This website stresses affordable aviation and that sometimes generates questions or complaints about the cost of modern Light-Sport Aircraft. All but a few pilots have to watch a budget and figure how they can acquire an aircraft of interest.
I can think of three worthy methods to fly what you want: 1️⃣ Buy a used LSA, either Special or Experimental — many great choices are available and a growing number of professional sellers can help you connect to an especially good used model and then provide back-up after the sale. 2️⃣ Shared purchase or expenses — where you help an aircraft-owning friend with his cost of ownership in return for access (this is what I do). 3️⃣ Kit-built Sport Pilot certificate-eligible aircraft — especially if you are handy and have space, but even if you are inexperienced or don’t want to invest the time, many kits demand less hours and lots of them have Quick-Build options that sharply reduce the hours you must expend.Affordable Aviation and Low Interest Rates Combine to Get Pilots Aloft
This website stresses affordable aviation and that sometimes generates questions or complaints about the cost of modern Light-Sport Aircraft. All but a few pilots have to watch a budget and figure how they can acquire an aircraft of interest.
I can think of three worthy methods to fly what you want: 1️⃣ Buy a used LSA, either Special or Experimental — many great choices are available and a growing number of professional sellers can help you connect to an especially good used model and then provide back-up after the sale. 2️⃣ Shared purchase or expenses — where you help an aircraft-owning friend with his cost of ownership in return for access (this is what I do). 3️⃣ Kit-built Sport Pilot certificate-eligible aircraft — especially if you are handy and have space, but even if you are inexperienced or don’t want to invest the time, many kits demand less hours and lots of them have Quick-Build options that sharply reduce the hours you must expend.
On the other hand, “new is nice” is a common expression for a reason. That new airplane smell and knowing you are the first owner is as satisfying as being able to customize the aircraft to your liking.
Financing — The American Way
While cars are much less expensive thanks to their high volume production, the average price of a new car is about $38,000 these days. A superbly-equipped Colt goes for $167,000.
To make their aircraft affordable to more pilots, Texas Aircraft Manufacturing said it has arranged “a new financing program for its Colt-S and Colt-SL Special LSA.” Fly-Away Financing is the result of a partnership between Texas Aircraft and Hondo, Texas-based Community National Bank. According to the company, “Prospective aircraft buyers can now access an online form to calculate their down payment, loan terms and total monthly payments.” Contact Texas Aircraft for details.
“Imagine owning a brand-new, fully-equipped Colt-SL for about the same cost as a much older, less advanced, pre-owned aircraft,” says Texas Aircraft CEO Matheus Grande. “Our Fly-Away Financing offer doesn’t just make it affordable; Community National Bank has streamlined the loan approval process to make it as easy as possible.”
I have written about Colt and you can see the article or a video (below) to learn more. Since it arrived on the scene in 2017 Texas Aircraft has been based at South Texas Regional Airport (HDO) in Hondo, Texas. With its 100-horsepower Rotax 912 ULS engine, Dynon SkyView HDX EFIS instrument combined with Dynon autopilot, whole-airframe emergency parachute, and deluxe leather interior, Colt is priced at $167,000.
The Texas Aircraft posed for a celebratory shot after winning FAA acceptance for their new Light-Sport Aircraft.
Before you say you can buy a house for that sum (you cannot in most places), remember all aircraft — not just Light-Sport and not only Texas Aircraft’s offering — are basically hand-built airplanes carefully produced in low volumes. These are not robotically-built automobiles rolling off the line by the hundreds of thousands per year. Ford builds more F-150 pickup trucks every year than all the airplanes that exist in the entire world by far (about 900,000 units in 2019 alone — and for an average price approaching half of the Texas Colt’s list price).
In addition, while government agencies monitor what auto companies do, they don’t perform detailed audits and demand regular maintenance on anything remotely like what airplane manufacturers must endure. Given that sizable difference, it stands to reason airplane costs will be much higher.
“With the variety of special Fly-Away Financing rates we can offer,” said Texas Aircraft, “pilots can own a brand-new Colt-SL equipped with touchscreen avionics, digital autopilot, airframe parachute, leather upholstery, and custom paint for under $1,200 per month.” (See detail and specifications below.)
The first Colt delivery went to Florida and is shown in Florida Gators team colors.
Let’s crush some numbers. An average-priced new car will run $500-600 a month, depending on credit worthiness and other factors. That will be for a six or seven year loan. Colt will cost about twice as much per month and for about twice as long, but the retail price is more than four times higher, so it’s not unreasonable to say the two data sets compare well.
The first Colt delivery went to Florida and is shown in Florida Gators team colors.
Most people who finance are primarily concerned about the monthly payment and how they can manage that figure along with the other living expenses. Yet another factor looms large in this consideration.
Light-Sport Aircraft, now on the market for more than 15 years, have proven to have reasonably good resale value. It is pointless to state percentage here as this would vary for each airplane and situation but a new LSA like Colt is very likely to have 50% of its value or more when it is fully paid off. You cannot say that about your car and this valuation difference is significant.
The bottom line: Financing a Colt or other LSA can be very approachable and may fit your budget. Best of all, you get the full “New is nice” treatment and you can be the first to fly your brand new Colt.
Colt Equipment & Detail
- Maximum Speed at Sea Level: 119 KIAS
- Cruise Speed at 75% power: 105 KIAS
- Semi-cantilever, high-wing design
- All aviation-grade aluminum airframe with all solid metal rivets
- Wide cabin with welded Chromoly passenger safety cell
- Four-point passenger safety harnesses
- Airframe ballistic parachute system
- Dynon 10” SkyView HDX touchscreen display with Synthetic Vision with 3D graphics
- Dynon Mode-S Transponder with ADS-B Out/In and TIS traffic
- Dynon WAAS enabled GPS Receiver
- Dynon digital autopilot with Level Button
- Dynon Electronic Engine Monitoring System
- Wholly manufactured in Texas
Financing Costs:
- Purchase price: $167,500
- 5.75% interest rate
- 15% down payment
- 15-year term payment of $1,182.30 per month
- 15-year term subject to approval
This website stresses affordable aviation and that sometimes generates questions or complaints about the cost of modern Light-Sport Aircraft. All but a few pilots have to watch a budget and figure how they can acquire an aircraft of interest.
I can think of three worthy methods to fly what you want: 1️⃣ Buy a used LSA, either Special or Experimental — many great choices are available and a growing number of professional sellers can help you connect to an especially good used model and then provide back-up after the sale. 2️⃣ Shared purchase or expenses — where you help an aircraft-owning friend with his cost of ownership in return for access (this is what I do). 3️⃣ Kit-built Sport Pilot certificate-eligible aircraft — especially if you are handy and have space, but even if you are inexperienced or don’t want to invest the time, many kits demand less hours and lots of them have Quick-Build options that sharply reduce the hours you must expend.
This long, slender, cantilevered wings draws me in like a bees to honey. If it does the same for you, this is one sleek choice. Surprisingly, it won’t cost an arm and leg. In fact, the kit KR-010 is base priced at $39,000 plus a shipping fee(2). Elf is quite complete for this price tag but you can bid it up into the $40,000s by adding an airframe parachute and com radio.
“Elf was designed by Jerzy Krawcyk of Ekolot by utilizing the early work of Slovenian-American Alex Strojnikun,” explained Kris. “Elf features removable cantilever wings, cockpit under bubble canopy with tricycle fixed landing gear. The power-plant is a two-stroke engine with aft-folding composite propeller blades and can be equipped with ballistic parachute.”
Wing Span — 35.2 feet
“But as these pilots gain experience, don’t we want them to keep learning? In my case, I’m a CFII, and my daughter has her Private Pilot certificate. She would like to have an instrument rating, but she doesn’t want to go rent an airplane if we are going to purchase an airplane. When I made the decision to purchase the Seamax, I probably would not have spent the money strictly for water fun. With the IFR option, we can go to the lake and have fun then shoot an approach when we come back.” (See Captain Lang’s impressive bio at the end.)
“I had a paradigm shift when I saw a Light-Sport seaplane with [the latest] avionics,” Lang noted. Since his children are now adults, he doesn’t need four seats. “In fact, some one-on-one time with my family members sounded nice,” he added.
“As a history fan,” Lang went on, “I’m also thinking about following Lewis and Clark’s trail, or the Oregon trail.” He sees the Seamax as about perfect for this kind of adventure. “It may have taken me 40 years but I think I have found my dream plane!”
He is right in that LSA are not “certified.” They are “accepted” by FAA as complying to the ASTM standards. Speaking of which…
Another correct response, yet all these accurate comments still don’t reveal the whole story.
Most western nations have kit programs of some kind but since their regulations have longer allowed fully-built aircraft, the European brands tend to slightly lead in SLSA deliveries while American producers thoroughly dominate kit-built aircraft sales.
“It’s an interesting year for Jabiru,” Scott declared!
“We are now offering all three kits,” Scott noted. He referred to the J170-D two door; the 230-D three door, and 430-D four place aircraft. “The kits are suitable for home assembly or with builder assistance in Tennessee,” Scott added.
You can call the title “clickbait” if you want, but I’ve long had a strong interest in space flight and SpaceShipOne certainly was far lighter than any manned spacecraft NASA has launched.
The members of the Able Flight “Class of 2020” are as follows (numbered according to photo, not in any order of importance):
Steven Curry (9) of Virginia. Steven served in the U.S. Army in both Afghanistan and Iraq. His plans to secure a Warrant Officer training slot to become a helicopter pilot ended when injuries from an IED required the amputation of his left leg below the knee. Steven with train at Aviation Adventures in Virginia.
Instead, I want to take you back in time, way back to January …a whole four months ago. What a different world we lived in then. Coronavirus was not on the minds of many Americans — nor, at that time, even on the minds of Chinese citizens, though leaders might have had some inkling.
Other than the pure thrill of logging a high groundspeed, going fast is only useful when you’re going somewhere. If perhaps your goal is aerial sightseeing then slow (and probably low) is the way to go. If you have to go fast, remember that old saying from auto racing: “Speed cost money; how fast do you want to go?” This equally applies to aviation.
Rule writers separated Light-Sport Aircraft as sub-87 knot and faster. At the time the rule was released, this made sense. America was still flying lots of what we now loosely call “ultralights.” These aircraft were simply built, half the empty weight of most LSA today, and flew slower, usually under 100 mph …87 knots.
For plenty of pilots, 100 mph is fine for most of their flying including regional travel. Those who yearn for speed or want to travel interstate or cross country want the fastest machine they can afford.
BRM Aero was early to begin work with Rotax’s new 
“Vne, Velocity Never Exceed, is an indicated air speed,” Lou started in a reply to a Facebook audience. “For example, When the 915iS powered Bristell Speedster is flying at 12,500 feet with a true airspeed of 170 miles per hour or 147 knots, the indicated airspeed is only 118 knots. The Bristell has a 157 knots Vne.” A good 
Our most-read story of 2020 was this 
“A few weeks earlier,” he continued, “we started high-speed taxi tests. We noticed immediately that this aircraft is something special. The turbo-charged engine (
“On Tuesday the weather conditions were perfect. We decided to fly at 10,000 feet. The [FAI] criteria that the course could only be flown once made it even more intense. At the first turn, I climbed some 300 feet, and returning to altitude she accelerated to 219 knots (405 km/h). I felt extremely tense and had a hard time keeping the ball in the center. Overall I am happy that I managed to fly a pretty good course. On the straight course, we got 212 knots average speed. It was great to celebrate the success with my co-pilot Fredrik Lanz, and the rest of the Blackwing team.
“The flight testing will continue in spring and summer. After 50 hours of flight testing, we can start taking passengers.
“JMB Aircraft is proud to announce some achievements from the past few months,” the company wrote recently. “After more than 100 hours of flight test with two planes, we manage with success to perform a V-dive test reaching an indicated 381 kilometers per hour and 425 km/h (229 knots) true air speed. This enable us to safely increase our VNE up to an indicated 340 kilometers per hour (184 knots).”
I suspect the LSA-like airspeed race isn’t over yet, especially given the previous record holder — Risen, from a formerly Swiss, now Italian company renamed as 
I am pleased to serve a need for news during a month when we should have been covering 
Several sources close to EAA leadership have said a decision will come in early May, however, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that. EAA is grappling with matters such as when hundreds of tents or thousands of portable bathrooms must be ordered, or finalizing the call to a not-small army of volunteers to begin the trek to Wisconsin. Such major plans must be started well in advance of the event slated for July 20-26th.
A prime motivator for E-Fan is Grazia Vittadini, Airbus’ Chief Technology Officer. She wrote, “When I first started my career at Airbus, the notion of electric flight was considered a far-off pipedream. Today, it’s a reality.” Yet that future may not involve their much-promoted E-Fan.
Now, a 
Even during the lockdown, 
While the following information covers only one quarter of the year and while it does not reflect much of the pandemic effects, we nonetheless found a few tidbits of interest. For the data hounds among you, we invite you to visit our market share and airplane registration database website called 
Among Special (fully-built) LSA registrations, 
Ernie was the man behind Carlson Aircraft along with his wife, Mary. This pair introduced Sparrow, a Part 103-capable single-place ultralight plus larger models like Sparrow II and XTC.
“In the next couple weeks, we will get our website up and running,” he forecast, but until then David invites a call or text to 574-214-3660 or theecoop@comcast.net.
In addition, for Carlson airplanes already built and flying, David and partners’ new operation will offer replacement parts. I’m sure that will be most welcome by those flying Carlson aircraft.
As alert readers may have noticed, Mini-Max shares something with the 
“When I asked why Wayne moved to Tennessee from Indiana, Scott recalls, Wayne replied, ‘Winters were too brutal. So I put my snow shovel in the back of my pickup truck and headed south. When they no longer recognized what that shovel was, I figured I was safe. That was Tennessee.’” It sounds just like my memory of the man — logical, simple, decisive.
Videoman Dave wrote, “In 1984, while attending the Sun ‘n Fun convention, I watched as a little single seat ultralight aircraft took to the air in some very gusty, cross-wind conditions. These were conditions that had grounded most of the other ultralight aircraft on the field,” yet off into the air went this very light and surprisingly compact ultralight aircraft. Dave refers to Wayne’s Mini-Max of course.
Build time is between 250 and 350 hours. Mini-Max can be built in a small area such as a single car garage. No special tools or equipment needed because much like the Fisher aircraft that had Wayne’s hand in them, Mini-Max plans were full-sized; you work directly on very large sheets of paper. This helps newbies but also ensures greater accuracy as builders work to put all the “popsicle sticks” in exactly the right locations.
The Mini-Max line of aircraft has a strong following on the Internet. “Thousands of kits have been sold and are flying throughout the world,” said Dave.
Cruise is an honest 55 to 60 miles per hour and stall speed is roughly 25 miles per hour.
At the time of production of this video 
During this coronavirus mess, Sweden has been in the news because authorities did not fully lock down the country. Some closures were recommended and certain folks (older, immune-deficient… you’ve heard all this repeatedly) were encouraged to self-isolate. Yet pictures show restaurants, streets, and other public venues with plenty of people. Sweden has had deaths, of course, every one of them tragic. Yet it will provide a good baseline with which to judge the effectiveness of lockdown procedures from draconian to… well, Swedish.
The two pilots from the south of Sweden set two new world records and have filed for FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) recognition.
While laying claim to two new world records, to gain proper recognition of their achievement, the performance must now be checked and approved by the International Aviation Sports Association, 
For the official record in Class UL aircraft RAL2T (Movable Aerodynamic Control / Landplane / Flown with two persons / Thermal Engine), previously recognized record holders include:
“The quality and finish of his aircraft and kits has to be seen to be appreciated,” Dave added. I completely agree. I have often told Randy how I admired the factory finish of the airplanes he presents to interested pilots at airshows. A stickler for getting it right, Randy demurs my admiration but anyone who has closely examined his models at an event knows I am not exaggerating.
Then and today, most Rans models have been made available in both tricycle gear and taildragger configurations. 
Kit assembly time for these fairly simple aircraft was between 100 and 125 hours. “Rans’ manuals and instructional building guides lead the industry in completeness,” expressed Dave. “No special tools or jigs are required to build the planes and they can be built in a single car garage.”
Cruise speed in S-4/5 is 55 to 60 miles per hour while stall, using optimal flaps, is 25 miles per hour.
The MX model abandoned the weight shift idea — this was too foreign to lots of potential customers. Instead, it used stick-and-rudder two-axis controls, but with a difference. The joystick connected to the elevator and rudder while the rudder pedals were connected to spoilerons on top of the wing.
The Coronavirus madness is far from being a U.S. problem. Naturally, we tend to focus on our own part of the world …as we must. Yet even far-away countries are also struggling — to protect citizens and to keep their economies afloat. It simply has to improve as the present situation cannot last.
“Along with much of the world,” Paul continued in early April, “New Zealand is feeling the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic with a state of emergency declared. With this four-week lockdown all non-essential companies are required to close or work from home.”
“While our technicians and workshop staff are safe at home with their families, our designers are using this time and working from their homes to finalise the remaining aspects of the design, prepare work and plan the actions required once we are able to get all staff safely back to work,” observed Paul.
“Not currently being reliant on sales and having investors with long term vision makes Vickers a stable and strong company in this environment,” explained Paul.
Earlier 
To gain perspective on the history of this well-regarded design, I reached out to an old friend who had extensive early experience with the original company located not far from his home.
“Immediately after seeing these bright colored flying toys at Skylark, I rode my motorcycle to Windsor Connecticut where the Ultralight Flight Inc., facility was quartered. Ultralight Flight was housed in a old building of about 2,000 square feet that used to be summer housing for migrant tobacco pickers.
“Within a couple of hours of seeing the planes at Skylark, I had a new job in the ‘machine shop’ of Ultralight Flight. I made pretty much all the tooling to cut, drill, and bend aluminum tubing, make plastic bushings, and a wire jig for upper and lower wing wires and control cables for the Mirage.
“Within a couple of months after the show, we had tooled up and set up a dealer network across the country that produced sales of 10 to 20 birds a week,” Ken noted with enthusiasm! “We had a pretty well oiled machine and could really pump out kits.”
“About nine months later, when all of the load testing and checks and measures were done, we brought the new Phantom out to Skylark Airport for test flights. It was a pretty awesome time. It was an amazing flying machine, going well beyond Mirage.
At the time of production of the following video The Ultralight Flyer would estimate the value of a used Phantom from the 1980s to be worth between $4,500 and $6,500.
Lazair entered the market in the early 1980s and was sold in kit form. Kits took between 500 and 1,000 hours to build as they were basically a raw materials kit. The fuselage and tail section use aluminum tubing with bolt and rivet construction.
Power was originally supplied by two modified Pioneer Chainsaw engines of approximately 5.5 horsepower each. The Series 2 and 3 models used two, single-cylinder, 9.5-horsepower Rotax engines. These engines were mounted on the leading edge of the wings.
Climb rate on the Lazair Series 2 and 3 ultralights was approximately 450 to 500 feet per minute. Cruise speed was between 35 and 45 miles per hour. Stall is around 25 miles per hour.
From comments to 
“Pioneer engines are under powered,” galactica one noted. “The Rotax 185s are good engines, parts are available, and performance is adequate. They should be upgraded to around 30 horsepower total,” the commenter added, as “two engines in the 15-horsepower range would give Lazair proper performance.”
Of course, I refer to 
Bristell with 
Representative U.S. Sport Planes, led by industry veteran Scott Severen, has demonstrated this baggage capacity with photos showing a 
Since I first saw the F2 in mock up, Flight Design has redesigned the intake for two reasons: “to reduce drag as we confirmed the older version was very functional but draggy; and for aesthetic reasons,” said the company. “Flight Design team designer and Head of Airworthiness, Christian Majunke, designed conceptually. He also designed a rather novel installation of the coolant and oil radiators,” elaborated Flight Design USA representative, Tom Peghiny.
At Sun ‘n Fun 2020, Deon expected to introduce Whisper to American kit builders. Alas, as with the rest of this group, you probably won’t see it until July in Wisconsin.
Bruno will be aided in his approach to the U.S. market by longtimer, Ed Ricks, who once helped the Paradise Aircraft people with their 
The FireStar is a high wing, strut braced, taildragger in a pusher configuration. To some aviators, “taildragger” is a negative. However…
If you prefer new to a used aircraft, the modern Part-103 compliant Kolb Firefly won’t cost you as much as you might think. However, the Kentucky factory is busy building these aircraft, so a ready-to-fly model might be a few months coming. Part 103 ultralights are quietly out-selling many other types and for good reasons: they are proven, inexpensive, and involve almost no FAA regulations.
Power for used Firestar will likely be supplied by the Rotax 377, 447, or 503 two-stroke aircraft engines, however, a variety of engines from 28 to 55 horsepower have been used.
