SEBRING 2016 PREVIEW — Folks are headed to Sebring. I’m already here, residing about three hours north in Daytona Beach, and it is sunny and pleasant outside. To a Floridian, it seems a bit cool … meaning mid-50s. Now, I know it’s become quite cold up north, so 50s may not sound bad; we’re softies down here. Opening day Wednesday looks improved with forecasts saying a high of 63 degrees and winds out of the north at 5-10 mph. Thursday looks even warmer with a high of 71 and winds south-southeast at 5-10 mph. Friday should remain warm but rain is forecast. However, the final day, Saturday the 23rd, looks sunny, cooler (55) and windier. Every day may not be perfect but the two opening days look optimal. For aircraft departing on Sunday, weather again looks quite accommodating with the high above 60 and winds out of the west-northwest at only 5 to 10 mph.

You have to love the English language (or maybe hate it for the same reason): New words keep arriving in conversations. Team MVP used the term “triphibian” to mean a Light-Sport Aircraft seaplane entry that could land on runways, waterways, or snow. Of course, many amphibious seaplanes could make a similar claim so perhaps it took something even better. Enter “Omniplane.” Is this the plane that can do it all? In May of 2015, MVP.aero went on tour, hitting the west coast area known as Silicon Valley, then traveling over 2,000 miles to Daytona Beach, Florida … as luck would have it, right to my home airport of Spruce Creek (technically in Port Orange, Florida). The airplane was trucked across the country as today it is only a well-traveled mockup while the company raises funds to complete engineering and enter production. Silicon Valley and Spruce Creek are excellent places to seek investors that understand the magic.

In the first decade of Light-Sport Aircraft we saw a new model emerge nearly every month; some months brought more than one model. SLSA approvals reached 136 aircraft, most of them land-based aircraft (our SLSA list describes each type). To general aviation pilots used to a genuinely new aircraft model once a decade or so, this LSA development outpouring was phenomenal. Cirrus SR20 was certified 17 years ago in 1998; how many other all-new GA models can you name since? By 2015, the torrid pace has slowed for various reasons and now we see more incremental changes on Light-Sport Aircraft, by which I mean new engines, interior changes, new avionics or other features, and so forth. This is much like in the GA world and I see nothing wrong with that, but it is less inspiring than a constant flow of brand-new concepts. Rushing into this all-new-design gap like a tsunami filling a Pacific atoll are LSA seaplanes.

Using the line “Your Passport to the Planet” MVP.aero (yes, that’s the company name … well, with an “Inc.” on the end), this Minnesota company made a great big splash at AirVenture 2014. Not literally in the sense of a splash into the water but from a marketing standpoint, the MVPers created a tsunami of interest in their LSA seaplane entry that buoyed activity among all Light-Sport Aircraft at the show. MVP innovation showed well in aircraft features (described below) and in PR savvy, calling the “Most Versatile Plane” a “triphibian.” As the company is being created near Cirrus Design HQ in Duluth, Minnesota, it may not surprise you that MVP manages takeoff and landing on pavement or turf, water, and snow. The team also brought the term “origami deck” to airplanes with the occupied area convertible in various ways with panels that “fold” into different purposes. In all, MVP represents a batch of fresh thinking that forms a potent statement about how the LSA sector breeds disruptive designs far faster than hide-bound Part 23 Type Certified aircraft that seem to need an act of congress to change a bolt.

A standing room only crowd just walked out of the pre-opening Sunday press conference held by the MVP.aero folks. This airplane has been in the works for many months but principals have done a masterful job of what might be called the “Apple approach.” The giant iDevice maker jealously guards their press announcements and does well considering how many folks would love to blow their cover and tell the world what Apple plans before the company does. Kudos to MVP.aero (yes, that’s the name of their company) … it was founded by a father and son team of software experts and they clearly know how to play that game; they kept their secret very well. To bring you the fastest breaking news, what follows is a series of photos. I look forward to fleshing out the story as time moves forward, but for this post, the pictures are worth more than thousands of words.

An entirely new Light-Sport seaplane will make its “global debut” at EAA AirVenture 2014 and this is one you’ll want to see up close and in detail. As with a number of other persons, I have been briefed on this new entry and, like the others, I signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement to keep the new project under wraps until company leaders were ready to reveal their new flying machine. At the coming summer celebration of flight in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, everyone will finally get to see what has excited many of those NDA signers. Airshow visitors will see a mockup, but if the full-size concept looks even remotely as good as it did in the computer presentation I was shown, be prepared to be blown away. This boat hull aircraft has features you’ve never even contemplated much less seen on any previous offering. You can guess some of what I’m writing about by their tagline for MVP, “The World’s Most Versatile Plane.” That’s a big claim as we already have many good seaplane designs and more will be following.