As the challenging year for aircraft sales grinds on, Light-Sport Aircraft continue to hold their own. In tough times, when cash is tight, small enterprises may fare better than large companies. Their low expense structures, modestly compensated managers and employees, and lean manufacturing — as allowed by industry-standards certification — become strengths. *** But we see another quality. The half-million-plus general aviation pilots are more accepting of LSA today than three years ago. Organizations like AOPA are more fully embracing LSA, because their members are calling to ask questions. (Watch for a surprise LSA announcement at AOPA’s Aviation Summit in about a month!) GA pilots make up most buyers of LSA and those aviators now recognize the brands and have begun to acquire faith in companies certifying themselves (though many are still reserving judgement). *** Through August, a full month after AirVenture, the LSA fleet has grown to just under 1,700 fully-built aircraft not including ELSA kits or alternative aircraft like trikes and powered parachutes, nor any converted ultralights.
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LSA #100 Reached! …in Less Than Five Years
Triple digits! In five years the LSA industry has reached SLSA model #100. Actually, here’s another one that slipped by our radar. Info now shows SLSA #99 was the Krucker amphib trike named Cygnet and Van’s RV-12 was technically #100. Our SLSA List shows Special Light-Sport Aircraft in order of their approval. *** “We got our SLSA completed 3 July 2009,” wrote U.S. representative, Michael Percy, of XL Kites. This means the Cygnet he imports was approved a couple weeks earlier than the Van’s RV-12 on July 21st, which came one day after the fifth anniversary of the new rule announcement (July 20th, 2004). *** One hundred models approved in such a short time has no comparison in worldwide aviation history. In fact, reaching #100 only took 4.3 years because the first approval occurred on April 7th, 2005 …that’s two new models every single month!
New FAA Administrator Pleased with LSA Safety
Like any new aviation segment, early incidents attract disproportionate attention. Now that we are five years into Light-Sport Aircraft, the outlook is good. Sure the industry still has work to do as it creates a new industry from the ground up, including writing all its own certification plans. But the heavy lifting is done and accident rate is acceptable. What remains is filling in gaps and fine-tuning the ASTM standards and producer execution to them. *** Yesterday, Flight International reported new FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt’s positive comments about LSA. “Babbitt says that the accident rates for factory-built light sport aircraft ‘are very compatible with what’s goes on in the rest of the general aviation world’,” wrote reporter John Croft. Commenting on the progress of the light sport industry in general, Babbitt continued: “This is a whole experiment for this category of aircraft where the manufacturers themselves have said, ‘We are going to design these aircraft, we are going to have statistics and design specs and all of those things people have to follow’.” Elaborating further, Babbitt said, “And the FAA has said to [the LSA manufacturers], as long as you comply with your own high standards then you will be fine.
LSA Attain New Plateau in Aviation World
Viewed from the LSA Mall, AirVenture 2009 was much more than the summer’s big celebration of flight. Several important events tell a story of growing acceptance of LSA. Here’s a short list: LAMA hosted a meeting of G10 (the 10 largest LSA producers) and another of G5, while paying visits to every LAMA member in attendance. *** At the G10 meeting and again at LAMA’s press conference, Avemco president Jim Lauerman detailed his company’s support (in writing) for LAMA’s audit activities. His expressions were corroborated by Falcon Insurance VP Bob Mackey. *** Earl Lawrence, VP of government relations for EAA, brought brand new FAA administrator Randy Babbitt to the LSA Mall, where he met with presidents of LSA companies: Flight Design, Tecnam, Remos, and IndUS. *** At AOPA’s invitation, LAMA arranged a meeting for several LSA industry leaders with new AOPA president Craig Fuller.
First-Ever Industry-Run Oshkosh LSA Mall
The brand-new LSA Mall at AirVenture Oshkosh is full with a wait list. “First ever?” “Brand-new?” Confused? No wonder as thanks to the generosity of EAA, LSA producers or importers have enjoyed an LSA Mall at AirVenture for the last four years. *** Now, however, the industry — through LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association — has purchased space and will host its own (hopefully permanent) LSA Mall in an all-new section of the Main Aircraft Display Area. With few exceptions, all the top LSA companies will be represented and others not in the LSA Mall are exhibiting very nearby in what is shaping up as the “LSA Area.” *** The new location is shown in the accompanying graphic, but some will recognize that for many years the space was home to the Fly Market, which has now moved closer to the campground. A new paved road leads directly to the LSA Mall and it is a mere 500 paces from the front gate.
New LSA Milestone; CT Delivers 300th
Sales are subdued all over aviation but it isn’t stopping the top performers in the Light-Sport Aircraft marketplace. As our last market share update illustrated, Remos, Tecnam, SportCruiser, and Jabiru have all done reasonably (or very) well in the last 18 months. Always among those contenders is longtime market share leader, Flight Design. *** Just a couple days ago (photo), eastern distributor Flight Design Mid-Atlantic delivered CT#300 to owner Kenneth D. Griffin of Southampton, New Jersey complete with his personalized tail number (N74KG)… interestingly, CT#200 also got a call sign identifying its owner. *** In the Something-for-Nothing Department: Flight Design will be giving away the first MC at AirVenture when EAA completes its 2009 Sweepstakes and awards some lucky person a brand-new design as well as a brand-new airplane. Big flight school and mail order house, Sporty’s, is giving away a 2010 Cessna Skycatcher.
Strong Survive Tough Economy…Some Repositioning
We continue to see the effects of the last year of economic turmoil in Light-Sport Aircraft market shares. The chart accompanying this SPLOG tells the numbers as always presented, with total market share since the first deliveries in 2005 based on carefully-reviewed FAA registration data. The top twenty (of 70 total) producers still represent almost 90% of total SLSA registrations. For the record… registrations on FAA’s database are not the same as sales. Aircraft can be registered and not sold. Aircraft can be identified as sold yet no longer registered, for example, if removed from service due to a non-repairable crash. To get some idea of the work my associate Jan Fridrich does to collect this information, go look for yourself at FAA’s database. *** Remos continues its solid 2008 performance despite the troubled economy. In the 16-month period since January 1, 2008 the German brand is the leader with 73 units registered, followed by familiar names, in order: Flight Design 62; Tecnam 49; Czech Aircraft Works (see below) 44; Jabiru 32; American Legend 27; AMD 23; CubCrafters 22; Aeropro 14, plus Evektor and TL Ultralight at 12 each.
Avemco Offers “Favored Rates” for Selected SLSA
REPORTING AFTER SUN ‘N FUN — Not as exciting as a perfect landing, insurance is nonetheless a vital component of flying. For the most part: no insurance/no flying. And, as we’ve seen play out on the national stage with AIG (though not the aviation division) insurance is anything but assured when it comes to even giant companies failing. When you pay thousands of dollars per year as one expense of your flying, you want to know your company will be around to cover any loss. *** Avemco says it is the largest direct insurer — meaning they deal insurance company to owner without a middleman. They also report receiving an A+ rating for 25 consecutive years from A.M. Best, the insurance rating agency. Yet it gets much better. *** At Sun ‘n Fun Avemco president, Jim Lauerman announced “favored rates” for selected Special Light-Sport Aircraft (see photo caption).
Enroute to Sebring! Leaving 2008, Arriving 2009
Agreement is widespread welcoming a new year; 2008 was hard on almost everybody…around the world. The new year may bring continued turbulence, but a feeling that things are starting to change is prevalent, based on my conversations with dozens of LSA professionals in preparation for this year’s Fifth Annual Sebring LSA Expo. From various locations around the country, vehicles and airplanes are headed to Florida — where, by the way, 60-degree temperatures are expected to warm those from the deeply cold north. *** In this SPLOG, I present year-end information which completes the report posted earlier. We hope for a better 2009 and a much-improved 2010; nonetheless, the LSA fleet continued to expand in 2008, with a net increase of 36% (though growth slowed sharply from the 98% pace achieved in 2007 — as the fleet enlarges, it becomes harder to maintain the high percentage growth).
Year Ends with New SLSA: Welcome FA-04 Peregrine
On December 29th, a new Special Light-Sport Aircraft was approved. With only a couple days remaining in this challenging year, I suspect this will be the final approval of 2008. Welcome to the FA-04 Peregrine, which was inspected after assembly at Hansen Air Group in the Atlanta area. I believe this to be the first LSA from former East Germany (which was ironically named German Democratic Republic even though it was Communist). *** FA-04 Peregrine is a low-wing carbon fiber LSA that evolved from Flaeming Air‘s FA-02, which earlier had won European VLA approval. The interior is 44 inches wide (a Cessna 172 is 39.5 in.) with “lots of legroom” and a large luggage compartment that makes the model appropriate for longer cross country flights. Adjustable seats aid occupant comfort. In an interesting variation, Peregrine has main landing gear that can “easily be converted to a taildragger,” said Jon Hansen.
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