ByDanJohnson.com

Jabiru’s six cylinder 120-horsepower engine.

Jabiru U.S. installed their six cylinder engine in a Rans S-19. See a review of this aircraft and engine.

In the LSA space, we presently have five engine suppliers that either have ASTM approval or FAA certification approval that grants them the chance to power Light-Sport Aircraft. The five brands are: Rotax, Continental, Jabiru, Lycoming, and HKS. For customers who like doing their own maintenance or for mechanics who want to have all the knowledge they need, company-presented seminars are invaluable. Since they have decades of history and a have been used on Type Certified airplanes, Continental and Lycoming enjoy broad awareness of mechanics around the world. Rotax has also pursued regular training for mechanics to work on their engines. Jabiru has also done these and their U.S. distributor just announced their latest in the Sunshine State of Florida.

Peter Krotje of Jabiru USA Sport Aircraft, LLC, sent notice of a two day seminar to take place over February 7th and 8th, 2014 at Voyager Aviation Services on Merritt Island (street address for GPS-equipped drivers: 475 Manor Drive; zipcode 32952). This east coast airport is about an hour south of Daytona Beach and north of the Space Center in Titusville or Cocoa Beach, Florida. To schedule a position at the event, contact Pete at Jabiru by calling 931-680-2800. More contact info can be found on the Jabiru Referral Page.

On Friday, February 7th, the seminar will cover: Introduction; Parts Identification; How Systems & Parts Work; Installation Considerations; Routine Maintenance Tasks; and Bing Carburetor Tuning & Maintenance. Continuing on Saturday February 8th, the seminar will delve into: Electrical System; Instrumentation; Manuals & Bulletins; and, Class Engine Assembly. If you have a Jabiru powerplant, either on a Jabiru aircraft or one of the many kit-built aircraft that use the four cylinder 81-horsepower or six cylinder 120-horsepower engines, you may wish to contact Pete Krotje as soon as possible. No capacity was stated in the announcement but these seminars often fill up, so act soon and become better informed.

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A South American Rans being flown aerobatically is seen under canopy. photo by Gabriel Luque, courtesy of BRS

For 18 years I worked with a great team at BRS Parachutes (as it was then called; they since renamed it to BRS Aerospace as they ventured into defense contracting). I left more than a decade ago and this website has since been my new home. I worked at BRS before parachutes were accepted and it was a great challenge and joy to help bring this life-saving product to market. The huge breakthrough that allowed BRS to gain the level of mainstream approval it enjoys today was one company: Cirrus Design. Co-founder Alan Klapmeier had lived through a mid-air collision and was determined his SR20 would have a whole-airframe parachute on it. While the ’20 and ’22 have much to speak for them, the models were distinguished in all of aviation by being “the parachute airplane.” Having a BRS system on board certainly helped and may have been one of the main reasons for the company’s success — with more than 4,000 aircraft sold in the last dozen or so years that are otherwise not aviation’s strongest period.

I got an excited email from an old friend and company founder, Boris Popov (video), the founder of the BRS enterprise. In his current role as Senior VP of Aviation Sales, Boris wrote, “[It was a] great weekend for BRS saves!” Given the nature of recreational use of airplanes, weekends are fairly common times for airplane flights and therefore potential parachute deployments. Here’s the twin events that Boris related: (1) In Claveau, France a Cirrus SR22 (tail “numbers” F-HAPH) lost power over unlandable terrain. Two people were on board and had no injuries, making two “saves” numbered 304 & 305 for BRS. They deployed at 2,000 feet above the ground. (2) In Buckhannon, West Virginia, an SR22 (N450TX) lost power on long final approach, deploying at about 550 feet above the surface. The plane and sole occupant pilot landed on pickup truck but he walked away as did the French couple. This makes “save” 306 for BRS. I can say from my days inside the building that these reports truly make the day, not only of managers and stockholders — and certainly not least the saved occupants — but for the unsung hero technicians who labor carefully to build and assemble the BRS systems. Congratulations to all!

At AirVenture 2013, BRS showcased their product for the RV-7 & RV-9. Regretfully, no such product is presently in design for Van’s LSA model, the RV-12, but hopefully it will follow. In Oshkosh BRS displayed a fuselage mockup (photos) to show where the unit is located and how the parachute system is positioned for optimal function. The round cylinder (arrow) is the rocket, a very powerful, instantly accelerating motor that can most authoritatively punch through a weakened panel, remove the large but densely packed canopy from its cradle, and pull it to what’s called line extension. Time to a taut line is about one second after the handle is pulled in the cockpit. As has been repeatedly shown this can be successful to surprisingly low altitudes, as little as 200 feet depending on the situation. I’ve witnessed the testing thoroughly and am always pleased to have an airframe parachute on an airplane I might fly. Van’s Aircraft makes a great, well-proven design but things happen beyond the control of the pilot (mid-air collision, loss of engine at night or over unlandable terrain, loss of control, incapacitation of the pilot, etc.)

Our great friends over at General Aviation News wrote recently about BRS’s news for Cessna 182 owners. (If you don’t get GA News’ “The Pulse of Aviation,” click the link to sign up for the free daily eNewsletter.) As mentioned above, I spent years at BRS and one of the most common resistance points was that adding a parachute would decrease payload. It does, but come on! — if you ever need a parachute and you don’t have one … well, you’ll never need one again. So today’s update from The Pulse reported that BRS has a great fix, at least for Cessna 182 owners (sorry LSAers, not yet). The Pulse, editors wrote, “BRS Aerospace … recently reported that Cessna 182P and Q model owners who install a BRS system will gain a 160-pound gross weight increase. The BRS is STC approved for the Cessna 172 and 182 models. This new iteration of the BRS will increase the net useful load by 65-75 pounds after the installation of the parachute, and will not require any modifications or additional hardware to the airframe once the BRS unit is installed, company officials said. ‘Now, operators can fly with the assurance of a BRS on board,’ Boris commented, ‘and have an additional 65-75 pounds of useful load to utilize as they wish. This is a win/win opportunity for operators.’ In addition, this new option will be at no extra cost to the purchaser, and is now included in every BRS C182P and Q sold, officials noted.”

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I was mighty busy last week, talking about my blog regarding IFR-IMC on LSA. Whew! Sometimes I had useful discussions. Some of what I got was hate mail; a few took the shoot-the-messenger approach. What’s all the furor about, exactly?

Among my many conversations, I spoke with Sebring Aviation‘s John Hurst. He has led the IFR subcommittee that is working to find consensus. John griped about weak support, even from those who said they’d help and then were curiously absent during meetings. The effort to create a standard that should restore IMC flying to Light-Sport Aircraft will continue.

Meanwhile, why all this heated talk? To my knowledge — and John knew no differently — only three LSA manufacturers actually pursued IFR-equipped aircraft: Tecnam, Evektor, and AMD. Perhaps others sold suitably equipped aircraft but these three promoted the capability. Two of the three use Rotax so they’d be required to offer the certified engine, for about $10,000 more. AMD uses the Continental, which has no restriction against use for IFR flying.

So, are all those who express concern about the future loss of IMC privilege flying a properly equipped LSA? John Hurst and I doubt it. Neither of us believe many LSA have been sold that are properly outfitted for IFR flight. (John has one for sale right now.) Conversely, many “Day/Night VFR” LSA are marvelously equipped with high-tech systems like Dynon‘s SkyView (photo). These instruments can certainly guide flight through a 400-foot-thick cloud layer but that instrumentation by itself does not assure you own an aircraft approved for IFR flight. For more details see this newer article. So… do owners of these nicely appointed LSA merely believe they are IFR-qualified?

We don’t have all these answers yet. John and I agreed to try to determine how many true IFR LSA may have been delivered. Personally I’d be surprised if we’re talking more than a few dozen out of nearly 2,000 SLSA sold in the USA

I repeat: if you already have an IFR-equipped LSA, you will not lose any IMC privilege. The ASTM committee prohibition only applies to new LSA built under the latest standard revision. I don’t expect that revision to be accepted by FAA until later this year. Therefore — and this is important — if you have an LSA now, or buy one before the new standard is accepted by FAA, the IMC prohibition does not apply to your aircraft.

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In case you hadn’t heard, this is the Year of the Cub…the 75th anniversary celebration of that wonderful proto-LSA, the *** Piper J3 Cub. *** All aircraft have their special places in our hearts. But was there ever anything quite like the wonderful Cub? If you haven’t had the pleasure, take some dual just to see what our forebears learned to fly in. You’ll not only gain appreciation for how much better your stick-and-rudder skills could be, but it will, I’ll wager, also infuse your soul with a real bit of love for flying, true grassroots Americana style. There just isn’t anything quite like the sensation of lifting off behind a Continental four-banger of varying horsepower (the one I rent is a Continental with 65 ponies) and struggling at a leisurely pace for altitude. *** Wikipedia has a tasty lead-off to its abstract that I want to share with you: it cuts through the flowery verbosity to capture in unadorned prose the essence of what the Cub has meant to generations of pilots: *** The Piper J-3 Cub is a small, simple, light aircraft that was built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. With tandem (fore and aft) seating, it was intended for flight training but became one of the most popular and best-known light aircraft of all time. The Cub’s simplicity, affordability and popularity invokes comparisons to the Ford Model T automobile.The aircraft’s standard chrome yellow paint has come to be known as “Cub Yellow” or “Lock Haven Yellow” *** As my pics, shot a couple winters ago, no doubt betray, there’s nothing in aviation *** EAA has put out a call to all J3 Cub owners to fly in to the big airshow later this month. There will be a big fly in to Wittman Field and prominent events including a zillion of them parked at the Antique section on the show grounds. *** And if you see someone putting their chin up against that wonderful Cub Yellow and making a wish, like we did as kids with buttercup flowers, please say hello: that’ll be me, unabashedly indulging my own version of Cub Love.

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