News & Video on Light-Sport Aircraft, Sport Pilot Kits, and Ultralight Aircraft
Website: http://www.phoenixair.cz/Phoenix_Air_main.htm
Email: storm.composites@seznam.cz
Phone: (420) 724-084-966
Usti nad Orlici, -- 562 01 - Czech RepublicWe know the elegant Phoenix, a sleek motorglider that also enjoys flying powered cross country flights (more on an especially long flight in another video). At Aero 2013 we had a chance to visit with Martin Stepanek about Phoenix Air's pure-electric aircraft called the ePhoenix. Martin helps us understand the details of electric power in a modern, efficient Light-Sport Aircraft.
We know the elegant Phoenix, a sleek motorglider that also enjoys flying powered cross country flights (more on an especially long flight in another video). At Aero 2013 we had a chance to visit with Martin Stepanek about Phoenix Air’s pure-electric aircraft called the ePhoenix. Martin helps us understand the details of electric power in a modern, efficient Light-Sport Aircraft.
If you love long, shapely wings, here's an airplane to warm your heart. But it's more than an LSA airplane... in fact, it's a motorglider and a most impressive one at that. For soaring enthusiasts Phoenix is one of the most attractive choices among all Light-Sport Aircraft. But it can cruise fast and long while providing a huge safety measure of a very long glide in the unlikely event her engine should fail. See standard multiple wings and more in our video presentation of Phoenix.
If you love long, shapely wings, here’s an airplane to warm your heart. But it’s more than an LSA airplane… in fact, it’s a motorglider and a most impressive one at that. For soaring enthusiasts Phoenix is one of the most attractive choices among all Light-Sport Aircraft. But it can cruise fast and long while providing a huge safety measure of a very long glide in the unlikely event her engine should fail. See standard multiple wings and more in our video presentation of Phoenix.
With Aero mere days away now, excitement is growing for the electric aircraft event-within-the-event. Visitors can tour around the entry foyer hall where the e-flight-expo will be located. This year offers a few highlights, provided to me from my publisher friend Willi Tacke in Germany.
One aircraft not many Europeans and even fewer Americans have seen is the Chinese RX1E made by the Liaoning Ruixiang General Aircraft Manufacturing Company. An electric motorglider, RX1E earned its CAAC Type Design Approval (TDA) earlier this year using ASTM standards (article). Willi reported, "The Chinese team lead by chief developer Professor Dr. Yang Fengtian is now seeking certification in other countries such as Germany or France.
Some companies will not be attending not because their projects have stopped but because they are at critical junctions. Among those missing will be the Volocopter from e-Volo nor any man-carrying aircraft display by Yuneec — which last year showed their eSpyder that had just won German approval. However, the company will be present with their drone/UAV models and their electric powered skateboards, the latter seen at AirVenture 2013.
Martin Stepanek from the Czech company Phoenix will show his electric powered Phoenix motorglider. This lovely aircraft has been sold successfully in the USA by Jim Lee but we have not seen the electric version on this side of the Atlantic. Fortunately, you can catch our video on it.
Willi wrote, "A newcomer at the e-flight-expo is Chip Erwin from Florida. His company Aeromarine-LSA has developed a new light electric drive with a new brushless motor. He uses this device to power the Italian tube and fabric ultralight, Zigolo." Chip told Willi that his new motor weigh 6 kilos (13 pounds) and has up to 30 kW (40 horsepower). That ought to make this super lightweight aircraft perform amazingly well.
"The global market leader of gyrocopters, AutoGyro, will show, like last year, its joint venture with Bosch General Aviation," reported Willi. "This project is supported by the EU and shall research if and how e-motorization will be possible for gyros with their higher need of power compared to fixed wing planes." Bosch is adapting components for aviation that were previously used in automobiles. See our AutoGyro Video Pilot Report here.
The biggest news in this category is the aviation market entry by a megacorporation, Siemens (2014 revenue: $98 billion). "Siemens is choosing a different way to enter, compared to Bosch," wrote Willi. "In 2011 Siemens started a program to become a supplier of motors, because the company is confident of a future market for hybrid electric motor devices for planes with two to 100 seats. A Siemens division based in Erlangen, Germany has been working with miscellaneous aviation manufacturers of general aviation aircraft and airliners, for example such companies as Pipistrel and Boeing."
At Aero, Siemens will show a much more powerful electric motor. The company has been testing a 261 kW or 255 continuous horsepower motor that weighs only 50 kilograms (110 pounds). "We will put this motor in the air this year," promised Frank Anton, who is head of aviation development at Siemens and is also responsible for other electric drive systems especially for railways. Siemens is focused not only on the motor but on the full propulsion system: motor, hybrid combustion motor, generator, batteries, and the controls.
Aero has become known to many of us who make the annual pilgrimage as a place where you can find interesting ideas that are not commonly seen at American airshows. The e-flight-expo will be a key element of this but I will attempt to keep readers aware of other interesting developments. Join me as I report from Aero 2015 next week.
With Aero mere days away now, excitement is growing for the electric aircraft event-within-the-event. Visitors can tour around the entry foyer hall where the e-flight-expo will be located. This year offers a few highlights, provided to me from my publisher friend Willi Tacke in Germany. One aircraft not many Europeans and even fewer Americans have seen is the Chinese RX1E made by the Liaoning Ruixiang General Aircraft Manufacturing Company. An electric motorglider, RX1E earned its CAAC Type Design Approval (TDA) earlier this year using ASTM standards (article). Willi reported, “The Chinese team lead by chief developer Professor Dr. Yang Fengtian is now seeking certification in other countries such as Germany or France. Some companies will not be attending not because their projects have stopped but because they are at critical junctions. Among those missing will be the Volocopter from e-Volo nor any man-carrying aircraft display by Yuneec — which last year showed their eSpyder that had just won German approval.
A solar-panel-equipped Pegasus hangs above a display of several electric aircraft.
Conducting a rare interview with Paolo Pascale, the managing director of LSA giant, Tecnam, in front of their new Astore. See our video.
Lightsport and Ultralight Flyer had to arrive early in the morning to get this shot of the Fk 51 Mustang without a crowd around it.
We were busy at Aero Friedrichshafen 2013, knocking out more than 30 videos for your viewing information and entertainment. That’s more than seven videos per day and a sum of more than five hours total running time (more than three Hollywood movies in minutes of viewing time). With these and all the videos shot at Sun ‘n Fun the week before Aero started, we expect to offer more than 300 videos on our LSA Video page. I’d like for you to understand how much effort that represents. I’d also like to thank BRS Parachutes, ICP North America, and Renegade Light Sport Aircraft for providing financial assistance to Lightsport and Ultralight Flyer. Without their support, these videos would not likely have been made. Today, I uploaded more than a dozen new videos to ByDanJohnson.com. We have many more coming. The newest ones include • Introduction to Aero and what you’ll see • Tecnam’s aerobatic Snap • FlyEco’s Diesel engine • FK 51 replica Mustang • Yuneec’s electric-powered eSpyder • lightweight electric aircraft • Zlin’s customizable Bobber • ICP’s Savannah taildragger and new engine • BOT SpeedCruiser with D-Motor • BRM Aero’s Bristell taildragger • Phoenix Air’s electric-powered ePhoenix • Nando Groppo tri-gear and, • one from AirVenture 2012 on the Zenith CH-650.
I think Phoenix is one the loveliest aircraft in the LSA fleet. Of course, I have a rather large bias as I’m a soaring enthusiast and this is one fine soaring machine in the SLSA fleet, able to compete fairly with a pure glider. I’m also a fan of importer Jim Lee, a modest, soft spoken man with a deep honesty streak. He’s also a world-renown soaring champion. Yet what just catches my eye again and again are the long, lovely, shapely, slippery wings of Phoenix, which lead me to present the photos you see with this article. These views came from Jim’s long flight from his home base not far from mine in Melbourne, Florida to Bogota, Columbia. That meant a long water crossing from Key West to the Mexican coast, then south to Belize and on around to his destination (see route map). Jim wrote a blog of this entire experience featuring many photos and I’ll bet most pilots would like to read it.
Our annual review of LSA Market Share brings our updated fleet chart and a second chart showing prior-year registrations. While sales of new SLSA remains below par, the market appears to be experiencing spotty but regular recovery from earlier low points. The first half the year foretold a better recovery but the last half of the year stalled somewhat. Regardless, based on traffic to this website, LSA interest is higher than ever. For January 2013, ByDanJohnson.com set all-time records in Unique Visitors and all other measuring criteria Thank you for your support!
2012 Market Share report — Nearby, we present our standard market share numbers. Our original chart remains consistent, illustrating the "installed base," or "fleet size." Because we know many of you seek recent-year information we are repeating the Calendar Year chart that debuted last year.
For the second year in a row Cessna lead in 2012 with an impressive 94 registrations though this is down 30% from 134 in 2011. While Cessna looked to set a new record with 76 registrations (152 annualized) in the first half of 2012, their pace slowed sharply in the second half, adding only 23, perhaps a result of their announcement about switching to Primary Category as a means of entering the European market. The Wichita giant is singlehandedly restarting Primary Category with the first such application in nearly 20 years, a decision that may inspire other companies to go this route.
Perhaps the most noteworthy story in 2012 registrations is an even better performance by CubCrafters. The Washington State company added 48 new registrations, up 33% from 36 in 2011. Company marketing boss John Whitish reported 52 SLSA sales, which prompts us to ask that you read the notice at the end of this article. Congratulations to CubCrafters, clearly a company to keep watching.
A remarkably steady climber is Aerotrek, which took the #3 slot for 2012 registrations, a notable improvement from their #5 spot in 2011. Despite some reports that all SLSA are expensive, Aerotrek has a very attractive price point and an impressively built, folding wing aircraft available in tailwheel or trigear. Aerotrek consistently replies to our listings, with the goal of making our FAA registrations report more precise. This happens, for example, when sales occur to Canada with no N-number assigned or when a SLSA drops down to ELSA perhaps as the owner wants to make design changes (which is allowed as is owner maintenance). Other companies also see differences explained by deregistration, accidents that remove the aircraft from the registry, or simple errors in data entry after a sale. Regardless of the variables in counting registrations versus sales, bravo to Aerotrek! Based on their faithful feedback we have been able to improve our accuracy.
Other top guns in 2012 include perennial leaders like Flight Design, which remains convincingly atop the overall fleet and added 11 more registrations during the year and American Legend which revived from a sluggish 2011 to add 11 SLSA in 2012. SportCruiser importer US Sport Aircraft fulfilled the last of the PiperSport orders and rewrote their distributor agreement with Czech Sport Aircraft; they added another 10 SLSA in 2012. In a pleasant but unexpected turn, importer Phoenix Air USA added an impressive 10 SLSA registrations of their extremely lovely motorglider. Congratulations to all these leaders.
A member of the exclusive Over-100 Club listing only eight SLSA producers is Tecnam. The Italian company showed renewed vigor logging six registrations in the second half of the year. They also successfully completed an FAA audit in Italy. Among their five SLSA models, four are high-wing models yet their low wing Sierra has 51 units flying in America, more than any other Tecnam model. Another European producer with facilities in Italy is Pipistrel, which overcame regulatory hurdles in mid-year and has begun delivering SLSA to Americans. They also logged six in the last half of the year. Both Tecnam and Pipistrel report active sales outside the USA.
Unfortunately, one former high flyer, Remos, lost its U.S representative and has become very quiet though earlier this year, their CEO said they had recovered from the previous CEO's high-spending ways.
We are watching a few companies not on our fleet chart. One new entry to the SLSA scene is Bristell, in a new partnership with fractional ownership provider, AAP. They join some other companies that have not been active long enough to get on the fleet chart, but nonetheless deserve attention. These companies include World Aircraft Co., which is bringing all production to their Paris, Tennessee facility. Breezer is now established on the Sun 'n Fun campus and more is expected from them. Sky Arrow producer Magnaghi has new life and may resurge. Aero's AT-4 (formerly known as Gobosh) is back with new representation. Just Aircraft got rave reviews on their SuperSTOL model and this mostly kit company is enjoying a solid run of business something like 100% kit producers Zenith Aircraft and Sonex. While mentioning kit builders (not on our SLSA list), we must include Van's Aircraft, which has seen registration of 203 RV-12 kits.
We are also watching the pulse on seaplanes lead this year by Progressive Aerodyne, which earned SLSA approval even as FAA increased their oversight via highly detailed audits. Congratulations to the SeaRey team for this significant accomplishment.
This brief look at the LSA market is not complete. One observation is that the "All other producers" category is now the largest percentage, indicating small producers continue to develop sales. Some companies not reflected in our Top-20 and Top-10 charts may emerge into these lists in the future. Others that have been in the Top-20 but which are no longer producing new aircraft were omitted. However, all SLSA models are covered in our SPLOG reports and you may also examine our Featured Aircraft (right column of most pages) for more exciting Light-Sport Aircraft and other aircraft Sport Pilots can fly.
As I have said for years, a loud shout-out is owed to Jan Fridrich of the Czech LAA for the LSA Market Share report. Jan is also head of LAMA Europe and a tireless worker for the advancement of Light-Sport aviation. He invests many hours to analyze data for each report. Thanks, Jan, on behalf of all ByDanJohnson.com readers. During 2013, we will work to solicit comments from producers to evaluate the sales versus registration numbers. This is not an easy task and no promises are made yet the effort seems worthwhile in the pursuit of better information.
Notice: As always, we observe for you that all numbers here are derived from FAA's N-number registration database and are subject to data entry errors. Figures presented are not identical to sales recorded by the companies though over time the numbers draw closer.
UPDATE 2/13/13: GAMA held a press conference today where they released their industry numbers. Get more on GAMA here, but this is where their figures relate to the Light-Sport market. Piston aircraft, singles and twins, suffered a minor drop, only 1.9% down; GAMA did list some LSA in their report but did not use them in summary tables. Turbines were up and GAMA added agricultural crop-spraying planes to their membership; many ag planes are turbine powered. Jets were down slightly more at minus 3.4%. Like the Light-Sport industry, GAMA is hoping for improvement in 2013 and they announced some interesting initiatives to this end.
Our annual review of LSA Market Share brings our updated fleet chart and a second chart showing prior-year registrations. While sales of new SLSA remains below par, the market appears to be experiencing spotty but regular recovery from earlier low points. The first half the year foretold a better recovery but the last half of the year stalled somewhat. Regardless, based on traffic to this website, LSA interest is higher than ever. For January 2013, ByDanJohnson.com set all-time records in Unique Visitors and all other measuring criteria Thank you for your support! 2012 Market Share report — Nearby, we present our standard market share numbers. Our original chart remains consistent, illustrating the “installed base,” or “fleet size.” Because we know many of you seek recent-year information we are repeating the Calendar Year chart that debuted last year. For the second year in a row Cessna lead in 2012 with an impressive 94 registrations though this is down 30% from 134 in 2011.
BRM Aero's Bristell appears to be an up-and-comer.
Jim Lee has quietly been logging a slew of orders for his smooth motorglider.
Aerotrek continues to be a solid selling aircraft, and offers one of the lower price points among LSA.
We’ve been getting requests for market share information and I am happy to provide an update, thanks to my European associate Jan Fridrich who does the hard work of sifting through FAA’s database. I remind you that his efforts are not merely tallying whatever FAA publishes. In fairness, Jan has to evaluate many pieces of information and judge accuracy of the entries. This isn’t because FAA’s registrars are bumbling fools that cannot enter data accurately. The challenges come from sheer number of brands (90) and models (127) over a mere seven years… unprecedented in aviation history. To that add the variations of Experimental Amateur Built (EAB), Special Light-Sport Aircraft (SLSA), Experimental Light-Sport Aircraft kits (ELSA) and converted two-place ultralights to LSA status. Then factor in that some standard category or homebuilt aircraft meet the LSA parameters of weight and speed and such so some people consider them “LSA,” when in fact they mean they can be flown by some possessing a Sport Pilot certificate.
The eGenius all-electric CAFE Green Flight Challenge competitor. photo courtesy Eric Raymond
eGenius, designed by Univ. of Stuttgart engineeers. photo courtesy Airbus
Updates 10/4/11 and 10/5/11 — Congratulations to Pipistrel for their unprecedented third win at a NASA Challenge. Picking up a cool $1.35 million, the company won with their unorthodox dual Taurus G2 fuselages joined by a larger, centrally-mounted electric engine. The custom-configured, four-seat aircraft achieved an amazing 403 passenger miles per gallon of fuel (or its equivalent). After this string of wins, Pipistrel has firmly placed itself in the lead position among highly efficient light aircraft and those powered with electric motors. *** NASA claims the prize purse was the biggest ever awarded for an aviation competition. In second-place a much smaller but still hefty check for $120,000 went to the German eGenius team, NASA announced. *** Read more from our friends at AvWeb and at Flying online. In addition, Aero-News offers a video with more on the potential of electric power (scroll to or search for “The Green Flight Challenge”).
"...through footless halls of air..."
Hard at work: Jim Lee, left, and me
Ready for sky: Phoenix with the long wing extensions.
Climb over 1000 fpm at 57 knots
A beautiful Rotax 912 ULS (100hp) installation
Wonderful aerodynamic lines and just plain beautiful.
Nothing like getting some air. *** Thanks to Jim Lee of Phoenix Air USA, I finally had my desire: Jim and I flew the fabulous new Phoenix LSA motorglider, with both wingtips (max span: 49 feet!) out of his home base at Melbourne International Airport, Florida, and I have to say simply this: it cured my winter blues.Or to paraphrase Renée Zellwegger, “Shut up. Just shut up. You had me at liftoff.” *** To say the Phoenix lives up to its advance billing is understatement, plain and simple: it’s a wonderful airplane for anybody who desires to have friendly Light-Sport handling (2 second roll rate, 45° to 45°), wonderful engine-off soaring performance (200 fpm sink rate), excellent and comfortable XC cruise (100 knots at 75%), comfortable, semi-reclined seats, great visibility with the sleek bubble canopy and forward rake of the cowl, beautiful lines, wonderful engine package… need I go on?I’ll let the pix do the talking for now.
Jim Lee kindly brought his stunning Phoenix to my new home at Spruce Creek Fly-in.
Long 49-foot wings help Phoenix glide 30 miles on only 5,000 feet of altitude. Yes, the prop is stopped... and can be feathered for lower drag.
With the sunset glowing on her wings, Phoenix reveals a motorglider's smooth, complex curves.
Yesterday, I was again grateful for my residence at Spruce Creek Fly-In, the large airport community near Daytona Beach, Florida. Why? Because after a lucky last-minute phone call, I zipped over to the airport restaurant and went flying with Jim Lee in his new Phoenix. *** Now, I’m a soaring enthusiast, so a LSA motorglider already starts well up my wish list. But this Phoenix, whew! She’s simply gorgeous with slippery compound curves and the handling is marvelous. *** Much more than simply a soaring machine, Phoenix climbs like the proverbial homesick angel and can cruise faster than many LSA. It also comes standard with two wing configurations — 49 feet stepping down to 36 feet — so you really get two airplanes in one. (Not only that, but if you need to put Phoenix in a hangar, you can remove the long wingtips to squeeze down to a 34-foot span, hardly any wider than a “standard” LSA.) *** Inside the cockpit, the 43-inch wide space is handsomely appointed and you have a few controls and an instrument not typically found in LSA.
All photos courtesy Jim Lee of Phoenix Air USA
Looking out the window at falling snow (and it’s only November 8th… Bah!), back from a two week vacation to Europe and Turkey, and mired in writing a big LSA buyer’s guide for Plane & Pilot mag, I’ve only got a few minutes to splash up some photos of what to me is a big event: the ASTM certification as an SLSA of the Phoenix motorglider! *** See Dan Johnson’s post below where you can follow his links to Jim Lee’s sites for more info on the exciting news we’ve been waiting for some time to hear. *** The Phoenix is the more-than-worthy “sequel” [by another, unrelated company] to the Lambada SLSA motorglider that turned a lot of pilots on (including me and Dan). When two breakups last year clouded its future, a lot of us were glad to hear from Jim that the Phoenix was waiting in the wings to take its place.
Long and slender, notice the compound wing angles on the new Phoenix SLSA. photo courtesy Phoenix Air
The comfy Phoenix cockpit. A glass screen digital instrument is available. photo courtesy Phoenix Air
Soaring champion Jim Lee sits on the wing of his new Phoenix motorglider. photo courtesy Phoenix Air
I’ve had the pleasure to fly more than 350 light airplanes of every conceivable description. Most of those experiences brought a smile to my face. A few genuinely stirred my soul. Though I started in powered aircraft I found my way to gliders and to soaring, which I freely admit is my favorite aviation challenge. To rise high above the Earth using only swirling currents of air is magical. *** An extra benefit was acquiring confidence about landing without an engine. To many power pilots, an engine-out landing is scary. But every landing in a glider involves but one approach. You know what? You get comfortable with it and now when I fly a power plane, I don’t worry as much about a loss of power. My power plane will just become a glider and I know how to handle that. *** So with great anticipation over an eventual test flight, I am delighted to announce the Phoenix was certified as SLSA #111 in August 2010.
Caught up with Jim Lee recently to find out what’s up with the Phoenix motorglider I wrote about here a few weeks back. *** The good news is his full time devotion to making Phoenix the Next Big Thing in LSA motorized soaring flight. He’s renamed his Urban Air company Phoenix Air USA. *** Believe me, if you haven’t tried a motorglider, you’re missing one of aviation’s greatest experiences. *** Imagine cruising along as fast as 115 knots on a thermally active afternoon. Up ahead, a big, white cumie cloud with a flat, gray bottom presents an irrestible invitation. *** Here’s where the fun starts: as you get closer, you turn off the engine, feather the prop, trim up for minimum sink, and start looking for the lift under the cloud. In a minute or two your search is rewarded with a good, strong push under the left wing – That’s lift calling your name!
Whoopsie. In my last post on the Phoenix motorglider, I had some incorrect info that Jim Lee set me right on, so here’s the skinny. *** Urban Air USA, which Jim represented and which imported and marketed the Lambada motorglider is being purchased, he said, “with plans to return the Samba XXL (composite low wing SLSA) and Lambada (SLSA motorglider) to production.” *** Jim also notes Phoenix Air S.R.O. and his Lee Aviation LLC, dba Phoenix Air USA, are completely different companies with no relationship to Urban Air. *** Also, I’d mentioned Evektor’s new direct-sale program, but Mr. Lee also noted that Evektor is still working out the details and may not do direct sale ops but some other program instead. *** I’ve got queries into the Czech company and will update once I hear. *** Thanks for the clarifications, Jim!
