Search Results for : Pipistrel

The big Saturday came and went, bookended by winds, overcast and raindrops of the intermittent kind. No doubt many potential showgoers were deterred by the non-Florida-like weather.
LSA demo flights were conducted apace, although none of the three days of the show have shown the kind of flight activity of previous years because the weather just hasn’t been cooperative.
All in all, a difficult show to accept: so much great preparation from Jana Filip and crew, many LSA exhibitors battling through winter weather across the country just to arrive late, Patty Wagstaff doing two blockbuster performances, ditto Team AeroDynamix, which drew out a good crowd at dusk despite challenging weather that wasn’t horrible, just uncooperative, and sometimes you want to ask yourself if somebody up there likes to laugh when people plan an aviation meet.
In the hang gliding days, we called it “meet weather”. Call a competition, expect rain.
Final day tomorrow typically draws a smaller attendance at least on a Sunday morning, and a bunch of us are launching at show’s end for 4 days in the Bahamas as part of Mike Z’s annual island fly-out.

Just after I posted in the wee hours last night I got this late email from Greg Lawrence about his work with deaf flight students. Greg added a link to more information, check it out, it’s very interesting.
“Nobody can hear very well in a small aircraft,” writes Greg, “and fewer than ‘nobody’ can process language and learn well while sweating and worrying that they are going to screw up and maybe die. That is why I developed lesson plans for teaching Deaf to fly that require no oral communication in the cockpit. Tai Chi is also taught and learned with minimal talking. There are many similarities in teaching Tai Chi and flying. Tai Chi has been taught a couple thousand years longer than flying. Stop by the Pipistrel display and I will demonstrate. I am an Advanced Ground Instructor and we will be standing on the ground so we will be legal.

This year’s LSA bash in Sebring which starts next Thursday, 17 January and runs through the weekend looks to be far and away the best ever. Jana Filip and crew have been working hard all year to make this a top professional event.
Lots of new things in addition to the usual comfy, cozy gathering that’s LSA-only include a twilight airshow (can you spell Patty Wagstaff?), Seaplane Pilot’s Association Seaplane Base at Lake Jackson, Model Airplane Contest, a fully restored American Airlines DC-3 on display, and…oh yeah…tons of top LSA demos for you to get up close and personal with. Here’s some hot points:
• 80+ inside exhibitors; • 80+ outside exhibitors • 20,000+ attendance expected • keynote speeches by Randy Babbitt (former FAA head) and Patty Wagstaff • lots of new product rollouts including at least a couple LSA I’ve heard about through the grapevine. • …and the 3rd annual Bahamas flyout for four days of island fun, mon.

With all the bright minds drilling down for electric flight gold worldwide these days, including extensive research into battery storage technology and electric motor development, you’d think it’s only a matter of time before a major aircraft company comes out with an off-the-shelf aircraft to officially “launch” electric flight for the masses.
Yuneec, a Chinese company, did just that a few years back with its graceful E430. Several other companies debuted exciting electric prototypes yet since then, little has manifested under the pilot’s Christmas tree beyond a $200,000-plus electric-sustained sailplane (the elegant Lange Aviation Antares 20E), a composite motorgliderish single-seater that goes for around $140,000 (PC Aero Elektra One) and a two-seat, side-by-side electric powered sailplane (Pipistrel Taurus Electro G2, also available gas powered.)
Of course, we can’t overlook pioneer Randall Fishman‘s efforts.

In case you don’t know about Able Flight, here’s a link to the organization’s website, and another to its donation page. This wonderful endeavor helps paralyzed and otherwise physically challenged people, both civilian and war-wounded, to achieve their dreams of flight by taking them through a complete Sport Pilot training course or even LSA Repairman classes.
Able Flight uses specially-outfitted Sky Arrows, CTs, and other LSA to make it possible. Charles Stites is the big hearted, hard working guy who keeps it all moving along, and every dollar… every single dollar is well spent and deeply appreciated.
I’ve donated to Able Flight in the past and if you can send them even $5 to help this great program along, please consider it today, since it’s Giving Tuesday, which I suppose is the good sibling version of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

U.S. Pipistrel Sinus motorglider owner/dealer Rand Vollmer recently flew 1,170 statue miles nonstop at mostly economy cruise settings from Oshkosh to Florida on one 24.5-gallon fill up in his Sinus, 49-foot span motorglider.
Color me green with envy and drooling from sheer lust for flight.
For the trip, Rand’s average speed was 102 knots. Fuel economy: 50 mpg! He said he had a bit of a tailwind for part of the journey, and just squeaked in under the fall of the twilight curtain.
This and other tales I’ve heard about the super-slippery Pipistrel aircraft speak volumes about how you don’t need a lot of engine muscle to have spectacular flights. (Sinus is powered by the 80-horsepower Rotax 912 engine that can use 87-octane “regular” auto fuel. —DJ)
Pipistrel’s all-composite airframes are pushing the envelope of aerodynamics for the LSA industry. I know they’ve got some secret tricks up their sleeves, can’t wait to pass those along once I get the go-ahead.

Tecnam North America’s CEO Phil Solomon dropped me a line yesterday to make sure I heard the news that there’s a new, all-metal, budget-priced Tecnam LSA, just released, that should generate some enthusiasm among the “LSA: too expensive!” crowd.
Called the P92 Echo Classic Light it’s priced at $74,999, and that’s fly away from Richmond, Virginia “with no added costs for anything,” says Phil! “The idea is to meet the needs for pilots, flight clubs and partnerships,” he told me, “who want the lowest-cost, fully-built metal aircraft from a major manufacturer.”
“The structure is identical to all the P92 series (a 20-year production success) but to save weight the control surfaces (flaps, ailerons, rudder, stabilator) are fabric covered. The main gear and nose gear are the same as the Eaglet but to save weight the wheels and tires are smaller. As you know the sprung steel landing gear mated to a metal airframe is excellent at absorbing less than perfect landings!” I think by “as you know” he means he’s heard about my landings…doh!…but also that metal airframes have been the standard of General Aviation training for decades precisely for their ability to minimize the embarrassments and damage that the laws of gravity cause.