His Rollison Light Sport Aircraft (RLSA) company has been building a fleet of aircraft for sale from European sources. Rollison has represented numerous brands over the years he’s been involved in light-sport aviation. First he represented American brands and later European. Recently he’s traveled to South America to see what’s available. Today, Rollison sells the Remos G-3 Mirage, the Ikarus-Comco C42, and the EuroFox. He’s associated with Allistair Wilson who is making his own Astra trikes. Of the fixed-wing models in RLSA’s hangar, the EuroFox is the most modestly priced with the C42 next highest and the G-3 as RLSA’s top-of-the-line model.
More Than Familiar?
Many Ultralight Flying! readers will say the EuroFox looks to be a copy of a Kitfox. In fact, says Rob Rollison, this simply isn’t true.
The EuroFox certainly shares heritage with the Kitfox but is actually a downstream development of the Avid Flyer. In the Slovak Republic, where the four founders of Aeropro live, plans were used to build an Avid.
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New Look for Xair Import; Xair H
UPDATE 2008: The following article preceded the arrival of the X-Air LS offered by X-Air LSA, certified in 2008 as a Special Light-Sport Aircraft under ASTM standards. The article below appears unchanged from the original, but the airframe is essentially identical. So, while panel changes were made along with a few minor updates, flying qualities reported in the following article should largely match that of the new LSA version.
It was Tax Day, April 15, and I prepared to fly an Xair H (N#929XH) owned by importer Bill Magrini of Light Wing Aircraft. It seemed an appropriate day to forget about what I owed the Internal Revenue Service and to enjoy some ultralight flying. Fortunately, the Xair H didn’t disappoint.
The Xair H isn’t the designer or fabricator’s name for the new plane. When I first saw the then-prototype design at a French airshow in ’02, the new model was named Hanuman, which means little to American pilots.
First Storm Rally Assembled in the USA
Michigan-based Prestige Aircraft recently rolled out their first U.S.-built Storm Rally. Examples of this attractive high wing aircraft seen at airshows like AirVenture 2006 were manufactured by the Italian company that created the design. Now, Prestige builds the Rally under an agreement with Storm Aircraft and plans to add the low wing Century and amphibious Sea Storm in the future. *** Rally, which won its SLSA approval in early 2006, is a carbon fiber and Kevlar reinforced composite design that comes equipped with basic flight instruments and equipment for VFR day operation including a turn-coordinator; tail-strobe; ICON 200 radio; and Garmin transponder with an altitude encoder. Unlike many other brands, national distributor Air Elite Aviation says, “All aircraft models come with a limited two-year, or 1000-hour warranty.” Rally can cruise at 107 knots (75% power) and, with 34 gallons of usable fuel, it boasts an 800 nautical mile range.
Air Creation Earns First Trike SLSA Certificates
Air Creation’s magnificent Tanarg 912 and their popular GTE 912 were presented with the first two weight shift control Special Light-Sport Aircraft certificates on January 20th in Arizona at Kemmeries Aviation flight center where Air Creation USA is based. Not only are these the first two certificates ever issued for weight shift control LSA, the Tanarg 912 and GTE 912 were approved with the iXess, iXess Training, KISS 450, and FUN 450 wings. None of the 24 airplane SLSA holders can make that claim of versatility. (If you don’t know this quality of trikes…the chassis or carriage can be flown with a variety of factory-approved wings.) Air Creation has delivered more trike aircraft than any other builder. This French company is 20% owned by American John Kemmeries, an icon and leader of weight shift aircraft in the United States.
It’s a Winner; CGS Hawk Sport
Given Chuck Slusarczyk’s decades in recreational aviation, I imagine almost everyone in ultralight aviation has heard of the funny, Polish-speaking pioneer with the hard-to-pronounce last name (Slew-Sar-Chick). If Chuck had named his first business Slusarczyk Glider Supplies, pilots would have stumbled and renamed it for him. Knowing his name is a tongue twister, he wisely called it Chuck’s Glider Supplies.
In his early business years, when Chuck was younger and slimmer, he made hang gliders. Lots and lots of hang gliders. I flew one, as did thousands of others. He was one of a handful of east-of-the-Mississippi hang glider manufacturers. Being a long way from the West Coast where hang gliding was centered back in the ’70s, Chuck made the Californians nervous. They couldn’t keep an eye on his developments and he was regarded as unpredictable. Those who knew him thought the word should be innovative.
Then came powered hang gliding, such as it was in those days.
Product Lines – August 1996
ST. PAUL, MINN — Airshow season is here. About the same time we hang glider pilots are heading out to sites across the country to catch the big thermals of summer, millions of non-pilots (and pilots) will attend local-area airshows. They’re America’s second largest public spectator event after baseball, quite a statement in a country known around the globe for having countless choices of entertainment. At how many of those airshows will the millions see hang gliding? Darn few! ••• One man is changing that by succeeding as few before him have done. Dan Buchanan performs despite physical challenges (a vehicle accident if you don’t know Dan’s story). He was able to fly the main airshow at Oshkosh last year, no small feat since the Wisconsin convention is one of the world’s largest events with close to a million people attending. Some pilots have waited literally years to get in, that is, to volunteer to perform; no pay is offered.
Product Lines – February 2003
St. Paul, Minn. — Please bear with me as I use all of this month’s column on something that has little to do with products, the usual focus of this column. I’ve been doing this bit of writing for Hang Gliding magazine for a long time (“PL” finishes 24 years with this issue), but one man has been even more long lived. lll After 25 years on the job, Hang Gliding editor Gil Dodgen handed off all his duties to Dan Nelson, a new paraglider pilot with an editorial background. Gil started with USHGA’s magazine with the January, 1978 issue. For those with weak memories or those too new to hang gliding to know the past, an extremely brief history lesson is in order. s In 1978, the Big Three of hang glider building in the USA were Seagull, Electra Flyer, and Wills Wing. We had other prominent Yankee brands like Sky Sports, Bennett Delta Wing, Eipper-Formance, Ultralite Products, Manta, Sunbird, Highster, and CGS Aircraft.
Product Lines – April 00
ST. PAUL, MINN., — Late-breaking news includes the 2000 U.S. Nationals now being slated for Lakeview July 16-22. GW Meadows, the contest organizer, broke the news which was then confirmed from several sources. More news as it unfolds. Info: 252-480-3552. ••• It’s spring in America and all spotlights are turned on Florida where meets at Wallaby and Quest dominate the buzz. ••• Of late, reading Davis Straub’s Oz Report — which dwells heavily on competition — makes some enthusiasts wonder if Moyes sponsors the webzine (they don’t). The Lightspeed’s contest prowess has filled many online paragraphs. However, recent news of the Mexican Millennium Cup revealed Laminar started off 2000 well. Though neither was the winner, in both Mexican and earlier Australian Bogong Cup competitions we saw strong finishes by Wills’ Fusion and Aeros’ Stealth. Huh! Here in the new millennia, if one ignores rigid wings (sure!, just try), all we seem to hear about are Moyes, Icaro, Wills, Aeros (in no particular order, thank you).
Product Lines – January 04
ST. PAUL, MINN. — Happy New Year, glider fans. Once again a new year brings wintertime
chills, at least for us northerners. So, this month I have some warm-up ideas
to get you in the mood for a new soaring season.
Mexican Flying Tours are in full swing for HGs and PGs. Cold weather flyers take
note of temperatures in the 80s with plentiful thermals and authentic Mexican food.
One outfit calls the experience a “Mextravaganza.”
Super Fly Paragliding Mexico Tours 2004 treks to the famous Valle de Bravo
site in central Mexico. At it for eight years, Super Fly takes you to fly three sites
in seven days during January and February. PG gurus Jeffrey Farrell and Chris
Santacroce are leading two tours in January and one in early February for pilots
with P2 ratings or better and a minimum of 50 flight hours.
They’ll handle the language, pickup and delivery from Mexico City airport, offer
5-star lodging in “a new, secure, classy, and clean hotel,” local club memberships,
XC retreival in air conditioned vehicles, and in-flight coaching by radio.
AirSports Expo 2002
AirSports Expo attracts a large crowd and many vendors.
On the first day in Ontario, California, you could see this was going to be the largest AirSports Expo yet. In the shadow still lingering from September 11, many wondered and worried about participation and attendance, but the concern was baseless. A flurry of activity in the last few weeks before the show brought so many requests for exhibit space that the already designed floor plan had to be scrapped and redrawn.
More than 2200 pilots and other visitors saw the exhibits of 65 vendors. While still small next to Sun ’n Fun or AirVenture Oshkosh, this was a good turnout. The range of vendors included many aircraft suppliers and all manner of accessories and informational products.
Gathering of Eagles
AirSports Expo represents the combined efforts of the Soaring Society of America (SSA), the U.S. Ultralight Association (USUA), and the U.S. Hang Gliding Association (USHGA).