If you’ve never flown an airplane on floats, you’ve missed a glorious experience in flying. Good as any ultralight on floats may be – and that means “quite excellent” in my opinion – even those pilots with that experience may have missed the unique sensation of a boat-hulled ultralight.
With a few thousand hours in my logbook covering everything from foot-launched hang gliders to twin-engined Barons, I can honestly say my absolute favorite hours are spent in one of two ways: first is soaring flight, but a close second is warm summer day flying in an ultralight floatplane.
It just doesn’t get any better.
Having stuck my personal opinion into this article, I must tell you about a most promising company and their 2-seat floatplane, the Aventura II. Since Arnet Pereyra exploded into the ultralight scene in 1995, this new company has filled out their line of floatplanes with a roomy and fun 2-seater which deserves a close look.
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Eye On the Sky Watch
There was a time when a company called Beaver RX Enterprises – which produced the Canadian Beaver designs – was among the leading North American ultralight manufacturers.
In particular, the Beaver 550 tandem 2-seater attracted many customers. The company once claimed more than 3,500 ultralights flying. Certainly the model dominated the western Canadian market but also had a presence in the U.S. and other countries.
The old Beaver RX Enterprises company went through a number of leadership changes and, driven by overly-ambitious management goals, finally succumbed.
When I visited the now defunct company, the firm was a publicly-held corporation listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Even the stock exchange has experienced a transformation, so perhaps it isn’t surprising that Beaver RX Enterprises also lost its heading.
As we’ve seen with other good designs, however – such as Quicksilvers, Phantoms or Drifters – the better ultralights can outlast their ownership. The Beaver line is among those survivors.
A Legend Makes An Appearance
As a new season of flying for fun starts the Legend Cub from Sulphur Springs, Texas made its first flight. Company founders Tim Elliott and Darin Hart say their new Cub lookalike (it isn’t identical, for example, it’s got a wider cockpit) is for “recreational flyers of all ages around the world.” That’s a big statement but the popular design shape is certain to find good appeal. The Legend Cub makes its public debut at Sun ‘n Fun 2005. Look for a pilot report in an upcoming EAA Sport Pilot magazine.
World-Traveling Trike Wins SLSA Approval (#38)
Matt Liknaitzky, the U.S. importer for the French-designed DTA weight-shift aircraft is the newest winner of an Airworthiness Certificate for this world-spanning trike. A DTA Voyageur was used in a spectacular 1999 flight from the tip of South America through the USA across the Atlantic and back down through Europe to South Africa. This immense 26,703-mile cross country trip was accomplished by Mike Blyth and Olivier Aubert and was beautifully documented on a DVD video called “South to South.” The very tough Rotax 912-powered DTA trike is distinguished by its structural mast that makes a forward support tube unnecessary, thereby improving visibility. *** Matt is also the importer of a line of electronic flight instruments under the brand name Stratomaster. I’ve flown with them and loved their clean, clear display. His business, Sport Flying Shop, also carries a wide variety of other flying gear, and is based at the Torrence, California airport.
FK9 Wins SLSA Certification
FK Lightplanes FK9 Mk IV becomes our 21st SLSA since April 15 (a rate of 3 per month!). A longtime ultralight enthusiast with a list of FAA ratings, importer Tony Anderson has moved fast since securing distribution of Germany’s FK Lightplanes. Since my SPLOG two days ago, Tony was able to confirm by copy of his Airworthiness Certificate the SLSA approval for the FK9 Mk IV on November 17th. Here is a proven microlight design built very lightly (590 pounds empty) using fiberglass over steel construction. Powered by a Rotax 912 or 912S, FK9 cruises at 105 knots and climbs 1,500 fpm at gross (with 100 hp engine at 1,146 pounds gross weight). In service for many years in Germany, FK9 is quite popular with flight schools. It also has the slickest of wing folding mechanisms. A single person can unhook the wing — from the tip — and fold the wing.
Jabiru Hits a Double with Twin Approvals
And then we had 20…SLSA approvals, that is. Jabiru’s Pete Krotje announced his company had received not one but two FAA airworthiness certificates for J250 and the new J170. The latter is aimed at the flight training market. Smaller than the J250 which has an enormous baggage area — being based on the the four-seat J400 — the J170 is based on the proven two-seat Jabiru, the Calypso. It will be powered with the company’s four cylinder, 80-hp 2200 engine. Smaller, yes, but J170 still has a broad 45-inch cabin with plenty of headroom. The J170 is big in other ways, too, with a 562 pound useful load and a whopping 35 gallons of fuel (which may not all be used in training applications). Meanwhile J250 is your cross country cruiser with room for all your gear and able to cruise easily at SP/LSA’s 120-knot speed limit.
Interested In Amphibs? If Yes, Plan to Write FAA!
Many of you are aware of FAA’s confused state over “repositionable gear” for LSA floatplanes. At present the agency is stalled regarding the issue. I understand from highly placed officials that a solution could be to allow one gear movement per flight. That would fix the problem but changes move very slowly in the federal bureaucracy. To kick start action, one active producer of floats and flying boats — Czech Aircraft Works, and their U.S. partner, Sport Aircraft Works — has swiftly gotten the agency to release a “Petition for Exemption.” The usual dense federal language describes the petition, but Sport Aircraft Works has made responding much easier. Go to their website and follow the directions; they provide a link to the FAA submission site. Comments must be received by March 6, 2006, so if this matters to you (and it should!), then please take action quickly.
Number One CGS Hawk Retires to Florida Air Museum
Back when the term “ultralight” was new…back in spring of 1982 before FAA issued their now-classic Part 103 regulation…and during the time when ultralights still had to prove themselves by being foot launchable…that’s when bold designer Chuck Slusarczyk introduced the first CGS Hawk at the then-new Sun ‘n Fun Fly-in. It was fully enclosed (you couldn’t foot launch it and all other ultralight were open cockpit airplanes). It had conventional three axis controls (unusual then). But this “outlaw” design proved to be a hit. Over the years, CGS and Chuck have sold over 1,500 Hawks! Now, fittingly, a Hawk has been inducted into the Florida Air Museum. Even more fittingly, this followed one last flight from the airstrip at Sun ‘n Fun’s Paradise City ultralight display area. At the end of the flight, Chuck taxied back one last time. It was a bit emotional to retire Hawk #1, he says.
State of the Art in Hang Gliding
In the last 10 years there have been significant developments in hang glider wings. That may come as a surprise to KITPLANES® readers. After all, the wings don’t look much different from one another, so the changes must be subtle, right?
Well, yes and no. In fact, many subtle changes have occurred as these wings have steadily progressed from a glide angle of 4:1 in the 1970s to the 15:1 glides that are common today. Even as they gained efficiency, the wings haven’t changed a lot in appearance.
But not all of the changes are so subtle. The ATOS VX I flew in late 2004 illustrates a radically different approach to wing design. The ATOS VX can achieve a glide angle of 20:1 and a sink rate of only 118 fpm. The latter number makes this wing competitive with many sailplanes, even though the pilot hangs in the airstream.
An Innovative Design
The design is produced by Aeronautic Innovation Rühle (AIR) and is the creation of Felix Rühle, who worked with composite materials for many years in his role with the German government’s Center for Research and Development in Aerospace Technology in Stuttgart.
An LSA Standards Progress Report
An LSA Standards Progress Report
Before the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo launched its inaugural event on October 28, 2004, members of the ASTM F37 committee writing the industry consensus standards for Light-Sport Aircraft held their fall meeting at a hotel owned by the Sebring International Raceway.
Approximately 60 industry representatives and FAA officials met over a two-and-a-half day schedule to finish work on standards for design and performance, quality assurance, production and continuing airworthiness. Under the catchall title of the Cross Cutting Committee, attendees also worked on standards for engines, props, emergency parachutes, airparks and noise.
Specifications are finished for airplanes, powered parachutes, weight-shift (trikes), lighter than air and several of the cross cutting groups. Standards are well underway for gyroplanes and gliders. All ASTM standards are living documents that must be reviewed every two years and can be changed as needed to improve their functionality. They stand in lieu of FAA certification standards, though numerous FAA personnel have been an integral to their development.
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