Is a Showcase an airshow? Or is it a trade show? Is this the same as an event once called the DeLand Sport Aviation Showcase?
To these questions, you could reply, “Who cares?” This year’s Aero Showcase displayed a worthy selection of handsome airplanes. What more do pilots want? Entry and parking were free. Amenities were good.
Aero Showcase 2023 was like that fantasy where a rich friend with a collection of cool airplanes gets them all out for you to look at and perhaps fly.
Sector-Specific Shows
Interested pilots could and did take demo flights at DeLand 2023 in one of the aircraft for sale. This is a very easy and welcoming airport to such flight activity. Aero Affinity and Aero Showcase partner Doma Andreka took several prospects aloft in his Magnus Fusion 212. This is the lone LSA model that offers aerobatic capability (article), assuming you select the UL Power engine approved for inverted flight.
Search Results for : vintage
Not finding exactly what you expected? Try our advanced search option.
Select a manufacturer to go straight to all our content about that manufacturer.
Select an aircraft model to go straight to all our content about that model.
Dave Loveman: Pilot, Videographer, Engine Expert, and Aviation Leader… One Unique Individual
As you can surely tell by all the images, and by the lead picture, this story is only about airplanes in the sense that it covers one of the most productive people in light aviation. I refer to my longtime associate, Videoman Dave, as I enjoyed calling him.
At the end of October 2023, his daughter Nicole emailed me to say that Dave passed peacefully in his sleep following a two-year battle with plasma cell leukemia, a very rare form of cancer with limited treatment options. Many of you have asked about him at airshows this year and I reported what I knew. Dave was not one to complain about his situation so when we spoke, we mostly kept our conversation on airplanes.
Nonetheless, the facts became increasingly obvious. All you had to do was check his YouTube channel. At the end, more than 11 months passed since his last entry.
Sun ‘n Fun 2023, Day 2 — Newest Special LSA Is Actually the Oldest: Junkers A50 Junior
In a splendid professional presentation, Waco Aircraft unveiled their newest vintage-style aircraft. Well, that’s close to factual. In truth, Junkers Aircraft is its own company, but as it shares common ownership, it’s OK to group these two vintage designs together, partly as they are both 100% built-in-America designs.
In Battle Creek, Michigan a European businessman, Dieter Morszeck, has invested more than $30 million to create a modern airplane factory capable of producing such complex yet handsome designs as the Waco biplane. For 2023, that facility has a new occupant, Junkers Aircraft. Both are owned by Dieter and this man is serious about aviation.
Mr. Morszeck made his money in the luggage business. His brand, Rimowa, is known widely for its corrugated exterior, leaving an earlier Junkers aircraft built similarly to be dubbed the “flying suitcase.” This is a delicious bit of serendipity because now his former luggage business can be expressed in an airplane… one that draws people’s attention wherever it shows up.
Sun ‘n Fun 2023 Day 0 — M-Squared Upgrades Breese 2 in a Major Way
M-Squared Aircraft is one of the light sector’s pioneering airframe producers. Founded and operated by industry veteran Paul Mather, M-Squared has discovered two particular niches that I can identify.
First, if you are new to ultralight aircraft — easily the most affordable end of aviation — the odds are high that you are attracted to a fixed-wing aircraft in our Part 103 List. You’re lucky. You have many choices. Of course, being Part 103-compliant aircraft, they have one seat. So, how do you learn to fly them?
Second, way back when some of us trained new pilots in single place machines because that’s all we had. We used radios and a well-developed system to ease newbies into the aircraft without harming themselves or the aircraft. It worked but it was a distant second to proper training with a flight instructor in a similar aircraft.
Any new pilots and many who transition from heavier, faster aircraft need instruction to fly a Part 103 safely.
It’s Winter, So Let’s Talk Seaplanes — Aero Adventure’s Affordable Amphibious Aircraft
It’s cold up north. So, time for a winter boat show? What’s that got to do with seaplanes? Why don’t organizers present the Minneapolis Boat Show in spring or summer? Fact: Minnesota owns 30% more boats per capita than any other American state. Wisconsin is in third while South Carolina is second. Florida leads the nation in registered boats but it has a larger population than Minnesota.
Who cares about boats (or seaplanes) in the dead of winter? Well, what better way to endure icy streets and frigid temperatures than to go look at boats and dream of using them come summer — Plan Ahead!
As with airplanes, boats can’t be built overnight, so ordering early ensures that when the lakes finally do open up, fun starts quickly thereafter.
Affordable Aventura
I know the word “affordable” is packed with meaning and that it signifies something different to each individual. Nonetheless, I think it’s correct to state Aero Adventure makes some the most affordable amphibians* on the market.
Come Back… Cleanly! MySky Returns with Plans to Make Flying Friendlier
Once upon a time, I was able to report three or more new Special Light-Sport Aircraft every month. That was more than a decade back when the pace of new arrivals seemed faster than a rocket parachute deployment. Lots of airplane developers from all over the globe wanted a piece of this promising LSA action with its greater freedoms and breathtaking pace of innovation. New models were announced with regularity.
For the past few years that torrid pace slowed… just as it has in every other industry I’ve examined. However, in aviation it is uncommon for a good airplane to actually disappear forever. Designs worth their avgas often manage a come-back, a term meant to show a return to market for a flying machine some may have written off earlier.
Here is such a story.
MySky MS-One
From the day I laid eyes on it, I liked the tandem seating, comfortable cockpit, and sturdy construction of MySky’s MS-1 or MS-One.
Rebirth — LSA Market Leader Overcomes the Tragedy of War
Web stats showed a strong response to my article about Ukraine-based light aircraft builders continuing on even as the missiles fly and the bombs fall around them. The situation is terrifying and the future uncertain but the stories we don’t hear sometimes involve courageous people in the recreational aircraft industry.
In the middle of the last decade, long before Putin’s aggression, LSA market leader Flight Design went through a German-imposed reorganization. While difficult, the company emerged stronger and more stable.
In development through this challenging time, Flight Design unveiled their new F-series, starting with their two-seat LSA F2 model at Aero Friedrichshafen 2019. They also displayed an F2e powered by electric motor. Those who examined these displays could readily see the spacious fuselage was built with a four seater in mind for the future. Things were progressing well…
Then, WAR!
Some experts believe ample signs existed that Russia might invade Ukraine yet to ordinary individuals busy living their own lives, hostilities seemed to erupt suddenly.
Midwest LSA Expo; Day 3 — Flying Orlican’s M-8 Eagle… a Perfect Flight School LSA?
Problem: The fleet of aircraft trainers in the USA is getting old. The familiar, reliable standard is the Cessna 172. While these are being made brand new, their base cost has risen to half a million dollars. Meanwhile, much more affordable vintage 172s normally have dated instrument panels and the airframe often looks well-worn. Built in the last decade or so, nearly all LSA have fully digital cockpits among other modern features. [Update 9/15/22 — see new info regarding trim. —DJ]
With their goal of getting a good pilot job, flight students that visit schools today want to pursue their training in something more contemporary. They definitely need experience with digital avionics as that’s what they’ll encounter in a professional cockpit.
“LSA are the future of flight instruction [airplanes],” stated Chip Griewahn. Before he sold the business, he operated a very successful flight school in the Savannah, Georgia area called Fly Corps Aviation.
Maiden Flight of Dingo — An Affordable Part 103 Biplane Honoring Hovey’s Whing Ding
When I look at Dingo from Future Vehicles, I see a fascinating blend of designs combining the looks of Aviad’s Zigolo Mg21 and Mike Loehle’s former Easy Riser. Yet Dingo isn’t some mashup of old designs. It’s been created by experienced engineers building with conventional construction but to Part 103 parameters.
Biplanes convey a vintage look but they also make for good hangar mates since their wingspan is usually shorter. Dingo is surprisingly compact with wings not even 22 feet wide.
Biplanes also fly slowly so complying with Part 103 speeds is not difficult.
Let’s learn more about this new entry from design engineer Marek Ivanov, a name alert readers may associate with a completely different design called Song (image below). Marek does engineering work for other aircraft producers as well. He leads “a team of experienced professionals with more than 20 years of experience in the aviation industry; they have participated in the development of more than 30 types of aircraft from ultralights to Part 23 (GA) aircraft.”
Maiden Flight of Dingo
On June 22nd 2022, Dingo took its maiden flight flown by test pilot Jan Jílek at the Jaroměř airport (LKJA).
Fantasy or Fantastic? Futuristic Retro? Junkers Introduces Distinctive A50 Junior
Talk about being ahead of its time, Junkers’ A50 Junior was designed to 600 kilograms / 1,320 pounds …93 years ago!
“In 1928,” said the company, “what was to become the most successful Junkers sports aircraft left our Dessau production plant for the first time: a single-engine, two-seat, low-wing aircraft with an oval fuselage cross-section and corrugated sheet metal skin. The prototype was equipped with an 80 horsepower Armstrong-Siddeley engine.
“Astonishingly, she had a take-off weight of a mere 600 kilograms, a light aircraft from the very beginning,” said Junkers.
Why am I writing about a 93-year-old aircraft? Because, “It’s back!”
Back to the Future?
“Our Junkers A50 Junior had its maiden flight in February 1929,” recalled Junkers (say: “yun-kers”).
“In that year, 69 aircraft were manufactured, [some of] which set a number of FAI world records. Various European record flights were also carried out with the A50. Famously Marga von Etzdorf was the first woman to fly from Berlin to Tokyo in 1930 with her Junior A50.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 12
- Next Page »