What’s that airplane with the funny sounding name?
The question arises when pilots, unfamiliar with the new
brands introduced by the light-sport aircraft (LSA) category, try
to comprehend the name Jabiru.
“And this airplane company also makes its own engine?”
This second question frequently follows the first. Jabiru USA’s
Peter “Pete” Krotje and his staff must tire of the explanation.
“It’s JAB-i-roo,” I heard Pete reply patiently one day at EAA
AirVenture Oshkosh 2005. “And, yes, the company makes both
the airframe and engine.”
So begins the tale of this new airplane from the country down
under famous for kangaroos and cowboys who speak English
in a distinctly different way. Designed by Jabiru Australia of
Bundaberg West, Australia, the J250 and J170 recently earned
special light-sport aircraft (S-LSA) certification, which the
Calypso hopes to do soon as well.
It’s A Little Big Plane
As you walk up to the
J250, this modern, composite cruiser
looks like a small airplane, yet entering
the J250 is easy and, once inside, the
cockpit is surprisingly roomy, especially
given its enormous luggage area.
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Flying the American Legend Cub
Familiar…Yellow…Tandem…FUN!
Many light-sport aircraft
(LSA) aspire to a
futuristic look, using
exotic materials like
carbon fiber with
shapes that are sleek and finely contoured.
Other designers chose another
niche. American Legend Aircraft
Company of Sulphur Springs, Texas, is
one of three companies that have recreated
the venerable Piper Cub, which
has so captured the imagination of the
general public that the words “Piper
Cub” are used by the unknowing to
describe almost any airplane without a
jet engine.
Pilots know better. Yet among the
immense range of aircraft available,
the Piper Cub maintains a favorable,
nostalgic image. Doesn’t every pilot
have a warm, fuzzy feeling for the little
yellow tandem-seater? Three companies
now target this interest under
the new LSA category. (We’re featuring the Legend Cub
but will describe
the other two-the
North American Sport
Aviation Savage and Cub
Crafters’ Sport Cub-in
sidebars.)
American Legend’s Cub
was the first of the three to earn special
light-sport aircraft (S-LSA) certification
under the ASTM consensus standards.
Earthstar’s Odyssey Continues
After flying many ultralight and light-sport aircraft, I’ve found the handling
and performance characteristics of Earthstar Aircraft’s machines
suit me as well as or better than any others. With that said, let me
tell you about some significant changes that may thrust this small
California company into the mainstream of light-sport aviation.
Mark Beierle created the Thunder Gull series of ultralights after working in the
aerospace industry … and being discouraged with the ultralights available in the
early 1980s. He was interested in perfecting his designs, so his priority was not producing
numerous units. Instead, he wanted to produce an aircraft with classic flying
characteristics. Customer response to his machines was excellent, but delivery
often stretched into months, even years. To own a prized Earthstar model, you had
to have patience. This situation gave another company, Titan Aircraft, a chance to
build a similar design, the Titan Tornado, and its business took off while Earthstar
remained deliberately small.
Kappa KP-5 An All metal Beauty
Kappa’s KP-5 … a great trainer and more!
At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
2005, 13 aircraft on
display in the Light-Sport
Aircraft (LSA) Mall-
which put LSA on center
stage just south of AeroShell Square-
had their airworthiness certificates as
special light-sport aircraft (S-LSA). (A
14th aircraft, the Savage Cub, exhibited
in the North Commercial Area,
also earned its S-LSA certificate, but
only had one aircraft to display.) That
14 aircraft earned S-LSA certificates
in the short span of three and a half
months since the FAA announced
the availability of the final consensus
standards for LSA-category airplanes
is an unprecedented accomplishment.
No one can recall when so many airplanes
have been certificated in such
a short time.
One of those baker’s dozen plus
one is the Jihlavan (pronounced
“YEE-la-von”) KP-5, better known to
Americans by its importer’s name-
Kappa Aircraft KP-5. It is an elegantly
styled, all-metal LSA with a high-visibility
cockpit, a high-performance
wing with well-regarded Fowler
flaps, tough trailing link landing
gear, and the popular Rotax 912
powerplant.
Escape Pod Flies…and Wins, Big Time
After four years of intense development (and more money than you might expect), the Seagull Aerosports Escape Pod made its flying debut at AirVenture Oshkosh 2006. Pilot Eric Rasmussen, proprietor of UFlyTrikes, a weight shift flight school and AirBorne dealership, took the sleek, retractable gear single place soaring trike aloft before a fascinated crowd at the big summer airshow. Designer Mike Riggs said, “People were running for the flight line to snap photos.” *** Those onlookers weren’t the only ones impressed. EAA judges showered the new rig with awards, giving Seagull’s Escape Pod both Innovative New Design and Grand Champion Ultralight. I’m not aware of a design snagging both honors in a single year before. (FYI: Escape Pod has been at AirVenture before but EAA judges don’t award any non-flying designs.) Hearty congratulations to Mike and right-hand man Jeremy! Now, those soaring enthusiasts — me included — are closer to deliveries of their own Pod.
Dawn of the Dynamic
While many American pilots focus on SportPlanes™/ light-sport aircraft (LSA), sales of amateur-built kits continue. As the government crawls toward release of the new rule, the WT-9 Dynamic from Aerospool is one that might go both ways.
You might choose a fixed-gear, Rotax 912 80-hp model that U.S. importer Dan Defelici believes may meet the proposed regulation. But today you can buy a retractable Dynamic and build and fly the speedster around the U.S. under the 51% rule. Since LSA will probably not allow retractable landing gear, flying a retractable WT-9 will require more than a Sport Pilot license.
Getting Some Help
The 51% rule intends that the owner of a kit airplane should build more than half of the plane. The FAA has created extensive checklists to assure that a wide variety of kits meet this rule. Factories often do the hard parts that require jigs and other special equipment.
Air Création’s High-Performance Floats
Air Création is a serious company and a world-class trike builder with an impressive sales record. Their serious trikes sport beautiful hardware and numerous customized components. Right down to their trademark red color, Air Création is serious about building a remarkable trike, a series of them in fact.
So when Air Création puts a float set on the market, you can count on the fact that it was well researched and exquisitely crafted.
Now, let’s combine that with the XP-17 wing, the largest in the company’s XP series. Floats are mounted under and the wing atop a GTE trike carriage which has been in production for several years. Put this all on a lake in Florida and you have the makings of an interesting experience.
Another 20-Year Veteran
Gilles Bru and Jean Yves le Bihan founded the French company in 1982. Air Création’s dealer in Canada reports, “It has grown steadily ever since, building around 4,000 wings and 2,500 trike-units for sale in more than 50 countries.”
Today Air Créationemploys 25 people, four of whom are in the technical department designing new products, and 14 work on the production of ultralight trikes and wings.With annual sales of about $2.5 million, Air Création exports 60% of its products.
Buckeye Convertible
I never really noticed before just how much the Buckeye Industries powered parachute carriage looked like a trike carriage. Maybe you didn’t either, but in your mind’s eye, remove the prop guard and see if you don’t agree. They aren’t identical, of course, but the visual relationship is uncannily close considering the two aircraft types developed separately.
What a perfect situation. Ralph Howard’s family members and friends have built Buckeye from “nothing” to one of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers, all in the ’90s and without even using the entire decade! Whatever combination of talent, money, timing and luck was involved in this tale of success, the Howards want to keep it going strong. That won’t be easy, but these Indiana Hoosiers may be up to the task.
Take the momentum of a reported several hundred powered parachute units sold each of the last few years. Revise the hardware slightly to expand into the manufacture of trikes, and you have a potent mixture that could emerge as one of America’s largest trike builders.
The AirBorne Edge
AirBorne Windsports is no johnny-come-lately to the ultralight flying scene. The Australian company has been making hang gliders for the international market for years. AirBorne’s owners – Russ and Rick Duncan – once flew for Moyes Delta Pty., another Australian hang glider company (now known for its Moyes-Bailey Dragonfly aerotug), but later branched out on their own.
While both men are thirty-somethings today, they have long experience, starting with competition in hang gliders back when folks still called them “the little Duncan brothers.” They were hot pilots at a young age. Later on, they proved to be solid competitors to the Moyes juggernaut.
Then Came Trikes
A divergence occurred. After linking up with Florida designer Bobby Bailey to produce the 3-axis Dragonfly aerotug, Moyes’s interest in trikes fell by the wayside. They focused on the already popular Dragonfly for their towing promotion.
Meanwhile, the Duncans – now on their own, producing hang gliders – engaged in building trikes.
Aventura II
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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