ByDanJohnson.com

Better prices and better features from avionics leader Garmin.

Team X is a dedicated group of pilot and airplane builders working separately at Garmin to create new gear for LSA and Amateur Built aircraft. Read about each team member.

Lighter weight and lower cost make autopilots more approachable for LSA and light aircraft.

Next month, in April 2013, the Light-Sport Aircraft industry celebrates an anniversary. It will be the eighth year since the first Special LSA approval was granted by an FAA Designated Airworthiness Representative in 2005. Evektor‘s Sportstar was first, followed hours later by the Flight Design CT and then an amazing outpouring of innovation now stretching to 131 SLSA models approved. That’s better than four brand new aircraft every quarter for 32 straight quarters; worldwide aviation’s never seen anything like it. Most of the early brand names in the industry were new, at least to Americans. Yet along the way, some famous aviation names joined the party.

We’ve seen entries from Piper, Cirrus, Cessna, Lycoming, Sensenich, and Wipaire Floats plus the major member organizations embraced Light-Sport in their own way. One multibillion dollar company to serve the sport and recreation community has been Garmin. Much more than an aviation powerhouse, Garmin makes products for automobiles, boats, and more. Recently, they stepped up their game even further by forming “Team X,” a small group of Garmin engineers working apart from the rest of the avionics staff. Garmin says these guys “understand what it’s like to scrimp and save for the right radio, and what it’s like to place the last rivet in a wing.” Their mission: to create new products specifically for the LSA and Amateur Built communities.

In the tradition of electronic devices that remarkably get better and less expensive at the same time, Garmin recently lowered prices on their G3X series. Get more info on that here. Garmin’s digital skunk works just introduced a bevy of products you might love. “These new products are designed by our dedicated experimental engineering team, many of whom are pilots and homebuilders,” said Garmin vice president of aviation sales and marketing, Carl Wolf. “We’re bringing unprecedented technology and capability to the amateur-built and Light Sport aircraft market at a remarkably affordable price.”

To the one, two, or three screen G3X, Garmin now adds an integrated autopilot. Although LSA enthusiasts may not have envisioned such systems eight years ago, prices have come way down and many LSA have embraced them. Weight also came down, evidenced by Garmin’s 1.4 pound GSA 28 “smart” autopilot servo. The servo shows its intelligence when it “automatically trims the aircraft to constantly keep it in trim.” Team X also introduced the GMC 305 autopilot control panel, a dedicated autopilot user interface that delivers airspeed hold among other features. A two-axis autopilot will be available in May for $1,500 and the control panel is $750.

Icon has been promoting Angle of Attack indicators their slick A5 seaplane. Dynon added this to their SkyView and now Garmin has a new Air Data/Attitude/Heading Reference System (ADAHRS) that supports AoA functions to “provide accurate, real-time measurement of wing performance and stall margin indication to the pilot both audibly and visually.” To get AoA functions you need a new pitot tube to support that capability but it’s only $199. Of course, Garmin is all over the ADS-B services of free weather and traffic and you can learn more about all the new Team X products at the company’s new LSA webpage, which has “a wealth of information including product features, hardware, pricing, photos, videos, manuals, software updates, FAQs and more.”

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An oldie but goodie favorite, the SL30 with communications and navigation capabilities. Both SL30 or SL40 transmitted with 8 watts of power; Garmin boosted this by 25% with the new radio line.

A replacement for the widely sold SL40 is the new GTR series with several new features pilots will love.

Garmin’s GNC series replaces the SL30 having nav and comm functions plus added transmit power; the GTR series also offers 10 watts.

Perhaps the most used LSA radio is this SL40.

Technology and radios seem to be obvious partners, don’t they? In the old days of a few round dials to help a pilot operate his flying machine, the comm radio was perhaps the highest technology to enter the cockpit. Radios continued to improve over the years but much of the innovation was seen in the faceplate or occurred in transceiver functions. We did get digital readouts and flip-flop frequency change options, but otherwise radio have seemed rather static … frozen in time, while GPS, moving maps, EFISs, EMSs, PFDs, MFDs, and more swept past with wave after wave of innovation. Compared to Dynon’s SkyView or Garmin’s 796, radios were looking long in the tooth.

Thanks to recent announcements from top LSA radio supplier, Garmin, the radio product line is changing. The ubiquitous SL30 and SL40 that kept Sport Pilots talking to control towers have been favorite panel friends to many a Sport Pilot. The good news for those attached to their beloved SL40, according to Garmin handheld and Experimental line manager Tim Casey, is that they won’t be discontinued for at least another 6-8 months.

Still, old gives way to the new. The GTR is the SL40 replacement being a communications radio while the GNC replaces the SL30 with comm and nav functions. Besides the name, what else is new? For one, a power boost comes with the new GTR and GNC models. From the 8 watts of the SL30 and SL40, the new radios have 10 watts bringing increased range, or for extra money, 16 watts though the latter is aimed primarily at high altitude flight. For European buyers, the new radios can offer 8.33 kHz spacing (at additional cost; see below) while U.S. pilots can stick with 25 kHz spacing as FAA has no present plans to divide further.

The bigger deal to me is where new technology adds to nav/comm functions. Garmin says the new ideas “have never been seen before in stand-alone comm or nav/comm radios.” With the GTR and GNC, a unique frequency database makes it easy to find frequencies for an airport or facility by entering the location name or station ID. If you tune manually, a reverse-lookup function will automatically provide the navaid or airport identifier.
Pilots can also find the nearest airport, area control center, flight service station, or weather frequencies. Even better, both new radios automatically store your 20 most recently used frequencies. Best of all, the new radios will store up to 15 most-used frequencies such as the pilot’s home airport or other frequently visited destinations. Thanks for listening, Garmin; many pilots will love this last feature.

Garmin’s GTR 225 with 10 watts of transmit power and 25 kHz frequency spacing retails for $1,995. Should you need 8.33 kHz spacing, add $1,000. For those who may want navigation and VOR/ILS glideslope functions, the GNC 255A also has 10 watts of transmit power and includes 8.33 kHz spacing for $4,495. I suspect most LSA owners used to the trusty SL40 will go for the GTR 225. If you don’t order with your new LSA, lots of vendors also sell the entire Garmin line. For more info on Garmin’s sport line, click to the company’s new experimental/LSA website.

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Update 3/22/13 … CHICAGO / Associated Press announced that the FAA put the final list of air traffic control tower closures at 149. The process of shutdown will start early in April. One key point: closures will not force the airports themselves to shut down, but all pilots will use unicom frequencies to communicate their position and intentions to other pilots in the vicinity. “We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of safety at non-towered airports,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a statement.

In what could be a major impact on smaller regional airports such as Salinas Municipal in California, Lakeland Linder Regional in Florida (home of the Sun ‘n Fun show next month), and Wittman Regional in Wisconsin (home of Oshkosh Airventure), airlines have yet to say whether they will continue offering service to airports that lose tower staff. With the huge increase in air traffic at both those Oshkosh and Sun ‘n Fun, it’s likely that both venues will hire tower staff at least for those events. It’s impossible to imagine them without ATC! So far, Airlines for America said its member carriers have no plans to cancel or suspend flights as a result of the closures.

This is all part of the sequestration budget cuts. FAA’s mandate from Congress is to cut $637 million by September 30, 2013. The agency said it had no choice but to subject most of its 47,000 employees, including tower controllers, to periodic furloughs and to close air traffic facilities at small airports with lighter traffic. (According to another report all 47,000 FAA employees must take one day off every two weeks without pay, essentially a 10% pay cut. —DJ)

The airports targeted for tower shutdowns have fewer than 150,000 total flight operations per year. Of those, fewer than 10,000 are commercial flights by passenger airlines. Airport directors, pilots and others in the aviation sector have argued that stripping away an extra layer of safety during the most critical stages of flight will elevate risks and at the very least slow years of progress that made the U.S. aviation network the safest in the world.
For example, one of the facilities on the final closure list is Ogden-Hinckley Airport in Utah, where air traffic controllers keep planes safely separated from the F-16s operating out of nearby Hill Air Force Base and from flights using Salt Lake City International Airport.

The 149 air traffic facilities slated to begin closing on April 7 are out of a total of 516 control towers in the FAA’s national network. The targeted towers are all staffed by contract employees who are not FAA staffers. There were 65 other facilities staffed by FAA employees on the preliminary list of towers that could be closed. A final decision on their closure will require further review, the FAA said. The agency is also still considering eliminating overnight shifts at 72 additional air traffic facilities, including major airports like Chicago’s Midway International and General Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee. There was no word Friday on when that decision will come.

John Lampson, who took me through my Sport Pilot training, is one of the busiest CFIs at Hartford Brainard, CT, wrote me to say: “Thanks for addressing this. Earning my Private ticket at a non-towered airport, I was fortunate to learn from the start that non-towered airports are not “uncontrolled” fields … that is to say, there is plenty of order and regard for safety in that environment. Calling a fairly busy towered airport my home for the past decade, I can also absolutely see the value in having an operating control tower at certain airports. In my opinion, either environment can be operated within quite safely. One issue, however, that may arise from the abrupt closure of these control towers is the adjustment period, mixing ‘towered’ students who are used to taking directives from a controller, with non-towered pilots, who are quite comfortable relying on the ‘transmit in-the-blind,’ and using 45 degree-entry methods of arriving and departure. And that is without even mentioning higher-speed, heavier, corporate-type fixed-wing and rotorcraft traffic that frequent many towered airports on a regular basis, day and night.
Form a teaching standpoint, I’m not sure exactly how Private Pilot applicants will obtain the Class D experience they can now so easily access. It is my hope that for both the pilot community, as well as the controllers who do such a great job helping keep things running smoothly, calmly offering assistance when needed to the fledglings in the pattern, and helping to keep us all separated and safe on a daily basis, that this otherwise well-oiled machine is not dismantled and left to rust while government continues to create new problems and wastes more money.”

Meanwhile, back at the political ranch, the Senate and House have both passed budgets at long last, each of which is pretty much guaranteed not to get through the opposite house.

••• Now back to Jim Lawrence’s original article posted March 21, 2013. •••

You’ve probably heard by now that part of the fun of the so-called sequestration budget cuts across the U.S. economy includes the planned closure of as many as 238 FAA and contract control towers — nearly half the national figure of 515. Other reports cite 177, 189 and 212 airports. No matter who you believe, it’s a major change that will affect thousands of FAA and contract employees and could have a negative impact on air safety and traffic control, just for starters.

Local FBOs and pilots, aviation organizations like AOPA and EAA, GA business commuters to name just a few have raised a hue and cry from coast to coast.

FAA has been notifying airports that their towers are scheduled to close in the coming weeks. The list spreads the pain nationwide and includes names most of us are at least aware of, and many have flown into at one time or another — Mobile Downtown in Alabama, Santa Monica in Southern California (one of 9 in So Cal alone!), Front Range in Colorado, Orlando Executive in Florida, Hartford-Brainard in Massachusetts (the busy GA airport where I got my Sport Pilot ticket) and Cuyahoga County in Cleveland, Ohio. Only six states escaped the cut, with the largest, most-active GA states such as California (23), Florida (20) and Texas (19) among the hardest hit.

Here’s a complete list of ATC facilities that could be closed. Most airports that have their towers shut down will transition to uncontrolled fields. That should be interesting, to put it mildy, in places like Santa Monica, Collin County Regional in Dallas and Orlando Executive. Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas (think Wichita Tin) proposes a bill to restore funding to nearly 200 FAA and contract control towers. EAA applauds the effort but cautions against “undermining other FAA programs that would provide long-term benefits. Sen. Moran’s proposed amendment would move $50 million of undesignated funds from FAA research and capital projects to fund contract control towers throughout the nation. EAA’s VP of Government Relations, Doug Macnair, said, “With general aviation bearing more than 90 percent of the FAA’s mandated budget cuts under sequestration, it’s gratifying to see Congress engaging in a discussion about maintaining safety through important GA services that have been proven cost-effective. While the contract tower program is very important to busy GA airports, we must be mindful that diverting R&D funds to support contract towers is not without significant consequences.”

Another downside, says EAA, would be the loss of the Piston Aviation Fuel Initiative, a program was designed by industry and the FAA to evaluate viable unleaded replacement options for 100LL avgas. Cuts would affect most GA operators, in an atmosphere of the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempts to kill leaded aviation fuel altogether.

LSA aircraft will not be impacted by such a shelving, at least not models that use Rotax or other powerplants that run just fine on mogas (auto fuel), which is nearly the entire fleet. Online aviation readers across the country are weighing in. Here’s a sample from various aviation websites: Many of these towers should have closed years ago. GA has declined while the number of towers has increased. Uncontrolled fields work very well when the traffic is low.Alas, “everyone” DOESN’T agree that the federal government spends too much money. To wit: Until we agree on what we want the government to do, we don’t know if it’s spending “too much” or not…What’s clear is that we’re not paying for what we’re currently asking the government to do, so something definitely needs to change to get that into rough balance.Flying in and out of a non-towered airport is easy. Folks get nervous when their routine is disturbed or their workload changes.I like the folks in our local control tower, but from a financial and traffic count point of view, I have to say that the local tower makes no sense. Must be really boring to sit there and see nothing going on hour after hour.Most of the airports scheduled to lose their towers should have them closed. Those towers are …relics of past glory days or as political gifts to support a local politician’s delusion of grandeur.In looking through the list, there are airports on there I could never figure why they had a control tower to begin with!I regularly fly into a good number of the airports on the list, especially in Florida. Most every time I wonder why they have a tower, they are just not that busy!Pew just did a study asking people about 19 different potential areas for cuts – and the public answer was essentially none of them. In the abstract, people say “spend less”, but in specific terms, the answer changes. We need to get over that and make some hard decisions.Oh no!!! Not Roswell!!! Little green men might die!!! Rather than picking 100, out of that list of 200 towers, why don’t we just close all 200 of ‘em?This reminds me of electricity and its supply. People oppose all aspects of its expansion – no new generation plants, no new transmission lines etc. But demand is increasing! At some point everything will collapse then what does everyone do? Blame the government of course.The meat-axe is a poor way to do this…(“Tea-Partiers”) have finally shut off the Federal government spigot and cost jobs and safety. You will soon learn how vital the government really is, and it may cost a few pilots’ lives, and some on the ground, to re-learn that aviation safety is a TEAM effort, not just a “pilot” thing.Fundamentally this is about maintaining the current tax structure enacted under President Bush while President Obama wants to go back to a tax structure that looks an awful lot like the tax policy of the Clinton years…and which produced better results? Spending cuts Republicans are proposing are very much like the current UK austerity program. Look at those results – the deeper the austerity, they deeper the deficit.

As you can see, opinions range all over the map. My take: politics aside, intelligent leadership at all levels must include a willingness to compromise for the good of all. That has traditionally been the only rising thermal that lifts all aircraft.

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Air to air photography is a lot more than just pretty shots of an airplane. Always consider what the plane is flying over in your compositions.

Move in to frame what's interesting. Blur the prop with a slow shutter speed to create motion. Smoke helps!

You can get some real magic with silhouettes on a cloudy day when not much else is possible.

Ground details can add a lot to your imagery.

Slow shutter speeds, 1/125 sec and slower, are what give you good prop discs like these.

Five o'clock low (or seven on the left side of the photo plane) is a good bread and butter way to anchor a shoot.

Don't forget profiles! With the right background they can give you very happy results.

My flyin’ pal, industry leader, and co-blogger Dan Johnson suggested recently that I throw some tips your way about how I put together and do air2air photography. Since I’ve done around 600 in my 30 year career, it’s not a topic I have to research, always good news. So for those of you interested in what it takes to pull off such an undertaking, here we go.

First big challenge: finding a decent photo ship. That’s tougher away from your home airport (mine was for many years Santa Paula Airport north of Los Angeles, and Long Beach Airport just south.) My birds of prey have included:

single-seat ultralights, flying with one hand and holding the camera with the other – that was lots of fun although I was constantly anxious about dropping the big old Nikon SLR camera I used back in the early ’80s.homebuilt gyrocopters and choppers (airframe vibration is a big challenge here: faster shutter speeds are important)Piper Saratoga/Cherokee 6, Beech Bonanza. I’ve flown many missions in these fine aircraft with the rear door and often also the cargo door removed. That brings a nice big open window to shoot out of, from the 2 o’clock back to near 6 o’clock, with the target able to be placed high, level or low relative to the camera. One of my favorite shots is putting the target above the horizontal stab, just left of the vertical fin, in a slight climb so I can get a near-head on shot of the airplane and a bit of the horizon for reference too…all without any of the photo ship intruding into the shot, which is a no no. Another advantage is it’s easier to see hand signals when the photographer’s entire body is visible.Cessna 150/152/172/182: All these mainstay, ubiquitous birds have one thing in common: they’re high wingers and decent photo platforms on the (relative) cheap. Your view is more restricted than a low winger, especially upward and around the wing strut, but you can still pull off a decent shoot and I’ve done a couple hundred out of these workhorses. They’re easy to find and rent everywhere, and a lot of pilots can fly them well enough as a photo ship to get the job done.Patty Wagstaff’s Beech Baron was a hoot: the rear seats were 86′d, I could shoot out of either rear side window, left or right, and there was a magical door in the floor, about 9″ on a side, for straight-down shots: almost impossible to get with any common GA airplane. One of my two favorite all time platforms, the other being a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber (you know, the 30 Seconds Over Tokyo bird the Doolittle Raiders used). Yeah, like we can all afford to rent one of those!Speaking of Warbirds: I’ve shot out of AT-6 Texans (Navy version SNJ) with a greenhouse canopy, a B-25, an Extra 300 and Saia Marchetti whilst shooting aerobatics (in formation, and yes, I got sick but I didn’t barf in the airplane…only after we landed). You can shoot in the B-25 from the tail gunner position. In my case, photographing the Glacier Girl P-38 and two P-51 Mustangs in formation, you crawled down the tail tube, clipped into a couple constraints to keep you from sliding all the way out the tail and into one or a couple huge, spinning props – yes, it was completely open – and got what you got as quick as you could, since the rental was a couple thousand dollars, or more, per hour. Nothing better for head-on shots, which are impossible to get like this, hanging out the side of an airplane.

Next, the formation pilots: both yours and the target airplane’s. Without really good formation pilots, you’re taking unnecessary risks, plus you likely won’t get many quality shots. Likewise, your photo ship pilot is as vital to success, and safety, as the target pilot: perhaps more so, because he/she’s got to keep the airplane stable – no sudden turns or changes in altitude or airspeed without plenty of communication first by radio (from photo pilot or me) and hand signals (me). Surprises are enemies in formation work.

I have had my share of shoots where a willing target pilot, of course only eager to help and be part of the fun, said something like this: ”Aw hellfire, I been flying formation for years, you just tell me where you want it and I’ll nail it right there for ya.” Once airborne, that old stick’s version of “nailing it” proved akin to the inability to hit a barn with a soccer ball from three feet away. Not to be unkind: most likely, “formation” for these willing folks meant anywhere within 300 yards of me. For cross country flying, that’s fine. For photo work, that means images with a mosquito-sized airplane in the frame. A corollary: if either pilot does something that makes you bark something like, “Pull up! He’s crossing under the plane!” or “Don’t look over your shoulder at the target, you’re turning into him!” or in general you don’lt feel it’s going well, bingo the shoot and go land to talk it over. Sweaty palms and muttered curses for more than 30 seconds do not a safe shoot make. Moral: don’t force it. If you can’t get a target pilot to give you what you want – solid, stable positions where you need him/her to be, blow off the shoot and regroup with a different pilot. It’s not worth getting scared sick or killed for.

I always tell people in the preflight brief, “If I ask you to do anything you’re not comfortable with, just say ‘Can’t do that,’ and I’ll try something else. I once had my photo pilot tell me that the target pilot, an ex-military combat instructor type at that and an excellent stick, tell me, only after we were in the air, that the target pilot was uncomfortable getting close enough for what I needed for the story, and didn’t want to do inside turns. I got a little hot under the collar. My first question was, “Why are you telling me this now? We should have talked this out on the ground.” My point was, things happen fast: light is constantly changing, especially during formation 360-degree turns which are great for getting lots of different looks without flying all over Creation. Inside as well as outside turns are important to get lots of variety for the art director (or your wife/husband) to appreciate and choose.

I’m getting ahead of myself though. More basics: The light is everything. Don’t shoot between 10 and 4 if you can help it. The first hour after sunrise and last hour before sunset (and sometimes beyond sunset) are magical golden light times. Mid day, everything picks up the blue of the sky. Warm light is much more pleasing to most people, shadows are longer and define the ground more aesthetically too. In the air, the closer the airplane to you, the better, for you and for the target pilot. Closer equates to less zoom, which means less chance of motion blur. The more zoomed in you are, the more like trying to photograph through a telescope it becomes. In even light turbulence, forget it.

Close formation also means it’s easier for the target pilot to react to changes in the photoship’s altitude…up to a point. Bill Cox, one of the best formation pilots any photographer will ever have the good fortune to fly with, taught me this. The photo ship should generally be the stable anchor, or “lead” of the shoot, which means the target plane should be briefed to fly on you. That means the photo ship holds whatever attitude (straight and level, climbing, descending, in a left 360 at 45 degree bank) and the target ship does its best to stay with you. Some people like to shoot with the photo pilot flying on the target, even when the photo plane is ahead, which can work if the target pilot is not a formation pilot but can at least hold heading, speed and altitude. The challenge there is the photo pilot has to be doing a lot of constant estimating of distances, while flying the plane, and looking over his/her shoulder when the airplane is behind. That’s a bit of a nerve-wracking experience, at least for me. I like keeping the piloting challenges to a minimum, and always prefer to set up shoots with us in the photo ship in the lead, providing the stable platform.

For variety, say a shot of the target doing a break as seen from behind, I’ll have it pull ahead, so the “lead” changes hands. ”I’ve got the lead,” is a common radio acknowledgement. Then your photo pilot gets to show his formation chops by staying right where you ask him to stay, relative to the target. Often I’ll ask my pilot to call a break over the intercom as I’m focusing on the framing, something like this: ”Tell him I want a left break, dropping the left wing down rather than zooming up so he doesn’t disappear behind our wing, in five seconds, and count it down for him please.” Then I put all my attention into getting the shot as the break happens. The 3 C’s: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: Talk it out before you take off, be on radio with each other constantly and make no moves, especially putting the photo ship into a turn, without letting the target know exactly what you’re doing, backed up by a visible hand signal from you, the photographer, and when possible, sun angle permitting, only after you’ve gotten a nod and/or radio acknowledgement from the target pilot

Don’t shoot through plexiglass if you can help it. It distorts the picture, makes the target plane less sharp, shows reflections of whatever’s catching light in your cockpit – including your bright yellow shirt! – and when they’re tinted, it’s even worse. Shoot through open air, even through a vent if you must. Most Cessna windows will open all the way up to the wing: you just have to unscrew one window strap before takeoff. Be flexible: unless you don’t feel safe because of pilot skills or weather such as rough turbulence, keep trying things. Swap the lead: maybe your pilot is better at formation than the target pilot.

Shutter speeds: If you want a full shiny prop arc, you need to be going toward the sun within an hour of sunrise or hour before sunset, to reflect the low sun angle. Heading should be maybe 30 degrees to either side of the sun, so you’re not on a heading that blinds your target pilot. If it’s a three blade prop and it’s turning near full throttle, 1/125th second should give you a pleasing disc. A two-blader might require 1/90 or even 1/60 second, which without a lens stabilizer such as Canon and Nikon et all have, will mean lots of unwanted blurs. For shots where prop discs aren’t so important, rack up the shutter speed as high as you can. I will shoot around 1/400th second or faster when I know the “propsicle” – frozen prop as if the engine had quit, which looks pretty crappy frankly – isn’t going to be a factor in the shot, such as a profile or when the plane is going away from you or other times when it’s just not visible at all. A useful mid-range where you get some prop blur, again where it’s not a big factor in the quality of the shot, is 1/180, 1/250 or 1/320. But technical considerations like this are always a factor of what’s required at the time, which means you need to be thinking technically to be sure you don’t muff the shot, but also creatively, for instance if you’re in a 360 and you need to move the target up in time to be just above the top of the mountain peak you know is coming up – because you saw it in the last 360 and you told both pilots to keep the turn going until you call it off.

There’s a lot more: if anyone is interested in hearing more, please leave a comment or questions by clicking on the graphic for Jim’s blog.

Meanwhile, the key point is: everything is a thousand times better with two excellent formation pilots and a constant expectation that talking to each other on the ground and in the air are the most important imperatives. I’ve only had a few close calls in my career. I remember every one of them. All could have been avoided with better communication, quicker reaction when one of the pilots surprised me and the other pilot – or both.

Comment from Dan… I’ve flown formation in the target aircraft more than 200 times. Reaching that number took many, many years and every time was something of a circus to get all those ducks in a row. Keeping it safe is critical with close-in flying, often with both aircraft turning, and with aircraft of different performance and handling. Jim Lawrence has done this more than 600 times, a number so large I struggle to comprehend it. Looking through the camera viewfinder and shooting nearby aircraft while both move around in the sky is harder than it looks. Managing to also capture beautiful photos that are well composed and expertly lit by mother nature demonstrates the professionalism of a photographer like Jim. Light-Sport aviation is lucky to have a man of this talent focusing his big lens on us. See more about Jim’s photo career.

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George Karamitis and his latest Quicksilver ultralight.

Hanging out in the breeze: what a kick!

You don't need an airport to fly an ultralight but it's always nice to have one.

Quicksilvers come in enclosed cabins too, like this GT400. There's also a GT500 tandem two-seater.

It’s enough to be proud of flying a “real” airplane for 50 years without accident, incident, or citation for 50 years. But imagine if half of those years were flown in those crazy “death wish” machines: ultralights! Of course, those of us who’ve flown hang gliders, ultralights and other true bird experience aircraft know just how safe they are. Anything you fly requires skill but also flying it within its strengths and limitations – that’s the only fail-safe secret to safe flying.

Nobody knows that truth better than George Karamitis. He’s just received the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, for half a century of impeccable flying in both GA airplanes and the all-time best selling ultralight, the Quicksilver. George started out like a lot of us did, gawking through the fence as a kid at his home airport, Oshkosh’s Wittman Field. The veteran aviation icon and airport namesake himself, Steve Wittman, gave wee Georgie a ride one day, which sure beat hanging out in the family bathroom at home, as he liked to do, sitting on the toilet seat lid and pretending to fly with a plunger for a joystick!

A stint as a radar operator in the Navy led to George forming a swabbie flying club in Newfoundland. He earned his Private Pilot ticket, then at the University of Oshkosh he formed another flying club, flew a Cessna 140, and got his CFI ticket in 1966. Life flew by: in 2001, the Oshkosh sky boy retired as a Captain after 33 years flying for Trans World Airlines. You can take the boy out of the cockpit but never the cockpit out of the boy. Even while working for TWA, he’d been plying the skies in several Quicksilvers, starting out with a Sport II two-seater.“

I’ve been a Quicksilver fan for over 25 years,” says George. He’s owned a number of Quicks and a dozen GA planes too. Over time his stable included a Sprint II, single seat GT400, single place Sport and single seat Sprint. The Sprint and Sport are open cockpit side-by-side models. The Sport has a double-surface wing while the Sprint is a single surface membrane. Quicksilver over the years have made the most of the tube-and-Dacron fabric, steel cable-braced minimal airframe. And if you’ve never had the pleasure, you really don’t know what you’re missing…unless flitting along at 40 mph (stall is typically in the low 30 mph regime) five feet above a cornfield doesn’t hold any particular thrill for you. There’s simply nothing like an ultralight for easy, fun flying.

After thousands of hours wrangling airliners, George admits, “I love sitting out in the open!” in an ultralight. Today his Quick of choice is a Sprint II in which he gives demo flights. “I couldn’t write a better story than I’ve lived,” says the veteran award winner. He continues to train student pilots at Lockwood Aviation, Sebring, Florida, in a Tecnam Echo LSA. You know, some kids just never grow up. And that’s a good thing for the rest of us.

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SLSA Seaplane: Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey

SLSA Seaplane: AirMax SeaMax (top); and SLSA Candidate: Edra Aeronautica Super Petrel LS

SLSA Seaplanes: Triton Mermaid (top); and Colyaer Freedom

Seaplane Kit: (clockwise from top left) Aero Adventure Aventura II; International models: Dornier S-Ray 007; Microleve Corsario; and Atol Amphib … the last is undergoing a complete design update in late 2013.

International models: Helmut Rind FlyWhale; and Ramphos Flying Boat

SLSA Candidates: Icon A5 (top); and Lisa Akoya

Inernational Model: WQS Seagle (top); and Electric-powered model: Equator Excursion

Part 103 Seaplanes: Bailey Connie (top); and FlyNano

Once upon a time, in the early days of Light-Sport Aircraft, way back in 2006 and 2007, new LSA models were being introduced at the torrid pace of two, three, even four per month. Aviation had no prior design outpouring to compare. The rate of development had to slow — such a pace is not sustainable — and it did. Yet the young industry continued on to the astonishing sum of 131 models and it ain’t over yet. Meanwhile, though, a new tsunami is building within the LSA sector. I’ve written about a wave a new seaplanes and as summer 2013 approaches, a tour of the many choices may help guide interest of seaplane enthusiasts.

Current Seaplanes (distinguished from float-equipped land planes *) include FAA-accepted SLSA models: Mermaid, SeaMax, SeaRey, and Freedom. At present all are being offered and have some measure of U.S. representation. •• SeaMax has a few examples flying in America and a new American representative while SeaRey has a large fleet of more than 500 built from kits. SeaRey manufacturer Progressive Aerodyne, which celebrated 20 years in business, is now embarking to build ready-to-fly models fulfilling pent-up demand. Mermaid is again being manufactured in China under the new brand name Triton but under the management and direction of Chip Erwin, the design’s original developer. Freedom has new representation and will be based at the Lakeland airport, the home of Sun ‘n Fun. All except Mermaid should be available at that airshow.

Current Flying Kit Models that are operating in the Experimental classification include: Aventura, Super Petrel LS, Dornier’s S-Ray 007, the Finnish Atol Amphibian, Brazil’s Microleve Corsario, the composite pusher WQS Seagle (though this company appears to have dropped off the ‘Net), and the weight shift Ramphos Flying Boat (though this model which entered into an early China connection has apparently gone dark). •• Of these, the American Aventura from Aero Adventures has new ownership. The company is well established in Florida and new management is providing new energy. In addition to the two seat Aventura II, new boss Alex Rolinski plans to reintroduce the Part 103-capable Aventura I.

Aventura models are expected to be on display at Sun ‘n Fun. Super Petrel LS will also attend Sun ‘n Fun. Built by Edra Aeronautica and with U.S. representation, Super Petrel is expected to achieve SLSA status as ASTM standards are also accepted in its home country of Brazil. The designer, Rodrigo Scoda, will be piloting for demonstration flights. I judge the three other models remain in the unlikely category for American sales anytime soon … but you never know in the always-changing world of Light-Sport and kit aircraft Sport Pilots may fly.

Announced and Promoted Models in planning represent some of the most impressive developments among light seaplanes including: Icon’s A5, Lisa’s Akoya (see “Update” below about company officials’ work to secure funding), the made-for-electric-power Equator Excursion, Europe’s FlyWhale. Regretfully, none are expected at Sun ‘n Fun. •• Of these four high-end products, Icon is the only one nearing production. The company is well known, has generated a reported 1,050 delivery position orders and has entered into production agreements with Cirrus Design, manufacturer of the SR20, SR22, and VisionJet general aviation aircraft. Icon has been several years in development and only exhibits aircraft at the AirVenture Oshkosh event, however, it appears well funded and a limited number of aircraft are expected to fill the first orders later this year. Icon has requested a weight increase exemption with FAA but no announcements have been issued on this request.

Part 103 Seaplanes … Yes, the original ultralight vehicles remain alive and well 30 years after FAA created the category. Two place ultralights were merged into the Light-Sport sector as “converted ELSA,” but the single place models continue on as once conceived. We even found entries in the Part 103 class of genuine ultralight seaplanes including: Europe’s FlyNano and the “flying float” Connie. The latter is a fascinating design that uses a single float from a heavier aircraft as its hull but it was never put into active production. The former continues development though flight trials have not begun at this writing. FlyNano was originally announced for electric power. An ultralight seaplane was allowed extra weight so can have an empty weight of 304 pounds or 328 with an airframe parachute.

Models in Development include: at least three more aircraft that I promised not to leak before their producers announced them. In two of the three cases I have seen extensive work to the goal; one is limited to a verbal presentation. Of the serious efforts one is extraordinarily versatile and will even take on the Icon A5 development for sheer panache. Additionally, the marketing may be as clever as the design. More as it becomes public knowledge.

All together, then, light aircraft fans have a rather amazing 20 seaplanes to excite them and that’s without even considering many models of floatplanes. I’m nearly certain to have missed even more. The history of seaplanes of all sizes is nothing short of phenomenal but focusing only on modern two-place light seaplanes, we still have an impressive list. •• From 20 models we’ve identified here, nine are viable products you can consider buying. A few more are only questionable for their American representation. Only three or four appear to be stalled projects, itself a fairly remarkable statement. You have to love what FAA set in motion with an industry-led certification scheme because arguably its most noticeable success is a massive proliferation of products. No wonder the Type Certified manufacturers have pushed for — and are getting — some of this same flexibility. Pilots … celebrate your many flying choices!

UPDATE 2/23/13 — Our friends at AvWeb have uncovered more about the Lisa Akoya seaplane, with an article speaking to yet another Chinese acquisition of an airplane company. It appears the shapely Akoya will join the party in China, a country that has recently absorbed companies like Continental, Cirrus, and others. According to French and Chinese online sources, production will remain in France. Read the original AvWeb article.

* A seaplane is generally defined as an aircraft with a boat hull — colloquially a “flying boat” — where a floatplane is a wheeled aircraft fitted with straight, non-amphibious or amphibious floats.

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Dan Johnson shows off his formation skills in a Flight Design CTLSi over Bimini Island, Bahamas.

Tom Gutmann Jr. shows off the sexy lines of a CTLS on floats.

Tom Gutmann Jr. and Dan Johnson doing their sunset formation thing over the Bahamas.

In a recent article from Flying Magazine, an editor volunteered his opinion that the Light Sport industry is on life support. There are so many good arguments to refute such a sky-is-falling assessment, it kind of makes you wonder why a respected journalist would go out of his way to attract a lot of heat in the first place … but that’s another story.

Dan Johnson makes a ton of solid rebuttal remarks in this article and in a video he did with UltralightFlyer.com — check those out.

Meanwhile, here’s a magnificent retort to the LSA-is-dead silliness: Airtime Aviation out of Tulsa, OK. Owners Tom Gutmann and his son Tom Jr. just delivered their Number 100 Flight Design airplane, a new CTLSi with a fuel injected Rotax 912 iS engine.

At Sebring I saw a bunch of installations of the new engine: it’s really catching on. Also got the chance to fly with Dan Johnson in his new (partner-shared) CTLSi for some air to air work in the Bahamas. He and Tom gave me some excellent looks over Bimini Island which I share happily and with gratitude to both those gents right here.

Meanwhile, 100 airplanes delivered does not an argument make for an industry in its death throes. Flying mag, I rest my case.

The Gutmann lads are a full-service dealership, offering sales, maintenance, upgrades and repair. This is the second CT for the lucky buyer, a veteran GA pilot named Rex Austin. He’s owned a Cessna 172, Piper Seneca, Bellanca Viking, a couple Mooneys and two Cirrus. Hey Rex, got any extra airplanes you feel like giving away to a needy aviation journalist I know? The instrument rated Private Pilot has single & multi-engine tickets in his wallet and has logged more than 2,600 hours in 30 years of flying. He says he likes the low operating cost and large cabin of the CT. Makes sense: he played basketball in school and at 6′ 6″, size matters in an LSA.

”The Flight Design is the only aircraft I have ever owned,” and that’s including GA aircraft, “that I didn’t bump my head on the roof in rough air.” He also reports his wife digs the added safety of the BRS parachute system, which comes standard on all the fast-cruising CT models.

Airtime’s GA veteran Tom Sr. started flying after high school, went to Spartan School of Aeronautics and bought the first Flight Design CT in the U.S. “What started as a hobby soon turned into Airtime Aviation,” says Tom, who got so much positive feedback on the airplane from local pilots that he became a distributor for Flight Design in 2003.

Tom Jr. joined the company and they’ve been a major force in light sport and Experimental aircraft in their area ever since. “We were the first to earn FAA acceptance for a Light-Sport CTSW in 2005 and the first in 2011 to win approval for the CTLS Floatplane,” added Tom Jr. Airtime Aviation is also a Flight Design Master Service Center.

In this economy, heck, over the last three decades, 100 aircraft sales is an impressive achievement. Congratulations to Airtime Aviation: you’re showing us how to make a success making us look good.

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A CubCrafters climbs out fast.

A Destiny powered parachute flies over a scenic covered bridge.

Van’s RV-12 has registered more than 200 aircraft.

Zenith’s CH-750 is a popular kit.

Sonex supplies “Sport Pilot Eligible” Experimental Amateur-Built aircraft.

Converted so-called “fat ultralights” (two-seaters) count several thousand examples.

We recorded very strong interest in our recent market share article. Traffic spiked to double in the days since our report was posted (and that was from record levels). It would appear the LSA segment is hardly in “critical condition” despite what some may think. Today, the LAMA board of directors had its monthly teleconference and some interesting thoughts were expressed. Here we present a summary of how those discussions relate to LSA market share.

First, since 2009 we observed the number of newly registered Special LSA Airplanes have been 20-25% of all single engine piston (SEP) GA airplanes deliveries. For 2012, SLSA Airplane deliveries were 259 to 790 GA’s SEP airplanes, meaning Light-Sport represents 32.8% of GA deliveries or 24.7% of all airplanes. However, that is only part of the story.

In addition, you ought to consider the impact of Experimental, that is, kit-built LSA (ELSA) plus “alternative” aircraft such as weight shift, powered parachute, and gliders/motorgliders. Historically over the eight year life of Light-Sport Aircraft, these latter non-Airplane LSA account for a significant share approaching one-sixth to one-fifth, which based on the 2012 numbers, would add 40-50 more new aircraft registered. Our familiar chart does not include them as they are notoriously difficult to identify in FAA’s database for a variety of reasons. Despite those challenges, these aircraft are ASTM-compliant, are finding customers, and most importantly, are getting pilots up in the air. Ignoring them is to leave out a deserving segment of aviation. Indeed, they account for 28 of 131 SLSA models on our SLSA List.

Another category we have not listed is ELSA, for example, RV-12s, which board director Phil Lockwood believes are primarily built as ELSA rather than Experimental Amateur-Built (EAB). An advantage, beyond no need for an aviation medical, is the opportunity to have someone else partly or fully build their ELSA kit … legally. Perhaps more important is the fine Van’s reputation for handling and performance and the joy flying them brings to their owners. The first and only RV-12 SLSA was registered in July 2009. In the three and a half years since, 203 RV-12 kits have been registered for an average of 58 per year.

More ELSA — following development of an ASTM-compliant SLSA — are registered under the company names Zenith Aircraft, Aircraft Manufacturing & Development, M-Squared, Rans, CGS Aviation, and Skykits. Other Experimentals appear under the brand Pipistrel, which now owns several models with SLSA approval. Adding these to Van’s accounts for 572 additional LSA Airplanes. Averaging over seven and three quarters years since the first LSA were approved, this amounts to 74 aircraft a year.

If we take the previously announced 259 SLSA Airplanes in 2012 and add the ELSA average of 74 and then the 40-50 non-Airplane SLSA, we arrive at 373-383. Presuming this analysis to be correct, this means all LSA represent 47-48% of the 790 GA SEPs or 32-33% of all single engine piston aircraft registered or delivered in 2012.

Note that we are not including Experimental Amateur Built (EAB) kits such as those from Sonex or other companies which can be flown by someone possessing a Sport Pilot certificate. To be “Sport Pilot eligible”*, they must meet the weight, speed, and other parameters of the LSA rule but they are not technically Light-Sport Aircraft according to their Airworthiness Certificates.

Unlike EABs, ELSA are required to be bolt-for-bolt, identical copies of the originally-accepted SLSA so they fully comply to ASTM standards at the time of winning their Airworthiness Certificate. Once certificated, ELSA owners may do their own maintenance and can make modifications, though most probably see little change. LAMA’s board of directors feel it is important to portray the total size of the LSA market and the above facts attempt to do so.

Yet in truth, the LSA numbers we report above might still be low noted board director Tom Peghiny. When safety data is presented FAA commonly refers to more than 8,000 LSA, a far larger number than the 2,500 or so SLSA Airplanes we often list … which number grows to more than 3,500 when including the non-Airplane SLSA and ELSA discussed above. When you add all these segments you arrive a number that is more accurate regarding Sport Pilot eligible aircraft and LAMA’s board believes this to be a further refutation of those who opine that the Light-Sport segment is not performing well. Remember, all this occurred in less than eight years!

LSA deliver fun to their owners, jobs to those in the industry, profits to their producers and commercial users, and worldwide potential. LSA also use less fuel, make less noise, offer the latest in technology, are roomy, attractive, cross-country capable aircraft that are sleek, shiny, and smell new. They also have a safety record FAA regularly calls “acceptable.” What’s not to like?

* Sport Pilot eligible is a phrase coined by EAA’s Ron Wagner to describe aircraft not certificated as Light-Sport Aircraft which can be flown by someone holding a Sport Pilot certificate.

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Composiclean’s Ken Godin, left, and Flight Design USA Pres. Tom Peghiny

Ken Godin, an endlessly enthusiastic, high-energy entrepreneur and 30 year ultralight, LSA and GA pilot, created his own company, Composiclean, a few years back, to market a line of pH-neutral and other cleaning products that are finding their way to air shows, car shows, dealer ramps and at docksides around the world.If you’ve scanned the Aircraft Spruce catalog recently you may have seen Ken’s goods. *** Like many innovations, Compsiclean came about through a vacuum in the market place. Ken was a key player at Tom Peghiny’s Flight Design USA operation until 2008, when he left to become Director of Sales and Service at REMOS Aircraft. *** “Tom asked me if I knew of a neutral cleaning product for his CT line of LSA. He had seen first hand that some composite components can be negatively affected by the alkaline pH of the cleaners typically available..most cleaners are either acidic or alkaline.” Ken’s a networking guy so he went looking for a neutral-pH cleaner. “But I couldn’t find one anywhere!” Then he called chemical companies all over the country. Still no luck. *** Most of us would just drop it at that point. Not Ken. “I found a chemist willing to create a neutral ph cleaner for me. That first product evolved into Bucket-Wash.” It has the same pH as clean water and so won’t attack foam, or promote corrosion in dissimilar metals either (Composiclean’s line isn’t just for composites). *** Other products soon followed: Super Spray-Wax with Carnauba wax that stays in solution, tire dressing formulations, multi-purpose cleaners, leather and vinyl upholstery cleaners and lots of other goodies and tools for keeping airplanes,cars, motorcycles, RVs and boats looking great. *** I’ve used them and they really live up to their reputation, but don’t take my word for it: check out the testimonial page on Ken’s website. *** He’s also rebuilding, from a completely rusted wreck, a 1953 Chevy pickup as a “mascot” for his car show displays.

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The LSA community and the Experimental and GA community embraced Composiclean products as designed specifically for airplanes. The products are good enough to be delivered as standard equipment with every CT. Read what users say. In this photo Bob McKee cleans a SportCruiser.

Who doesn’t like to ride around in a clean machine? If it’s your car, you have thousands of products to choose from…and no big problem if you use the wrong stuff. But if your LSA is a composite airplane, you need the right stuff and it comes from Composiclean. When entrepreneur Ken Godin took his products to this summer’s AirVenture Oshkosh, his persuasive selling ability and some superior products helped him grab the attention of aviation big shots, like aerobatic pilot Shawn Tucker and Flight Design owner, Matthias Betsch, among numerous others. *** If you react with a “Ho-hum, it’s just soap” response, let me suggest you go have a look at Composiclean’s testing results. I was surprised what the wrong cleaners can do to composite surfaces. Keep scrolling down. Yikes! Then research elsewhere on the Composiclean website to check out the right stuff.

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Aircraft Spruce is one of light aviation’s largest third-party suppliers of aircraft building, repairing, or maintenance products. Spruce stocks and sells Composiclean’s line. Click to see a list of products with links for more info on each.

ByDanJohnson.com is dedicated to light-sport aviation and keeps a laser focus on the aircraft of this sector. Included are new developments, market share, and maintenance of Light-Sport Aircraft to name a few. In the maintenance category, at its most basic level, is keeping your bird clean and shiny. *** I’m sure some other products can also do the job, but one company has made LSA the subject of much study. I wrote about Composiclean earlier but as we prepare for a new season of flying recreational aircraft, this low-tech task deserves another look. A leading reason: you can seriously harm some aircraft finishes by cleaning them with the wrong chemicals. Don’t take my word for it; Composiclean shows customer comments on their website. *** Major distributors have signed on to sell these LSA-friendly cleaning products. Lockwood Aircraft Supply has a whole area for the goods and Aircraft Spruce sells them at airshows (photos). *** If cleaning products seem ordinary, think again. Significant damage has been done to composite airplanes which were cleaned with the wrong brands. To get advice directly from the source regarding the right stuff for your pride and joy, call proprietor Ken Godin at 860-432-0067.

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Flying magazine has often done great reporting as in their earlier articles about FAA’s oversight of the LSA sector. Graphic prepared by Flying magazine

photo by Jan Fridrich

It is true that a pilot of one type aircraft may not know much about nor (therefore) care much about another type aircraft. Ultralight pilots and turbine pilots may not seem to have much in common. Sailplane pilots and crop dusters, likewise. Powered parachute enthusiasts seem on the opposite side of the spectrum from airline pilots. Yet, regardless of our interests — or even the country in which we live — pilots as a whole are more alike than different in one critical way: we all love flying and we treasure the freedom and beauty flying can provide. So, why do some aviation groups disparage other groups? Why do fixed wing and rotary wing or powered and unpowered pilots sometimes engage in heated arguments? The reasons are many and as varied as humans are different. Fine … we have to accept that we are different. Yet should editors and aviation leaders act more professionally? I think so.

Recent aviation editorials have questioned the value and viability of Light-Sport Aircraft. Other than to create controversy to boost readership or viewership, I can’t think of a good reason why one editor blasts a group … at least without good cause. Is the LSA industry in “critical condition?” Can it be true that industry consensus standards “didn’t work?” Based on what information, I have to ask? I’d like to reply to those naysayers going negative on Light-Sport. I’d specifically like to briefly focus on the safety, utility, and the future of Light-Sport. If you wish to see our response in video form, click here.

SAFETY — Why do we certify aircraft? Why do companies institute quality control? Why do we have detailed documentation of manufacturing processes? All these efforts attempt to bring safety to airplane operations. Are LSA perfectly safe as a result? No. Yet FAA officials repeatedly refer to LSA safety with this word: “Acceptable.” Safety can always be better but to say industry consensus standard “didn’t work” is a wrongheaded value judgement, I believe. Indeed, FAA is sufficiently impressed that ASTM committee F44 formed recently to do for Type Certified aircraft what the F37 committee achieved for Light-Sport. Evidently FAA does not agree that industry consensus standards “didn’t work.”

UTILITY — We will soon post a video about LSA being used in one of the harshest of aviation environments: flight training. We interviewed several producers who cited multiple examples of LSA with 1,500, 3,000, even 4,000 hours and more, all acquired in flight instruction. Some had 10,000 or many more landings yet they’re holding up well (with good maintenance, of course). They also stated that economically, both from operation cost and purchase considerations, LSA make money for flight school operators. In other tough duty, several LSA have successfully circumnavigated the Earth. Obviously, LSA are reasonably durable and can be used to fly long distances.

THE FUTURE — The first LSA came on market less than eight years ago, so it seems a bit soon to say the LSA market “will never be strong.” Did the new segment solve all of aviation’s growth problems? No. Will it, in time? Perhaps not, though maybe. Was that ever a realistic assumption, given that aviation has been working to solve the growth problem for decades? Meanwhile, the incredible diversity of Light-Sport are offering current pilots a broad variety of choices and have indeed brought new people to aviation. So, rather than going negative about any one class of aircraft, I urge aviation leaders to be the professionals they are and to jointly among all aviation sectors seek solutions for aviation outreach. Throwing darts at one another isn’t what’s needed. Aviators with an audience can — and should — do better, in my humble opinion!

In the interest of fairness and balance, I invite you to read the original Flying article and make your own judgement about the editor’s thoughts. Meanwhile, thanks for considering our view.

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