Ukrainian airframe producer Aeros has risen from complete obscurity in the early 1990s (after the Berlin Wall fell) to wide recognition in recreational aviation. Although powered ultralight and light-sport aircraft enthusiasts may not immediately know the brand, hang glider pilots around the world are very aware of the name. The current reigning world champion hang glider pilot is Oleg Bondarchuck, a Ukrainian pilot who works with Aeros.
This young company emerging from the former Soviet mantel also makes an ultralight sailplane plus two powered aircraft. Aeros produces the Sky Ranger 3-axis airplane (under agreement with its French designer), and it has designed and markets its own trike. The company also supplies trike wings for other producers like Antares. By any normal measurements, Aeros is a versatile company.
Many ultralight and LSA pilots probably know the Aeros Velocity trike, and may recall its earlier name, Venture. In those days, it was sold by Sabre Aircraft alongside the trikes that Arizona company made here in America.
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Co-Developing the Navajo Trike
A couple of years ago, TC’s Trikes owner TC Blyth and North Wing owner Kamron Blevins joined forces in a cooperative arrangement. TC’s Trikes would buy wings from North Wing (rather than continue to make their own), and could better represent North Wing on the Eastern Seaboard. North Wing, headquartered in the northwestern state of Washington, is far from TC’s Trikes’ Tennessee home. It seemed a marriage of convenience and more.
Blyth has been particularly active in training and introductory flight lessons. He’s done many thousands of them at his location near a top Tennessee tourist and outdoorsmen attraction – the Ocoee River, popular for white water rafting, kayaking, and other sports. Blyth has been focused on meeting this need with his own brand of trikes, and all his experience gave him something clear and viable to add to the expertise of North Wing.
North Wing has risen to the top of the U.S.
Composite Two-seater (CT)
In the fall of ’01, I wrote in Ultralight Flying!, “The CT is the tip of an iceberg, in my opinion.” When I flew that first CT in the USA, few Yankees had seen the aircraft. I felt the German design represented the beginning of a flow of European aircraft coming to America. What a difference a couple of years make!
Thanks to adept and steady promotion, Americans may best identify the coming breed of proposed Light-Sport Aircraft by pointing to the Flight Design CT2K. While this means no disrespect to trikes, tube-and-rag ultralights, or powered parachutes, the CT’s unusual, smoothly-contoured shape is now well known to many Americans. Though the brand is fabricated in the Ukraine and assembled in Germany, it crosses the Atlantic as a prototypical candidate for FAA’s proposed Light-Sport Aircraft category.
Rollison Light Sport Aircraft imported the first U.S.-based CT I flew. The design is now brought in by Flightstar Sportplanes and HPower HKS engine honcho Tom Peghiny.
Italy’s Ramphos Flying Boat
Making a Splash
Last year as the flying season began, an unusual flying boat appeared at airshows. The machine was called Ramphos (pronounced RAM-fohss) and it featured a form of ducted prop surrounding a pair of counter-rotating blades. While these two components commanded a lot of attention, they were de-emphasized when the 2004 season arrived.
In 2003, the presentation was market-savvy. By showing a somewhat radical version of the familiar flying boat design – we’ve seen a few of these configurations over the years – the Ramphos attracted attention in a crowded marketplace. When you’re new (to the American public), you need some way to stand out from the crowd.
However, the downside of new, potentially radical ideas is that people – like me – tend to wait until the new concepts prove themselves. So I didn’t fly the Ramphos in 2003. That changed for 2004.
Modern Machine
For the 2004 flying season, the emphasis had been taken off the counter-rotating props, though it was still displayed and remains an option.
Aero-Lite 103
Manufacturers in the ultralight industry believe they know what pilots want or what they will buy, anyway. A 2-seater is usually part of the answer. But, in fact, many industry watchers are wrong.
While many observers make the statement, ÒNinety percent of ultralights are 2-seaters,Ó statistics tell another story. Nearly 40% of ultralight and microlight aircraft sold in the U.S. are single-seaters, according to Ultralight Flying! magazineÕs surveys of manufacturers. Despite the polling results, however, those experts have a point. Two-seaters do represent the majority of ultralights and microlights sold.
Yet, just when you think 2-seaters are going to take over the whole market, along comes a new trend. Maybe it was FAAÕs lack of action on Part 103 changes, or maybe manufacturers simply decided to take on the challenge of staying within 103Õs tight weight, speed and fuel quantity restrictions. Whatever the correct answer, it doesnÕt change the fact of a growing population of Part 103 ultralights.
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