Over many years, many people have done solid work to accommodate people who are physically challenged in one way or another. That’s great! More opportunities to bring in motivated pilots is worthwhile. Yet designers have been hampered from making such changes, partly as they are burdened by a certification system that is simply too rigid to make the effort of approval worth it for small numbers of specially-equipped aircraft. Cars, hotel rooms, curb construction, building ramps, smartphones, and more …all accommodate persons with disabilities. That’s wonderful, however… All those arrangements that make life easier for someone in a wheelchair must nonetheless cope with strenuous regulatory demands. Cars, hotels, and smartphones are created by vastly larger enterprises with staff to handle regulatory burdens. In the more intimate world of recreational aviation, the industry is composed of much smaller enterprises. A lighter regulatory hand (using ASTM standards instead of full FAA certification) allows easier airframe customization for specific purposes — such as hand control fittings and linkages — and this system allows changes on a dramatically faster schedule.
Montaer USA
Website: https://www.montaeraircraft.com
Email: info@montaeraircraft.com
Phone: 386-473-8168
DeLand, FL 32736 - USAVideo Bonanza! Despite Covid and Distance, Fresh Light Aircraft Videos Continue to Arrive
The night airshow continued to be very popular with large crowds (image from EAA)
You've Got Video!
For a few airshows now, I've had to do my job and Videoman Dave's job.Aeromarine-LSA's Merlin Lite now has a much longer wingspan helping the model stay within Part 103 parameters. The inset features another development using this platform.
Oh-So-Fast JMB VL3 / Speedster — Shooting like lightning across the sky, JMB is now beginning to install and deliver their sleek speed machine with Rotax's potent 915iS.
With the potent Rotax 915iS installed in JMB's VL3 the European speedster will continue to be one of the fastest in the sky.
Roomy and Well-Behaved Montaer MC01 / Touring — One of the most common questions I get involves payload. How much stuff can you carry and how do big fellows fit?
Talk about spacious… and Montaer's MC01 has even more room aft of the seats, with a third door to access it.
Affordable and Handsome Ultralights / Affordable — Tri-State is one of those companies that's been around a long time yet you may still not know of it. Well, that won't do. You should know about Smithsilvers or Quicksmiths (casual, not official references).
Artful sail work is only one of the skills Tr-State Kite Sales brings to market. Most components of the "Smithsilver" line are produced in-house.
For 18 months, the world has been under assault from a bug so small you can’t see it without a big microscope. Plenty of us are hungry to return to what we once quaintly called “normal.” Hundreds of thousands of people at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021 started back on that path! Let’s review: Lots of people. Lots of exhibitors. Perhaps a record number of aircraft flown to the show by visitors. Airplanes were selling, according to many vendors. Weather was good; it only rained at night. No serious accidents. No subsequent reports of any “superspreading.” I’d say it’s all good, except… I was able to gather lots of material and put up daily posts. That made for very long days and short nights of sleep but it’s what many readers have asked for and I’m happy to oblige. What I did not do was shoot enough video. In the five days I attended, my Apple Watch said I walked almost 75 miles, nearly 15 miles a day on average.
Special Light-Sport Aircraft #154 — Welcome to Montaer’s MC01 from Brazil
Please Welcome Montaer MC01
It's easy to see the visual relationship between MC01 and Paradise's P1NG. While the new model bears a close resemblance to the earlier SLSA, that former LSA is no longer represented in the U.S. market — although several models sold earlier continue to operate.See at bottom for current (Feb '21) panel offered by Montaer USA. This configuration also remains available.
Montaer MC01 Special LSA TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
- Wing Span — 28 feet 10 inches
- Wing Area — 124 square feet
- Length — 21 feet
- Empty Weight — 855 pounds (varies with options)
- Useful Load — 465 pounds
- Fuel Capacity — 37 gallons
- Range — 780 nautical miles
- Cruise Speed — 120 miles per hour
- Never-Exceed Speed — 137 miles per hour
- Stall Speed (best flaps) — 45 miles per hour
Bruno de Oliveira (R) receives approval from Brazil's aviation authority. The South American county has long embraced ASTM standards so Bruno could achieve acceptance in both countries more quickly.
Ed Ricks (L) accepts the airworthiness certificate from FAA.
Lay-flat seats (like international airline's First Class seats) may allow sleeping in your MC01 but could be quite useful on the passenger side.
Montaer's MC01 uses welded chrome-moly steel with aluminum non-structural skins.
Panel featured in early 2021 by Montaer USA: Garmin G3X 10-inch touch screen; G3X autopilot: and G-5.
Welcome our newest entry to the Special LSA fleet: Montaer’s MC01. It’s been added to our SLSA List that so many of you visit regularly. In a way, you already know this aircraft or at least its look-a-like predecessor, Paradise’s P1NG. As happens in every industry, a key engineer left a family airplane building business — Paradise, run by granddad, Noe de Oliveira — and started his own aircraft factory. The departure occurred eight years ago. Now, Bruno de Oliveira has won FAA acceptance of his Special LSA model. Brazil uses ASTM standards as well so he also got approval in the South American country. Importer Ed Ricks of Montaer USA hoped to make it to the Midwest LSA Expo in late summer 2020, but we know all-too well how strange last year was. Many hoped-for gatherings simply fell apart in the year of Covid.
Midwest Light-Sport Aircraft Expo — What to See at 2020’s Last Airshow
Rare and/or New Aircraft
Who Won't Be Present?
I understand a few cannot be present and while I certainly respect their decision not to take chances, well… darn it! I'll miss these folks.To help you psych' up for Midwest 2020, here's a few videos assembled by Videoman Dave. He's putting up lots before this event — go to his YouTube channel to see many more. https://youtu.be/oSpq6vZ4skQ https://youtu.be/mMV824eEbRk https://youtu.be/eq0FfmDvNtE https://youtu.be/P25dFK_RCY8
I hope you can attend 2020’s Midwest LSA Expo — the last airshow in 2020. If you cannot attend, rest assured your trusty reporter will be onsite and gathering all the info on the coolest aircraft I can find. What will be available? Well, if I am honest, we will have to see when we arrive to be certain. In these virus-impacted times, things have a lousy way of changing at the last minute, however… Those who attend should see a few aircraft that few Americans have seen before. Here’s a quick take, not forgetting the statement about how arrivals can be altered beyond the wishes of any particular vendor. Rare and/or New Aircraft MC-01 by Montaer — We almost didn’t see it. Insurance has been getting harder to find and more costly. That’s true for all aircraft but the situation is especially challenging for a new design (even if it significantly resembles an earlier design).
Virtual Sun ‘n Fun 2020 — 5 Light Aircraft You Might Have Seen in Lakeland
Bristell 915iS
The successful model from the very active BRM Aero in the Czech Republic was always a favorite for its exquisite design with no detail overlooked, with some of the smoothest execution in the industry. It's wide cabin and luxurious appointments puts Bristell almost in a class of its own, with a price tag to match.Jabiru J230D
For a very rare airframe company that also builds its own engines, welcome to the all-new Jabiru J230D with their latest Gen 4 (generation 4) Jabiru engine. The two seater LSA is also supplied as a four seater in its homeland of Australia, so this American model offers not only one of the most voluminous aft cabins in all of LSA-land but a separate, third door to access it.Flight Design F2
Flight Design has been busy over the last year. Not only have they come out with their CTLS 2020 (fresh news) but they've put their all-new F2 through multiple tests. The German company is almost ready to begin deliveries.Whisper X350
You know the Czech Cessna-182 lookalike called L600 from AeroPilot USA. You also know the dashing FX1 from InnovAviation in Italy. Both of these interesting models are represented by Deon Lombard of AeroPilot USA, now based in Florida but with representation in California.Whisper Aircraft in South Africa has created Whisper X350 Gen II, a two-seat, cross-country sport aircraft with a limit load factor of plus 6.0 and minus 4.0 Gs. Those are merely limit loads. This is a tough bird.
Whisper wings feature a carbon fiber structure tested to an ultimate load factor of 12.0 Gs. The Gen II’s wing tanks offer a total fuel capacity of 63 U.S. gallons, giving a range of 1,000 nautical miles and an endurance of over 6 hours.
"The aircraft also has one of the widest interiors on the market today, featuring optional leather interior and plenty of baggage room making the Gen II perfect for comfortable cross-country trips. This will make a good member of the AeroPilot USA family. A few more specs: Useful Load — 925 pounds; Speed — 175 knots; Range — 1,137 miles.
••• Get Lots More Info — AeroPilot USAMontaer MC-01
It might have been one of the great flights to reach Sun 'n Fun 2020, had it occurred. That's because designer and company representative Bruno de Oliveira had planned to fly his new model all the way from Brazil to Lakeland. That alone would have been reason to examine the new Light-Sport Aircraft.While I continue to worry about the cash crunch faced by two of my favorite shows, I am still driven to provide content as if those shows had occurred this year and not been postponed to 2021. Of course, I refer to Aero Friedrichshafen and Sun ‘n Fun, the latter my focus for this post. Here I will relate five aircraft you might have seen in Lakeland last week …before it was bumped to early May, but which is now off until April 2021. I admit I secretly hoped for good news in these sad cancellations that might allow me to attend both events in 2021. I had to pick one over the other in 2020 as they were exactly opposite one another. Unfortunately for my schedule, the year-long postponement didn’t change anything. Sun ‘n Fun 2021 will be 13-18 of April while Aero 2021 is planned for 14-17 April.