbs. (My recent flight report on the NXT listed that model’s empty weight at 718, or 90 lbs. heavier!). That would allow full tanks as well as some truly hefty passengers too, since the useful load is 682 lbs.! *** The main steps taken to lighten the load on the eLite include reinstating the composite landing gear, using carbon fiber instead of metal wing struts, new carbon fiber seats and a new instrument panel, which is lighter as well as lower.

Three If By Sea

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

AKOYA artist's rendering...but the airplane is flying. Photos courtesy LISA

Spacey interior...maybe AKOYA and ICON's A5 can go on a date. 

Skis...wheels...water...what's not to like?

Some bright minds at LISA Airplanes, a French company, had a great idea to take the hydrofoil concept and apply it to an LSA seaplane. I’d often wondered why hydrofoils haven’t been done before, it’s such a great concept.Anyway, the airplane is the AKOYA. The technology for the entire package is patented and called Multi-Access, not the most sizzling name but what the hey, look at how cool those little moustache water wings look sticking out from the hull! *** Now get this: the company claims AKOYA operates as easily from land as from water...or snow! First, to those water wings sticking out: they’re called Seafoils, a trademarked name, which adds a little more marketing sizzle to this steak. *** They’re connected to a retractable gear that can be rigged with wheels or skis, I guess, and also to motor-driven, pivoting wings! There's also a chute onboard. Very neat. *** LISA Airplanes _ AKOYA premiere from LISA Airplanes on Vimeo. *** The airplane is spec’d out at 18.5 gallons yet can fly 680 miles at 110 knots! No restrictions to local pond hopping for this seabird. *** Gérald Ducoin, a test pilot who flew the plane, praises the revolutionary Seafoils which “offer both fast lift-off and stability. They also considerably simplify landing manevers and taking off from water.”With a 100 hp Rotax, the company claims a 650 foot take/landing distance. *** The company is clearnly not worried about it’s high price: €300,000! That's Euros, cousins, not greenbacks. *** I hasten to add that LISA will throw in pilot training for all three modes of landing, “personalization” of the airplane, and three years of maintenance and full-time customer assistance. *** The more this LSA phenomenon grows, the more interesting it gets.AKOYA is in flight test mode in France and announces it expects to get LSA certification by mid-2012. 

Some bright minds at LISA Airplanes, a French company, had a great idea to take the hydrofoil concept and apply it to an LSA seaplane. I’d often wondered why hydrofoils haven’t been done before, it’s such a great concept.Anyway, the airplane is the AKOYA. The technology for the entire package is patented and called Multi-Access, not the most sizzling name but what the hey, look at how cool those little moustache water wings look sticking out from the hull! *** Now get this: the company claims AKOYA operates as easily from land as from water…or snow! First, to those water wings sticking out: they’re called Seafoils, a trademarked name, which adds a little more marketing sizzle to this steak. *** They’re connected to a retractable gear that can be rigged with wheels or skis, I guess, and also to motor-driven, pivoting wings! There’s also a chute onboard. Very neat.

Electric Whirlybird Flies!

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

Historic hovering flight lasted 2 minutes 10 seconds. All photos courtesy Gizmag

Weight shift control!

Detail: power controller and battery pack (upper left)

Anyone still in doubt that we're in the midst of the birth of electric flight need look no further than this story, just posted today on the online tech zine Gizmag.Pascal Chretien, an enterprising electrical/aerospace engineer and chopper pilot, made the world's first fully electric helicopter flight in the prototype he designed and built almost entirely by himself...in just 12 months! Hang glider and ultralight trike pilots will delight in hearing a weight shift control system is involved. *** For me, the big story here is once again we see that innovation lives, not just in megabuck corporate and government R&D departments but in the garages of individual megabrains as well...as it always has and we can expect always will.Chretien, in making his 2 minute, 10 second test eggbeater flight, threw whipped eggs in Sikorsky's face since that aviation giant's well-funded electric project, in development for some time now, has yet to fly. *** Gizmag quotes Chretien as he acknowledged the risks of his flight: "In case of crash I stand good chances to end up in kebab form."Pascal, from case of your success, we pops cork of champagne pour vous! *** The article goes on to rightly point out that the electric chopper concept faces a huge hurdle when compared to winged electric aircraft because the latter doesn't need to constantly run at higher power drain settings like helicopters do. *** Practical electric helicopters will only come to pass when batterytechnologies advance to a much higher power-to-weight storage capacity(i.e., higher energy density) than we have now, precisely because choppers do require high power for hovering, takeoff and for descent, unlike airplanes. *** Winged birds use max power for takeoff or high speed cruising, but can lope along at significantly reduced level flight power, enabling longer duration flights. That's why we've seen so many motorglider-style electrics; once airborne, their highly efficient wings make possible extended flight times without much power burn. *** Still, that takes nothing away from Pascal Chretien's achievement, (funded by the French car racing company Solution F), which is nothing short of magnificent. His super-light, super-simple chopper serves notice that electric flight as a whole is gaining global momentum across a broad range of projects. *** And once again we get a lesson in an ancient truth: the soul of invention is alive and well and knows no boundaries.

Anyone still in doubt that we’re in the midst of the birth of electric flight need look no further than this story, just posted today on the online tech zine Gizmag.Pascal Chretien, an enterprising electrical/aerospace engineer and chopper pilot, made the world’s first fully electric helicopter flight in the prototype he designed and built almost entirely by himself…in just 12 months! Hang glider and ultralight trike pilots will delight in hearing a weight shift control system is involved. *** For me, the big story here is once again we see that innovation lives, not just in megabuck corporate and government R&D departments but in the garages of individual megabrains as well…as it always has and we can expect always will.Chretien, in making his 2 minute, 10 second test eggbeater flight, threw whipped eggs in Sikorsky’s face since that aviation giant’s well-funded electric project, in development for some time now, has yet to fly.

Electric Whirlybird Flies!

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

Historic hovering flight lasted 2 minutes 10 seconds. All photos courtesy Gizmag

Weight shift control!

Detail: power controller and battery pack (upper left)

Anyone still in doubt that we're in the midst of the birth of electric flight need look no further than this story, just posted today on the online tech zine Gizmag.Pascal Chretien, an enterprising electrical/aerospace engineer and chopper pilot, made the world's first fully electric helicopter flight in the prototype he designed and built almost entirely by himself... in just 12 months! Hang glider and ultralight trike pilots will delight in hearing a weight shift control system is involved. *** For me, the big story here is once again we see that innovation lives, not just in megabuck corporate and government R&D departments but in the garages of individual megabrains as well...as it always has and we can expect always will.Chretien, in making his 2 minute, 10 second test eggbeater flight, threw whipped eggs in Sikorsky's face since that aviation giant's well-funded electric project, in development for some time now, has yet to fly. *** Gizmag quotes Chretien as he acknowledged the risks of his flight: "In case of crash I stand good chances to end up in kebab form."Pascal, from case of your success, we pops cork of champagne pour vous! *** The article goes on to rightly point out that the electric chopper concept faces a huge hurdle when compared to winged electric aircraft because the latter doesn't need to constantly run at higher power drain settings like helicopters do. *** Practical electric helicopters will only come to pass when batterytechnologies advance to a much higher power-to-weight storage capacity (i.e., higher energy density) than we have now, precisely because choppers do require high power for hovering, takeoff and for descent, unlike airplanes. *** Winged birds use max power for takeoff or high speed cruising, but can lope along at significantly reduced level flight power, enabling longer duration flights. That's why we've seen so many motorglider-style electrics; once airborne, their highly efficient wings make possible extended flight times without much power burn. *** Still, that takes nothing away from Pascal Chretien's achievement, (funded by the French car racing company Solution F), which is nothing short of magnificent. His super-light, super-simple chopper serves notice that electric flight as a whole is gaining global momentum across a broad range of projects. *** And once again we get a lesson in an ancient truth: the soul of invention is alive and well and knows no boundaries. *** Update later on 9/6/11 — Jim Lawrence is right about electric power coming steadily to aviation and it has its best near-term promise with the lightest end of aviation. Watch for my update on AirVenture 2011 electric ultralights and for a whole new section of ByDanJohnson.com focused entirely on electric power (the new section may arrive later in 2011). —DJ

Anyone still in doubt that we’re in the midst of the birth of electric flight need look no further than this story, just posted today on the online tech zine Gizmag.Pascal Chretien, an enterprising electrical/aerospace engineer and chopper pilot, made the world’s first fully electric helicopter flight in the prototype he designed and built almost entirely by himself… in just 12 months! Hang glider and ultralight trike pilots will delight in hearing a weight shift control system is involved. *** For me, the big story here is once again we see that innovation lives, not just in megabuck corporate and government R&D departments but in the garages of individual megabrains as well…as it always has and we can expect always will.Chretien, in making his 2 minute, 10 second test eggbeater flight, threw whipped eggs in Sikorsky’s face since that aviation giant’s well-funded electric project, in development for some time now, has yet to fly.

FAA Rulemaking: Sport Pilot Training To Count For Higher Ratings?

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

The FAA just published a petition for rulemaking from EAA, AOPA, NAFI, and GAMA that calls for sport pilot instruction hours to count toward Private Pilot and higher ratings. *** The petition calls for a change in the current regs that disqualify flight training hours for counting toward higher ratings, if those hours were taught by a CFI-S, which is a flight instructor who only has the Sport Pilot rating. *** The petition addresses FAR Part 61 and seeks to simplify and harmonize all flight training areas, and beyond that, actually makes sense when you think about it. After all, why should sport pilots have to repeat their initial flight training because they learned the basics in an LSA from an LSA-only-rated instructor? *** FAA personnel upon reflection (and prodding from the above named orgs) seems to have realized the unintentional discrimination against Sport Pilot CFIs, and by extension, Sport Pilot students, among other considerations, was making a statement about Sport Pilot training (or CFI-Ss) being somehow inferior to traditional CFIs and their training methods, which is probably pretty silly when you think about it. *** Every CFI I’ve talked to affirms that a Sport Pilot student learns all the requisite flight skills in an LSA to provide a solid foundation for advanced ratings. And since LSA are lighter in weight and therefore more susceptible to crosswinds and other nuances, you can make a good case that LSA must be flown with rather more sensitivity and skill on any given day than more traditional aircraft. Just ask all the high time pilots who've pranged an LSA because they refused to get sufficient transition training. *** So even though GA aircraft can be more complex, the basic skills learned in flight require the same attention to fundamentals. The argument is, there’s generically no fundamental flight skill significantly unique to any GA SEL training airplane that would somehow be skipped or incompletely taught by a CFI-S but not a CFI, if that CFI-S is properly trained of course. *** It’s not a law change yet, but a first step in the typically lengthy government process that will give anybody interested a chance to weigh in on the subject. This means you can comment here. *** Once everybody has posted their yays and nays, we can expect this minor kerfluffle to go away entirely and we can get on to fretting about other minor kerfluffles and the occasional big kerfluffle.

The FAA just published a petition for rulemaking from EAA, AOPA, NAFI, and GAMA that calls for sport pilot instruction hours to count toward Private Pilot and higher ratings. *** The petition calls for a change in the current regs that disqualify flight training hours for counting toward higher ratings, if those hours were taught by a CFI-S, which is a flight instructor who only has the Sport Pilot rating. *** The petition addresses FAR Part 61 and seeks to simplify and harmonize all flight training areas, and beyond that, actually makes sense when you think about it. After all, why should sport pilots have to repeat their initial flight training because they learned the basics in an LSA from an LSA-only-rated instructor? *** FAA personnel upon reflection (and prodding from the above named orgs) seems to have realized the unintentional discrimination against Sport Pilot CFIs, and by extension, Sport Pilot students, among other considerations, was making a statement about Sport Pilot training (or CFI-Ss) being somehow inferior to traditional CFIs and their training methods, which is probably pretty silly when you think about it.

Power To/From the People!

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

3-view...click for larger version

Stephan Boutenko has a big vision...and he’s taking it to E-street. *** Anyone familiar with Bend, Oregon’s Lance Niebauer, the successful Los Angeles graphic artist who decided to design an airplane and spawned the highly successful Lancair series of homebuilts, which evolved into the production Cessna Columbia composite four-seater, should check out another Oregonian with a big dream: Stephan Boutenko. *** He’s boldly going directly to the internet for public contributions to fund his electric S-LSA. The company name is Alternair, and the airplane is simply called the Amp — perhaps an unintentional play on the word imp, because it is a cute little thing...but with big dreams in its electric heart. *** A professional pilot and Embry Riddle grad with an Professional Aeronautical design degree, Boutenko hopes to progress the current electric-powered aircraft technology beyond demonstration-style or exotic motorglider models. *** The Amp, still in the design stages, will perform comparably to the current crop of gasoline-powered LSA...at as little as 80% lower direct operating costs. And maintenance costs, he says, should be almost negligible compared to the fuel-powered airplanes of today. *** The low-wing trike will run on a 50 kW (68 hp) electric motor powered by carbon nanotube lithium polymer batteries. Expected endurance is anticipated at two hours, pretty much at the leading edge now for similar ventures such as Calin Gologan’s one seat, one-wheel production taildragger, the Elektra One, a soon-to-be-produced electric which flew at Oshkosh before thousands of delighted showgoers. Cruise will be at 90 knots with a 30-minute VFR reserve. The wings will each carry battery packs, as well as another behind the seats. *** The designer/entrepreneur even plans to use an “aerolastic” prop that flattens in pitch for climb and relaxes to take a bigger bite during cruise, just like a constant speed prop...but without all the requisite hardware. *** Sophisticated power management electric systems and the latest glass panel avionics will echo typical LSA specs and performance: 1320 lbs. Gross weight, 440 lb. payload, 600 fpm climb, 43 knot clean stall, 39 knot stall with flaps. *** Oh, and the span will be 37 feet, to add some motorglider-like efficiency but still keep it close to the typical LSA planform of 30-35 foot span. *** The plan is to get $250K of investment capital to build the prototype Amp and take it globally to all the major airshows. All donations starting at $25 are welcome...here’s your chance to get in, literally, on the ground floor and help an American company build a competitive electric-powered airplane.

Stephan Boutenko has a big vision…and he’s taking it to E-street. *** Anyone familiar with Bend, Oregon’s Lance Niebauer, the successful Los Angeles graphic artist who decided to design an airplane and spawned the highly successful Lancair series of homebuilts, which evolved into the production Cessna Columbia composite four-seater, should check out another Oregonian with a big dream: Stephan Boutenko. *** He’s boldly going directly to the internet for public contributions to fund his electric S-LSA. The company name is Alternair, and the airplane is simply called the Amp — perhaps an unintentional play on the word imp, because it is a cute little thing…but with big dreams in its electric heart. *** A professional pilot and Embry Riddle grad with an Professional Aeronautical design degree, Boutenko hopes to progress the current electric-powered aircraft technology beyond demonstration-style or exotic motorglider models. *** The Amp, still in the design stages, will perform comparably to the current crop of gasoline-powered LSA…at as little as 80% lower direct operating costs.

Farewell to Oshkosh 2011

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

Remos GX NXT upgrade model

Leading Edge intake for new cabin vents

Two SkyViews and an Aera 500...oh boy.

Top-notch interior features rearranged knobs, smoother workflow

Room With A View...what a wonderful age we live in.

By all accounts it's been a good show. I talked with several LSA vendors who, despite the pitiful wrangling in Congress over the debt and general lack of a strong economic bounceback, either wrote some sales or were 90% certain they would. ***  U.S. sales leader Flight Design even announced they'd written $11 million worth of business at the show. ***  I talked with John Gilmore, the U.S. sales manager for Tom Peghiny's U.S. Flight Design operation, who briefed me on the new, four-seat, to-be-certified Flight Design C4 the other day (I'll post more in the next few days). *** John also updated Dan Johnson today on the company's excellent numbers at the show: *** "We have taken 40 orders for the new C4 plus another 8 orders for Light-Sport Aircraft here at AirVenture 2011," said John. *** The C4 debuted in Europe in April and a full-scale mockup seen here was prominent in the display all week. Historical note: Flight Design has topped the LSA sales leader board since the category was created in 2004, an impressive run due in large part to an excellent management style and top customer support and service.I was up at the crack o' dawn to fly the new Remos NXT, which has some new features such as a new panel profile that gives more viewing room on top and more leg room underneath — very nice and it definitely feels roomier. The avionics upgrade features Garmin Aera 500 GPS, and the Dynon SkyView glass cockpit with electronic flight instruments, embedded transponder, and engine monitoring. Dynon is winning over cockpits left and right with the SkyView, and no wonder: it's got it all, at a price that's magnitudes cheaper than equivalent certified glassworks. *** The NXT also refines placement of some control knobs in the cockpit and adds visors and air vents to keep things cool. *** Personally my flight in beautiful, calm dawn air reinforced my impression from my flight report 18 months back that there is no finer LSA of the 30 or so I've flown so far in terms of sheer joyful handling. I hadn't flown one in all that time, yet made two greaser landings with hardly any coaching from my demo host, Ryan Hernandez, who admirably handled the Oshkosh chores for Arkansas dealer Tommy Lee and his Adventure Flight dealership. *** The Remos turns so smoothly, is so light on the controls yet not twitchy or oversensitive at all, and as I said back then, as soon as you lift off, you feel like you've been flying the airplane every day. Really quite an achievement in aerodynamics for Remos. *** It's beautiful interior is a testimony to the fit and finish of the entire plane. In you're in the market for a comfortable, really fun-flying LSA, certainly put Remos on the list. I know it's on my top ten (a list that constantly changes as I fly more airplanes...but Remos has stayed there since my first flight. *** One closing note then on to the show, time to line up some last flights and say goodbye to friends and colleagues in the industry. *** It's not an LSA-centric product, but this cute idea, Mutt Muffs, reminds us that any time we go flying with our sensitive-hearing furry friends means we want to help them enjoy the ride too. 'Nuff said. *** Scroll down for more pix of the Remos GX NXT upgrade model below. *** I'll have another pickup blog for Oshkosh probably in two-three days as I'm flying home in the new Evektor Harmony with AB Flight's Art Tarola *** tomorrow...if we can get all our gear into one airplane!

By all accounts it’s been a good show. I talked with several LSA vendors who, despite the pitiful wrangling in Congress over the debt and general lack of a strong economic bounceback, either wrote some sales or were 90% certain they would. ***  U.S. sales leader Flight Design even announced they’d written $11 million worth of business at the show. ***  I talked with John Gilmore, the U.S. sales manager for Tom Peghiny’s U.S. Flight Design operation, who briefed me on the new, four-seat, to-be-certified Flight Design C4 the other day (I’ll post more in the next few days). *** John also updated Dan Johnson today on the company’s excellent numbers at the show: *** “We have taken 40 orders for the new C4 plus another 8 orders for Light-Sport Aircraft here at AirVenture 2011,” said John. *** The C4 debuted in Europe in April and a full-scale mockup seen here was prominent in the display all week.

OshPourri

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

Calin Gologan, the freshly bestowed LEAP Award, and Elektra One. Exciting times ahead.

Remos GX getting some help from the line dude. Lots and lots of traffic today.

 LSA Mall seemed to be buzzing all day long...

Nice air plenum in the Alto 100 sends cooling air over the canopy. An integrated heating element defrost too...I bet Ron Corbi will sell a lot of these.

Hansen Air Group's gorgeous FK12 Comet acro S-LSA is here too...so much foot traffic has come, it's worn out the grass next to the plane!

busy busy busy

Randy Schlitter's newly reworked S7 with cool

New balanced ailerons for the S7

Legend Aircraft's new Super Legend. Lovely!

It's late, I got heat stroked a bit in the beautiful but intensely sunny day so I'm going to post some pix of some things I saw at the show with short captions and will hope to get back with more details once my feet stop throbbing and my brain temps cool down a bit. *** A beautiful day in Oshkosh. Everybody was catching up on flying after being in the gloom and doom for two days. *** The electric symposium went off well, I assume, although I missed it, had to try and get in a thrice-postponed flight with Remos... which was postponed yet again. Bummer. That's happening now at 6 am... about 7 hours from now. Yark! *** I had a nice chat with Calin Gologan, the extremely tall creator of the Elektra One that won the Lindbergh LEAP award today. He told me they have achieved a battery storage density improvement that will allow them to make a 500 mile flight in Germany, they hope, this August. *** A very nice, very brilliant man. *** The Corbi Air Alto 100 was there, with an installed air conditioner! Very nice install, they'll be selling them to experimental builders and LSA makers too.

It’s late, I got heat stroked a bit in the beautiful but intensely sunny day so I’m going to post some pix of some things I saw at the show with short captions and will hope to get back with more details once my feet stop throbbing and my brain temps cool down a bit. *** A beautiful day in Oshkosh. Everybody was catching up on flying after being in the gloom and doom for two days. *** The electric symposium went off well, I assume, although I missed it, had to try and get in a thrice-postponed flight with Remos… which was postponed yet again. Bummer. That’s happening now at 6 am… about 7 hours from now. Yark! *** I had a nice chat with Calin Gologan, the extremely tall creator of the Elektra One that won the Lindbergh LEAP award today. He told me they have achieved a battery storage density improvement that will allow them to make a 500 mile flight in Germany, they hope, this August.

The “Doc’s” Prescription: Take Two of These Babies!

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

A year ago I did a blog piece here as well as a piece in the magazine about the resurrected “Lazarus Machine”, Renegade Light Sport’s super sexy low wing, about-to-be Lycoming IO-233-LSA-powered, all composite S-LSA. *** I found Renegade’s prime mover Christopher “Doc” Bailey at the flashy Lycoming display and before I could say “Lightning round!” he was regaling me, as only Doc can do, with the leaps and bounds the company has made in the last year. *** I’m going to serve up the rapid-fire infostream in his own words, but before I do, here’s the short tell: the Falcon is done with testing, is in production, comes in two configurations, tricycle and taildragger, sells for $125,000 with a bunch of nice features (including 10" Dynon SkyView, full Garmin stack and dual electronic ignition) and if your mouth isn’t watering yet, I’m stepping to the side and take it away Doc! *** “The first production model Renegade Falcon with the Lycoming IO-233-LSA is owned by our dealer on Long Island, NY - Steve Norman. It’s the airplane you see right here (and in the photos).” *** “The engine is FAA Part 33 certified. The airframe is ASTM certified. We’re done with R&D, we’ve been through a year of testing with the 233. We’ve tested six fuel injection systems, five electronic ignition systems (and settled on the Lightspeed dual ignition system), four different exhaust systems (and settled on the Vetterman exhaust), and three or four panel mounts. We just brought on the Catto 3-blade, nickel-edge composite prop, we also tested Sensenich and others.” ***  “And we’re getting 1500 fpm climb solo, 4.6 gph cruise at 2400 rpm, and we’re just where we said we would be in a year.” *** “We’ve put in 100 hours of test flying so far.” *** “This airplane, Steve Norman’s, has everything you can get, the stuff I mentioned and dual Grand Rapids Synthetic Vision with built-in highway in the sky and autopilot; a ballistic chute, ostrich skin seats...” *** Real ostrich skins? I asked. *** “You bet, I’m the one who paid for them, they were real alright!” *** “So many guys came up and said they’d flown Cubs and other taildraggers all their lives, and when 500 people tell you they want that, you better take notice! So we now have a taildragger version too, with beefy, durable 7071-T6 gear for flight schools and a Matco 42-degree breakaway tailwheel.” ***  “We’ve got five engines coming from Lycoming this month, we’ve sold six airplanes since we’ve been here at the show, we’re in full production here, everything is built in the U.S., we have a new autoclave system set up by former Boeing engineers, and like I said we’ve come a long way in a year.” *** “Before the prop has turned 45 degrees, the ignition system is producing a 120,000 volt spark and the engine starts right up like a car. We call this engine the Rotax Slayer! We’re getting 305 degrees on the CHT, 1000 degrees on the EGT, so it’s burning efficiently and burning cool. We’re placarding max level rpm at 2400 to maintain the 120-knot LSA restriction.” *** “Future enhancements will include room for golf clubs, wing locker baggage, winglets for more stability, things like that.” *** I asked how fast it was now at full power. “You don’t want me to tell you that,” he said with a laugh. “It’s fast. We’ll placard it at 2400 rpm for 120 knots. We had a CFII bring it out here from Kansas City. He was doing 140 knots at 2700 rpm.” *** “People ask me, ‘Why not restrict the engine?’ That’s a huge safety issue for me. If you’re downwind to land and the wind falls out, you may need all the power you can get. Why restrict that? If you go over that 2400 rpm setting, it’s on you legally but I’m not going to take it away. It’s like CubCrafters did with their 180 hp engine, placarding it to a max of five minutes full power.” *** “The first production taildragger Falcon is going to Switzerland, to the guy who started the Swatch company. We’ve got orders for five, with seven airframes done, we can make five a month and all of it is out of our Lees Summit, MO plant.” *** “Weight for the taildragger is 795 lbs. For the tricycle gear it’s 814, with everything installed. It gets off in 200-300 feet easily. Before you get the throttle all the way up, it’s already rotated.” *** “It will throw you back into the seat; with the Catto prop you really feel the thrust. It really takes off. We figure we’re getting 123-125 hp with the fuel injection. With the traditional carbureted version, we were getting 120 knots at 2750 rpm. With the fuel injection, we dropped 300 rpm to get the same speed, at the same altitude and in the same weather. It just feels smoother. We think it’s that 120,000 volt spark. It was burning 5.5 gph with the carburetion: with electronic ignition, it’s 4.6.” *** All that’s left now is for me to fly it for a pirep which I hope to do here at the show and let you know how much of this is real, and how much is “Doc”-ese! *** One last word: the airplane, already a winner in the looks department, has a beautiful engine installation. It’s clean, it’s elegant, it’s beautiful. And, for those “graying” types Doc talks about who still don’t trust the well-proven Rotax, the Lycoming is the deal-maker. It'll be interesting to see how much support this all-American, $125K looker garners in the market place.

A year ago I did a blog piece here as well as a piece in the magazine about the resurrected “Lazarus Machine”, Renegade Light Sport’s super sexy low wing, about-to-be Lycoming IO-233-LSA-powered, all composite S-LSA. *** I found Renegade’s prime mover Christopher “Doc” Bailey at the flashy Lycoming display and before I could say “Lightning round!” he was regaling me, as only Doc can do, with the leaps and bounds the company has made in the last year. *** I’m going to serve up the rapid-fire infostream in his own words, but before I do, here’s the short tell: the Falcon is done with testing, is in production, comes in two configurations, tricycle and taildragger, sells for $125,000 with a bunch of nice features (including 10″ Dynon SkyView, full Garmin stack and dual electronic ignition) and if your mouth isn’t watering yet, I’m stepping to the side and take it away Doc!

SplashKash 2011

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

Gleim's Aaron Wiseman takes a showgoer through a sample flight lesson

Aaron Wiseman pointing out flight-realistic EFIS readings

Fully customizable screen and audio warnings keep students on the straight and narrow

One section of the center screen shows how detailed and true-to-life the simulator is.

Today was not a typical Oshkosh day, and certainly nothing like yesterday, which was downright idyllic with its sunny skies, refreshing mid-70s temps and puffy clouds to complete the chromatic joys of a perfect green summer day in Great Lakes country. *** In short, it rained until late afternoon, but by sundown the skies mostly cleared with the promise of hotter, more humid days ahead. Today was the perfect kind of day to walk around, dodge the liquid sunshine, meet and greet old friends and make new ones, and see what's shaking in the main display hangars and booths strewn all over Airventure. *** I'd wanted to check out the Gleim X-Plane VFR Flight Simulator I've heard so much about. I had the benefit of a stirring presentation by Aaron Wiseman, who energetically took me through all the main features of the system which has caught on at a number of flight schools already. *** It's cool! A really effective approach to flight simulation that can also save flight schools and their students real money. *** Being able to realistically drill and anchor in-flight control feel, situational awareness and cockpit procedure skills before students actually get in that infamous "worst classroom in the world", while also shortening expensive flight training hours,without breaking the bank, should appeal to flight schools wanting higher student completion rates...and what school doesn't want that? One of several advantages of the sim is how instructors can take a student through a full flight lesson on the ground, help students through rough patches, pause the routine and explain new concepts or problem areas, then take the student out for a practical lesson in the airplane when ready. *** There's a lot to say about Dr. Irv Gleim's latest brainchild, and for that I urge you to go check out the info online here. *** Be sure and watch the video at the bottom of the page for a quick intro. *** For now, I've only got room (and late-night energy) to point out some key points. *** [] The three-screen system, complete with Dell XPS computer, three screens, stick, throttle and rudder pedals (flight school version) is dramatically cheaper (around $5000) than similar simulators which cost tens of thousands of dollars. *** [] Students can install a less-expensive version on their own home computer (many of us have two screen systems now, so only a third screen would be required). The private user version is still in development and should market in the next few months. *** [] It was developed for use in Remos Pilot Centers and has become very effective through continual feedback refinement with Gleim's programmers. The system I worked with was set up for a Remos GX and it was suitably smooth, light on the controls (I was constantly over controlling until I relaxed a bit) and very realistic. *** The three screens give an excellent panorama view, and the background can be located right at the airport where students are being trained, and conform to the type of aircraft they're training in, for even more realistic — and transferable to the cockpit — skills. *** Lou Mancuso of Mid Island Air Service of Long Island, who's had a lot of success training people in LSA for several years now, raves about this system. *** Thanks again to Aaron Wiseman for his thorough briefing. I'll be writing more on this in my Oshkosh top new products article for the magazine.

Today was not a typical Oshkosh day, and certainly nothing like yesterday, which was downright idyllic with its sunny skies, refreshing mid-70s temps and puffy clouds to complete the chromatic joys of a perfect green summer day in Great Lakes country. *** In short, it rained until late afternoon, but by sundown the skies mostly cleared with the promise of hotter, more humid days ahead. Today was the perfect kind of day to walk around, dodge the liquid sunshine, meet and greet old friends and make new ones, and see what’s shaking in the main display hangars and booths strewn all over Airventure. *** I’d wanted to check out the Gleim X-Plane VFR Flight Simulator I’ve heard so much about. I had the benefit of a stirring presentation by Aaron Wiseman, who energetically took me through all the main features of the system which has caught on at a number of flight schools already.

Oshkosh Airventure 2011

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

San Antonio Light Sport Aircraft's Rand Vollmer

After my own Labors of Hercules, I arrived at the EAA Oshkosh Airventure seasonal highpoint event Tuesday mid day. Since it was a beautiful day by anybody's standards, I decided not to brave the hordes at the show and headed out, once I got settled in my digs for the week, to a lovely little airport named Brennand about 10 minutes northwest of EAA's Wittman Field show grounds. *** I was in luck with more than just weather: the San Antonio Light Sport Aircraft (SALSA) gang from Texas was there demo-flying its all-composite Pipistrel Virus SW 80/100, tricycle-gear (there's also a taildragger version), composite touring motorglider. *** The Pipistrel line includes several designs I have admired from afar but not had the opportunity to share air with. *** All that changed when Salsa's prime mover and shaker Rand Vollmer introduced me to a big, friendly Texican fella named Dave White. *** Dave is Salsa's Sales Director, chief glider/motorglider instructor and demo pilot out at Brennand Airport, which, by the way, is one of those lovely, quiet airport communities I think we should all get to live on either in this life or the next one. Green grass and trees, lovely homes, quiet, no hassle backyard flying: can't ask for much more than that. Anyway, Dave said, "Hey, I just had a demo cancel, want to go up?" *** Do Pope wear tall, funny looking hat? *** Ten minutes later I was taxiing the light-handling, 40-foot span Virus — which as everyone hastens to mention is a terrible name for a wonderful airplane. It comes from Slovenia, where virus is pronounced "vee-roos", which sounds a whole lot better than the way we say it). *** The wonderful-airplane part is fully realized after just a few minutes. I haven't flown anything but a Cub for the last 3 months so I'm stomping that poor airplanes rudder rather mercilessly, but the airplane doesn't seem to mind at all. And in just a takeoff, a couple turns and listening to Dave obligingly talk me through everything — and letting me really get to know the airplane by letting me do everything, a wonderful teaching style — I've learned one important thing: The Virus SW is a real sleeper of an S-LSA. Check out this video: *** I'll have a pilot report on it in the magazine soon. *** The Cliff Notes version: *** Virus handles more like a plane with a 30-foot span, has a 45-45 roll rate around two seconds, has light, balanced control feel, turns quickly and with virtually no adverse yaw — I pulled turns left and right without any rudder at all and it obliged with nary a complaint. *** The airplane, which is built for lightness and thus has a 660 lb. useful load — though it's max weight is more than a hundred pounds below the LSA ceiling weight of 1320 lbs.!, hangs on in soaring turns to the lightest little bug fart of a thermal, which became evident in calm, 6:30 p.m. air where I, the newcomer, was able to make a few turns in just a bit of a bubble and approach zero sink for a few seconds. *** Glide ratio by the way is 24:1 and sink rate is around 250 fpm. That's plenty good enough to shut down and let the earth/sun/sky engine keep you up for hours. And the robust top-o'-wing, hand-lever pop up air brakes give great glide-slope control for landing. Dave demonstrated a most impressive dead-stick landing using only the brakes for putting her down on the narrow paved strip at Brennand. *** Handling is light and nimble, cruise is ridiculously efficient — we saw 112 knots at 80% power and remember, the engine is an 80hp, not 100hp, Rotax. The Euro version which isn't restricted to top speed approaches 150 knots max level cruise! Yes, a very, very clean airframe, and you feel that when you fly it. It's a joy, very forgiving too (especially with that big span). *** Salsa has a variety of motorgliding training and buying options. And you won't find many places better to earn your soaring chops than the big-thermal country of Texas, where numerous soaring records have been set for decades. *** Give these guys a closer look, they're fully dedicated and devoted to demonstrating the benefits that learning to fly powered soaring aircraft bestow, not only on new and experienced pilots, but on the future of GA itself. *** Their brief thesis, which I'll explore with Rand in the article more fully, is that pilots can get their glider rating much cheaper than any other ratings, learn a great deal about flying, and have much more fun at it than merely crunching through the syllabi and getting handed a certificate. *** Motorgliding, they believe, creates pilots who experience and learn to understand the vital nuances of flight in a way that will stick with them throughout their flying lives. *** Pipistrel has showed up in a big way this year with a choice display in front of Hangar B near Airshow Central or whatever they're calling it now. *** Prominent is its Taurus Electro G4, the 3,000lb.+, four-seat, all-electric motorglider that's competing at September's CAFE Green Flight Challenge. The two-fuselage aircraft is drawing a lot of attention, and once all the requrements to compete legally (as Experimental Exhibition aircraft since there is yet to be an FAA standard for electric-powered aircraft) are met it should have a good shot at winning the $1.3 million prize. *** Jim Lee of PhoEnix, the electric version built for the race that's in test and development now, tells me there are so many hurdles for so many of the entrants, it may be postponed again. It was originally scheduled for earlier this month but nobody was ready. *** Off to the show...in the rain!

After my own Labors of Hercules, I arrived at the EAA Oshkosh Airventure seasonal highpoint event Tuesday mid day. Since it was a beautiful day by anybody’s standards, I decided not to brave the hordes at the show and headed out, once I got settled in my digs for the week, to a lovely little airport named Brennand about 10 minutes northwest of EAA’s Wittman Field show grounds. *** I was in luck with more than just weather: the San Antonio Light Sport Aircraft (SALSA) gang from Texas was there demo-flying its all-composite Pipistrel Virus SW 80/100, tricycle-gear (there’s also a taildragger version), composite touring motorglider. *** The Pipistrel line includes several designs I have admired from afar but not had the opportunity to share air with. *** All that changed when Salsa’s prime mover and shaker Rand Vollmer introduced me to a big, friendly Texican fella named Dave White.

LSA Registration Numbers: The Gang of Six!

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

CubCrafters continues to show strong market share

Winged buddy Dan Johnson and his colleague Jan Fridrich, head of LAMA Europe, just posted Jan's exhaustive parsing of the LSA registration data and came up with some shockers. ***  Dan calls it the LSA Market Share Report. The first thing he notes is apparent stability in the marketplace: overall registration numbers for the first half of 2011 are about the same as last year, he says, so at least the industry didn’t fall off from that tough year. The pace is on track to better 2009's 177 total registrations and 2010's 202. *** In 2010, 48 came from Cessna, which, when subtracted from the total, gives you 154 for the whole year for the rest of the fleet. *** So, looking again at 2011's first half of 126, subtracting Cessna's numbers from the total of 126 yields just 72. *** Double that (144) and we could end up with even fewer registrations than 2010, (not counting Cessna) although at just 10 less it's not an earthshaking falloff unless you want to be a worrywart and consider 2009, which had 177 total...and none from Cessna. But we won't go there. *** As has been the trend from the beginning, just a handful — six this time — LSA companies racked up 92% of all new registrations! *** Remember, these aren’t sales on the book but previous (or future) sales, since these numbers only reflect aircraft registered from Jan. through June with FAA. For instance, several LSA might come in at one time to a dealer, who might register them all at once before selling any of them. Or vice versa: some already sold may not have been registered. Still, the reg numbers provide a pretty accurate glimpse of what's really going on. *** And The Gang of Six?  *** Cessna: 54, for almost 43% of all registrations, on the strength of Skycatching-up in production *** CubCrafters: 20 for 17% *** Czech Aircraft Works: 16 for 13%, which includes formerly-badged PiperSports *** American Legend: 11 for 9% *** Flight Design (still #1): 10 for 7%. *** Jabiru: 5 for 4% *** That’s 116 aircraft out of the total of 126. *** Now if we throw in Aeropro (Aerotrek models) and its 4 registrations, those top 7 companies account for just over 95% of all 2011 registrations! That means of all the other 112 manufacturers, only 6 aircraft made the books.That, my friends, is a hard number to swallow for all those hardy, perservering companies who are still in the game mostly, as the numbers suggest, on a wing and a lot of prayers. *** Dan goes on to point out that eight makers have now sold more than 100 aircraft. In an economy as enduringly painful as a chronic bad tooth, that’s somewhat encouraging. *** And even though only 126 aircraft were registered since January 19th...well, 126 aircraft were registered since January 19th! In other words, the industry is not throwing in the towel, though it’s sure getting a drenching. *** Another bellweather of sorts: Cessna’s healthy production has for the first time tipped the market scales toward the U.S.: we registered more aircraft than offshore producers in 2011. *** Cessna is now 8th (13th six months ago), based on 54 Skycatchers registered. That’s like watching an insider stock chart shoot for the moon! *** And with a goodly percentage of those highly-touted initial 1000 orders still on the books, Cessna will only continue to leapfrog the rest at the top of the list for the foreseeable future, at least until purse strings not only among the merely well-off but the uber-rich loosen up, because right now, not many people in any income category are buying much of anything considered a luxury. *** Some surprising numbers, as my reader Thomas pointed out in a comment to my previous blog post: *** Five major makers, all in the top 20, narrowly missed striking out completely in registrations the first six months! *** Four of them — Tecnam, TL Ultralight (Sting), Eastman (Zodiac models) and Evektor (SportStar), failed to register a single ship. Only Remos tallied...one. It registered 32 in 2009! What’s happening here? *** Eastman is working on a comeback after several fatal crashes and a subsequent airframe redesign, but the other four produce a variety of excellent quality aircraft and enjoy good reputations. Pricing on any of their models is not by and large out of line with the rest of the market. *** Thomas goes into the shadows with this: “It's not that there's no demand: SportCruiser, Cessna, CubCrafters and Flight Design all registered decent numbers of aircraft. Was the owner experience of these other aircraft not so good? Support not there? Wrong features? Parts problems? Airframe failures? Or did the distributor simply bring in too much inventory, register it all at once, and then spend the last 2 years not registering any new ones while steadily selling off the inventory?” *** All are reasonable inquiries. I’m particularly drawn to his support and inventory sell-off conjectures. Airframe failures have been at a minimum. Owner experience is difficult to gauge: what one person tells a private buddy may never reach many public ears, rumor mongers though we pilots tend to be. *** It’s hard to see a clear picture for four of those five companies not tallying. It’s worth some digging; I’ll have Dr. Watson and my magnifying glass at the ready at Oshkosh, which starts in just three days!

Winged buddy Dan Johnson and his colleague Jan Fridrich, head of LAMA Europe, just posted Jan’s exhaustive parsing of the LSA registration data and came up with some shockers. ***  Dan calls it the LSA Market Share Report. The first thing he notes is apparent stability in the marketplace: overall registration numbers for the first half of 2011 are about the same as last year, he says, so at least the industry didn’t fall off from that tough year. The pace is on track to better 2009’s 177 total registrations and 2010’s 202. *** In 2010, 48 came from Cessna, which, when subtracted from the total, gives you 154 for the whole year for the rest of the fleet. *** So, looking again at 2011’s first half of 126, subtracting Cessna’s numbers from the total of 126 yields just 72. *** Double that (144) and we could end up with even fewer registrations than 2010, (not counting Cessna) although at just 10 less it’s not an earthshaking falloff unless you want to be a worrywart and consider 2009, which had 177 total…and none from Cessna.

Europe Approves ASTM Standard — Kinda

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FAA's European doppelganger is EASA ( European Aviation Safety Agency), a governmental body which has wrestled with how to "regulate the new kid" for some time. *** And EASA has at last come out with its much-anticipated CS-LSA, or Certification Specification for Light-Sport Aircraft. *** American makers have eagerly awaited the announcement so they could at least consider how they might better compete with the many LSA producers overseas that have dominated our domestic market (roughly 2 out of every 3 LSA sold here come from offshore). *** Although CS-LSA, as industry insider Dan Johnson reports, is "not exactly what the industry hoped for, it at least represents acceptance of the ASTM certification standards." *** The benefit extends to all manufacturers foreign and domestic, since uncertainty over whether LSA aircraft produced for America, under the ASTM certification, would ever be legal to sell in Europe has been a stumbling block for Yankee sellers since the creation of LSA here in 2004. *** Light sport aircraft in Europe, known as ultralights and microlights, was already a thriving industry over there, and contributed to their acceptance here even as American makers scrambled to create, refine, upgrade and promote their own Light Sport designs. *** Working against everybody for some time has been the market's Perfect Storm trifecta : *** 1. A high Dollar/Euro exchange rate (currently $1.41 per €1) which imposed high prices for all European-made LSA sold in this country *** 2. The Economy, duh. *** 3. The higher-than-anticipated cost of LSA from all makers foreign and domestic. *** Perhaps the biggest impact of CS-LSA on American companies will be that they can finally sell their ASTM-certified aircraft overseas. And the high Dollar to Euro exchange rate means American aircraft would be attractively priced to Europeans: they get an effective 30% discount. A U.S. aircraft priced at $90,000 would cost €60,000 over thar. *** But knocking that in the head is the nature of the CS-LSA spec itself, which incorporates many expenses not incurred in certifying aircraft to the ASTM spec in America. *** CS-LSA provides, as LAMA Europe's head Jan Fridrich points out in Dan's blurb on this topic, "merely another airworthiness code, which a manufacturer can choose in lieu of full EASA Type Certification." That's as in millions-of-dollars full. *** Say whuh? He means even under CS-LSA, any manufacturer must still get DOA (Design Organization Approval) and POA (Production Organization Approval) from EASA to produce aircraft for sale under under the new category. Which still means a significant cash outlay above and beyond typical ASTM certification costs that could run into hundreds of thousands of bucks for each model. Why? EASA charges fees for those standards. In our country, FAA's oversight is funded by, yep, you and me, the taxpayers. Although the current debt reduction free-for-all in Congress might change that here too, who knows where that's going? *** On top of all that, EASA also charges annual fees to keep those standards current. *** So Mr. Dan speculates this all could mean, if CS-LSA isn't revised more favorably down the road, one of two things: *** 1. Bigger companies could pay the EASA charges and fold the increase into sales prices. *** 2. Smaller companies could say, "Nein", throw up their hands and bail out of the entire business, finding the cost of competition too great. *** Bottom line: higher prices likely, at least for European-produced LSA. Americans who choose not to sell overseas might actually improve their appeal cost-wise here, while their EASA-conforming competition ponies up and suffers the need to produce pricier aircraft, even as those smaller European producers drop out of the game. *** One ray of hope in all of this lies in LAMA Europe's ongoing push for a more "self-declarative" adjustment to the CS-LSA specification, which would lower or remove those added DOA and POA costs and help many companies choose to stay in business. *** Otherwise it could indeed be DOA for several companies who have hung in there all this time hoping to jump into the European market without incurring typical EASA and FAA full certification costs. *** Probably the best part of this news is that ASTM, doing well here in the U.S., now has a good foothold overseas, which expands its potential influence on light aircraft production worldwide.

FAA’s European doppelganger is EASA ( European Aviation Safety Agency), a governmental body which has wrestled with how to “regulate the new kid” for some time. *** And EASA has at last come out with its much-anticipated CS-LSA, or Certification Specification for Light-Sport Aircraft. *** American makers have eagerly awaited the announcement so they could at least consider how they might better compete with the many LSA producers overseas that have dominated our domestic market (roughly 2 out of every 3 LSA sold here come from offshore). *** Although CS-LSA, as industry insider Dan Johnson reports, is “not exactly what the industry hoped for, it at least represents acceptance of the ASTM certification standards.” *** The benefit extends to all manufacturers foreign and domestic, since uncertainty over whether LSA aircraft produced for America, under the ASTM certification, would ever be legal to sell in Europe has been a stumbling block for Yankee sellers since the creation of LSA here in 2004.

Another Roadable Aircraft Project!

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

BiPod lifts off (sans props) for initial test flights.  All images courtesy Aviation Week & Space Technology

The Scaled Composites crew. Burt Rutan is seen 4th from left

Okay, so no way this is ever going to be a Light Sport aircraft, but this is just too much fun and I had to pass it along. *** Famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan has been at it again, this time with his eclectic take on a flying car that began life as an electric-powered flying testbed.   *** Aviation Week's online blog (also picked up by Wired magazine) shared information released exclusively to it by Rutan's Scaled Composites company known in recent years for many fantastic projects including Spaceship One and White Knight.   *** Called BiPod, the flying car became a crash program, completed in just four months and already in test flight mode. Rutan himself retired in April of this year. *** Model 367 BiPod is characteristically, wonderfully unconventional as have been all of Rutan's many designs. *** The two-seat, hybrid-electric "roadable" aircraft (mini-rant: I sure hope that term doesn't replace flying car, which flows off the tongue much more agreeably, don't you think?), originally conceived as a fast, inexpensive electric aircraft, morphed into a flying car. The program was hurried along, says Aviation Week, to allow Rutan to shepherd it through to completion before he hung up his cad cam computer's mouse. He was in the shop cutting, fabricating and sanding many nights long after the rest of the team went home. *** First "flight" was last March 30. The unusual-looking carplane has made several short hops at Scaled's Mojave, California airport location.   *** And the hops were just that: speed, built up from battery-powered driving wheels, was translated into short glides above the runway. Fun stuff! *** The fully operational BiPod will carry two 450cc gas engines, one per fuselage, which will drive generators feeding an electric power system. In land mode, the system will drive motors in the driving wheels at the aft location of each fuselage pod. The forward wheels are steerable. *** During flight, the power grid will drive four 15kW motor-driven props: one on each nose, two on the horizontal stabilizer. *** Good old Burt: you can never count out his sheer design originality. *** Lithium batteries fill the nose of both pods. They are inflight-rechargeable and will augment takeoff power from the two engines.   *** Think of the advantages for driving with disagreeable companions (mothers-in-law?) too. They can ride in the right hand pod, leaving the driver in the left pod, in blissful silence. *** Interestingly, only the throttle is common to both...cockpits? Car interiors? Carpits? Your choice: driving is exclusively from the left pod, and flying is done from the right. Hmmm...that means mischief could still be done from the other pod by a cranky passenger. *** Span is almost 32 feet. Wings detach for driving. Cruise speed in flight: 200mph with max range of 750 miles at 100 mph. *** Driving, BiPod can go at freeway speeds for 820 miles on a tank of gas or 35 miles on batteries alone. *** It'll be fascinating to watch what happens with this project. It's a bit challenging to imagine this project ever coming to the market. Taking a road trip with the fam separated into two compartments seems strange...although anyone with surly teenagers (or those poor, traditionally maligned mothers-in-law) will easily see some potential benefits.

Okay, so no way this is ever going to be a Light Sport aircraft, but this is just too much fun and I had to pass it along. *** Famed aircraft designer Burt Rutan has been at it again, this time with his eclectic take on a flying car that began life as an electric-powered flying testbed.   *** Aviation Week’s online blog (also picked up by Wired magazine) shared information released exclusively to it by Rutan’s Scaled Composites company known in recent years for many fantastic projects including Spaceship One and White Knight.   *** Called BiPod, the flying car became a crash program, completed in just four months and already in test flight mode. Rutan himself retired in April of this year. *** Model 367 BiPod is characteristically, wonderfully unconventional as have been all of Rutan’s many designs. *** The two-seat, hybrid-electric “roadable” aircraft (mini-rant: I sure hope that term doesn’t replace flying car, which flows off the tongue much more agreeably, don’t you think?), originally conceived as a fast, inexpensive electric aircraft, morphed into a flying car.

eWow! Blockbuster Electric Flight

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

The eGenius electric motor — 60kW (80.5 hp equivalent)

A crack team of aeronautical whizbrains in the Institute of Aircraft Design at the University of Stuttgart, Germany has just passed its second important milestone in less than two months: its electric aircraft eGenius just flew more than two hours at more than 100 mph. *** Not by coincidence, that's exactly the kind of performance that will be required to take $1.3 million top prize in the recently postponed (until September 25) CAFE Green Flight Challenge.  *** The GFC will award the prize money to the aircraft that can fly 200 miles at greater than 100 mph on the equivalent of one gallon of gas per occupant. The per occupant proviso is significant...and EGenius carries two people, so it can use enough batteries to store two gallons worth of energy.  *** That's a lot of batteries given the current relative inefficiency of energy storage of batts vs. gas, but it appears that hurdle has been overcome, and rather handily, since there was apparently several minutes of charge left after the record-breaking flight.The eGenius, funded by Airbus, is an electric motorglider, with the requisite high-aspect wing (55 feet). It's powered by a 60 kW (80.5 hp) motor, installed in the tail to drive a larger, more efficient prop. The battery pack can stow 56 kWh of energy. *** Flight profile included a climb to 4000 feet and an out-and-back between two nearby towns. Total distance was 211 miles, a world record for electric flight. *** This on the heels of its maiden flight in May. *** If the other entries (12 at last count) in September's GFC big-money event aren't shaking in their boots yet...they oughta be. It's a stunning development and augurs well for advancing the technology by at least one leap and bound...the point of the contest in the first place. *** Let me say it again: Wow!

A crack team of aeronautical whizbrains in the Institute of Aircraft Design at the University of Stuttgart, Germany has just passed its second important milestone in less than two months: its electric aircraft eGenius just flew more than two hours at more than 100 mph. *** Not by coincidence, that’s exactly the kind of performance that will be required to take $1.3 million top prize in the recently postponed (until September 25) CAFE Green Flight Challenge.  *** The GFC will award the prize money to the aircraft that can fly 200 miles at greater than 100 mph on the equivalent of one gallon of gas per occupant. The per occupant proviso is significant…and EGenius carries two people, so it can use enough batteries to store two gallons worth of energy.  *** That’s a lot of batteries given the current relative inefficiency of energy storage of batts vs.

Horses of a Different Color

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

 I've written about the topic of high-hour pilots and the need for transitioning them into LSA a fair amount now.  *** I've also heard about it from and talked to a lot of people about it.  Avemco Insurance, before they took a hiatus from writing new LSA policies a couple months back, wrote a minimum of 5 hours mandatory transition training into their premium contracts with pilots, stipulating, basically, this: "We don't care if you be Sully Sullenburger or Wiley Post incarnate. If you want us to insure you in your new LSA, you will get five hours flight training in it." *** Stumbling around the net the other day, I found this excellent piece written by Ed Downs for In Flight USA, in which he lays out the need, in particular, for veteran pilots to check the uber-confidence at the hangar door and give LSA full respect as unique aircraft with distinct behaviors. *** Definitely worth reading if you're at all of the LSA = "little airplanes" persuasion.

 I’ve written about the topic of high-hour pilots and the need for transitioning them into LSA a fair amount now.  *** I’ve also heard about it from and talked to a lot of people about it.  Avemco Insurance, before they took a hiatus from writing new LSA policies a couple months back, wrote a minimum of 5 hours mandatory transition training into their premium contracts with pilots, stipulating, basically, this: “We don’t care if you be Sully Sullenburger or Wiley Post incarnate. If you want us to insure you in your new LSA, you will get five hours flight training in it.” *** Stumbling around the net the other day, I found this excellent piece written by Ed Downs for In Flight USA, in which he lays out the need, in particular, for veteran pilots to check the uber-confidence at the hangar door and give LSA full respect as unique aircraft with distinct behaviors.

Of Amphibs and Aircars

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

A5 flight testing continues.  photo courtesy ICON Aircraft

Concept of revised Transition design.  photo courtesy Terrafugia

Finding the middle road between air and ground regulations.   photo courtesy Terrafugia

Two of the best-promoted and most interesting LSA projects - and two of the most delayed getting to market - are back in the news. Icon Aircraft, a startup company created to produce the sexy composite A5 amphibian, just snagged  $25 million in funding to help complete remaining design issues, tool up for production and begin cranking out airplanes. *** The company reports around 500 A5 orders on the books, at $139,000 per. A few months of flight testing remain to be completed, along with a new wing (reportedly for better spin resistance and directional stability), which means the production target date has been pushed back again, this time to the last quarter of 2012. *** Reported among the new crop of investors are Eric Schmidt of Google, Satyen Patel, formerly of Nike and Phil Condit, former CEO of Boeing, and some "undisclosed" Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. The initial infusion of greenbacks will be $15 million, with an option for $10 million more. *** Meanwhile, regarding the flying car... er, "roadable aircraft," the always press-visible Terrafugia recently got a nod from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration when it granted the company's application for a temporary exemption for its Transition flying car (or driving airplane... oh, heck, it's just easier to say flying car).The exemption relaxes four federal vehicle safety standards requirements for the Transition, acknowledging that complying with the standards at this point in the ever-more-costly aircar would impose a condition of substantial economic hardship on the company and also grant more time to find safe alternatives to current automotive safety standards. *** Nonetheless, these are temporary exemptions. And Terrafugia had asked for a longer time period for two of the four exemptions. *** The company cited its 500 potential jobs by 2015 as partial justification for requesting the exemptions, and the agency took that into consideration as well as the overall occupant safety factor. One selling point was Terrafugia's contention that the Transition increases pilot safety, since it can land at any airport in worsening VFR conditions and continue to the destination by road. Boy, those folks know how to articulate every possible benefit out of their concept. *** The point here would seem to be that the Transition would reduce potential VFR-into-IMC accidents because pilots wouldn't be tempted to continue flights in bad weather in deterioriating weather. Of course, that's only common sense for non-IFR pilots, a legal requirement as well, but as we all know, pilots get in trouble this way all the time, with occasional disastrous results. *** Exemption periods of one or three years included tire and rim selection requirements, glazing materials (windows and windscreen), occupant crash protection (advanced — and heavy — air bags) and electronic stability control systems. One can appreciate the difficulty of having to comply with not only aircraft but also automobile regulations, each set of which is tough enough to meet for one-medium vehicles. *** One teaching point for those inclined to scoff at the need to "bend" the rules: the glazing exemption deals with the potential safety hazard that traditional laminated car safety glass presents to pilots when shattered... it can cobweb something fierce. Imagine you get a bird strike front and center on final approach and can't see forward. You could pull a Lindbergh and look out the side window, but you get the point. *** Significant weight penalty from auto glass is another consideration, so the exemption allows for time to develop polycarbonate materials with comparable protection for the occupants, at less weight, while still resisting shattering or crazing. *** The many design and regulatory challenges have again postponed flight testing of the 2nd, redesigned Transition prototype (the first, which flew briefly, had a canard), until at least March of 2012.

Two of the best-promoted and most interesting LSA projects – and two of the most delayed getting to market – are back in the news. Icon Aircraft, a startup company created to produce the sexy composite A5 amphibian, just snagged  $25 million in funding to help complete remaining design issues, tool up for production and begin cranking out airplanes. *** The company reports around 500 A5 orders on the books, at $139,000 per. A few months of flight testing remain to be completed, along with a new wing (reportedly for better spin resistance and directional stability), which means the production target date has been pushed back again, this time to the last quarter of 2012. *** Reported among the new crop of investors are Eric Schmidt of Google, Satyen Patel, formerly of Nike and Phil Condit, former CEO of Boeing, and some “undisclosed” Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. The initial infusion of greenbacks will be $15 million, with an option for $10 million more.

Gonna Take a Sentimental Journey… with Cubs!

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

PA-17 Vagabond Trainer Photo courtesy UK Airshow Review

“Come one, come all!” says the invitation to the great, annual Piper Fly-In that’s coming up next week. *** Dubbed SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY 2011, it's the 26th anniversary of this “Family-Oriented” event. ***  It's held at – where else? – William T. Piper Airport (KLHV) in Lock Haven, PA. *** The dates for those of you who are, like myself, Cub afflicted, is June 22 — 25, 2011. You can fly in (an airspace How-To is on the organizer’s website), drive in, camp under a wing for $15/nite if you like (lots of folks do) or stay at one of several hotels, motels or B&Bs in the area. Dozens of Cubs alone, along with other models, make the trek every year. *** The Piper Museum and Memorial area also there: that's worth a trip for cub lovers all by itself. *** There are events and contests such as seminars, flea markets, bomb drop, spot landing, corn roasts, awards, nightly bands, tours and more. *** This year’s theme: “Vagabonds Saved Piper". *** Featured planes will be the PA-15 Vagabond and PA-17 Vagabond Trainer.Tickets are cheap enough at $8, $4 for kids 13 — 17 and under 12 youngsters are free – hard to beat that these days for a classic aircraft lovefest. *** Another note: All makes and models of aircraft are welcomed. Since most current pilots have some connection to those early Pipers anyway, no reason not to come if you're in the neighborhood. *** I’ll be there catching some air and lots of photos for some stories. *** Also hoping for good weather for all flying in... I’m still recovering from the 6 days it took in a Cub-type to get from Iowa to Florida against bad weather for Sun ‘ Fun!

“Come one, come all!” says the invitation to the great, annual Piper Fly-In that’s coming up next week. *** Dubbed SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY 2011, it’s the 26th anniversary of this “Family-Oriented” event. ***  It’s held at – where else? – William T. Piper Airport (KLHV) in Lock Haven, PA. *** The dates for those of you who are, like myself, Cub afflicted, is June 22 — 25, 2011. You can fly in (an airspace How-To is on the organizer’s website), drive in, camp under a wing for $15/nite if you like (lots of folks do) or stay at one of several hotels, motels or B&Bs in the area. Dozens of Cubs alone, along with other models, make the trek every year. *** The Piper Museum and Memorial area also there: that’s worth a trip for cub lovers all by itself. *** There are events and contests such as seminars, flea markets, bomb drop, spot landing, corn roasts, awards, nightly bands, tours and more.

EAA Electric Contest Postponed

By James Lawrence || Leave a Comment (Edit)

Elektra One single-seater production electric. Photo courtesy PC-Aero

Waiex electric prototype. Photos courtesy Sonex Aircraft

Surprising word came today while hanging out at the Piper Sentimental Journey in Lock Haven, PA, that EAA has canceled its Electric Flight Challenge until next year's AirVenture show to give manufacturers more time to satisfy FAA's Phase 1 requirement. *** What's Phase 1, you ask? Read on. Today’s release, announced the postponement even though there was “a strong influx of applications... nearly a dozen”, whatever that means — 11? 8.3? *** Anyway, a $60,000 Electric Flight Prize was to have been awarded after three flight competitions and an “innovation evaluation” at this year’s AirVenture (end of July). *** Now for Phase 1: EAA explains it's the requirement for the normal 40-hour “fly off” period typically flown by experimentally-built kits, to verify the aircraft is safely controllable throughout its normal speed range and all expected maneuvers. *** Chairman Tom Poberezny was quoted as saying that, in essence, too many of the competitors wouldn’t have enough time to finish flying off their hours before the challenge began. *** All in all, pretty disappointing news and a bit of a PR loss for EAA since it was ballyhooing the event on its website. Nonetheless, it’s the right call, and a smarter, safer move for EAA to ensure these aircraft live up to the excitement rather than getting the wrong kind of headlines in front of hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts and media cameras. *** In homage to the almost-event and not to be completely squelched, EAA promises many electric birds will be on display throughout AirVenture. *** That includes showcase flights from certain aircraft. Which makes one wonder how FAA allows showcase flights but not competition flights, but let’s not quibble. Maybe they will only be production electrics. Maybe there’s a Reg A.2b-97i subpart 5/3a in the catacombs somewhere that covers it and what do we care as long as we get to see electrics fly? Last year’s silent, impressive flight of the production-version Taurus Electro was thrilling. *** Still scheduled is the second annual World Symposium on Electric Aircraft, set for July 29-30. I sat through the whole thing last year. Many brainy speakers and leaders of the movement gave fascinating accounts of this new wave of flight. I’ll definitely be there again this year. Register at the link above to make sure you get in...although the link they have isn't active yet... but keep trying, it'll be hot soon enough.

Surprising word came today while hanging out at the Piper Sentimental Journey in Lock Haven, PA, that EAA has canceled its Electric Flight Challenge until next year’s AirVenture show to give manufacturers more time to satisfy FAA’s Phase 1 requirement. *** What’s Phase 1, you ask? Read on. Today’s release, announced the postponement even though there was “a strong influx of applications… nearly a dozen”, whatever that means — 11? 8.3? *** Anyway, a $60,000 Electric Flight Prize was to have been awarded after three flight competitions and an “innovation evaluation” at this year’s AirVenture (end of July). *** Now for Phase 1: EAA explains it’s the requirement for the normal 40-hour “fly off” period typically flown by experimentally-built kits, to verify the aircraft is safely controllable throughout its normal speed range and all expected maneuvers. *** Chairman Tom Poberezny was quoted as saying that, in essence, too many of the competitors wouldn’t have enough time to finish flying off their hours before the challenge began.

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