Update 4/30/15 — On the unlikely chance that you don’t get enough of watching me on YouTube, Florida Aviation Network uploaded an interview from Sun ‘n Fun 2015. In this exchange I give some update on the industry over the last year and the state of LSA, as it were. See at the end of the article.
Whew! It was another full-to-capacity tour of Sun ‘n Fun where we scoured the grounds seeking interesting aircraft to report. I’m happy to tell you that we again spoke with dozens of designers about their creations and we think we do a thorough job in the light aircraft sector. In 2015, more than Light-Sport Aircraft, light kit aircraft, and ultralights, we are adding light general aviation airplanes or Light GA and drones (also known as UAVs, UASs, RPVs, RPAs … they go by several names, so new is the category).
Search Results for : drone
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.
Bulldog Autogyro Revives a Rich, Stylish History
Update 4/29/15 — See our just-posted video interview with Bulldog Autogyro developer Barry Jones for even more information about this airplane that has captured so much attention.
In the eleven magical halls of Aero, airplanes are packed into every nook and cranny. Because of the focus of ByDanJohnson.com, most of my time was spent in the “B” halls where B-1 through B-4 are exclusively the realm of light aircraft … a few kits but primarily ready-to-fly aircraft in a variety of descriptions. These include fixed wings and amphibians, gyrocopters, weight shift trikes, and even a few drones plus all manner of components like props, wheels, emergency parachutes, and more. About the only categories missing from the LSA segment of aviation are powered parachutes or airships.
A few light aircraft are located in the “A” halls, partly due to available space being taken in the “B” halls and possibly as those vendors prefer to be on the GA side of the event.
eAirplanes at Aero 2015 Plus Major Motor News
With Aero mere days away now, excitement is growing for the electric aircraft event-within-the-event. Visitors can tour around the entry foyer hall where the e-flight-expo will be located. This year offers a few highlights, provided to me from my publisher friend Willi Tacke in Germany.
One aircraft not many Europeans and even fewer Americans have seen is the Chinese RX1E made by the Liaoning Ruixiang General Aircraft Manufacturing Company. An electric motorglider, RX1E earned its CAAC Type Design Approval (TDA) earlier this year using ASTM standards (article). Willi reported, “The Chinese team lead by chief developer Professor Dr. Yang Fengtian is now seeking certification in other countries such as Germany or France.
Some companies will not be attending not because their projects have stopped but because they are at critical junctions. Among those missing will be the Volocopter from e-Volo nor any man-carrying aircraft display by Yuneec — which last year showed their eSpyder that had just won German approval.
Electric Flight Events to Advance State-of-the-Art
A new season of airshows is about to erupt now that April has arrived. Among all the gasoline-powered aircraft that show visitors can see will be a growing collection of electric aircraft. As I often repeat, the pioneering development of electric propulsion will come first in light aircraft … at least until batteries go through a major breakthrough in energy density, as today’s best cells still weigh far too much for larger aircraft to use them effectively.
First up, in mere days, is the e-flight-expo, organized in cooperation with Flying Pages, the company operated by European publisher Willi Tacke who is well known for his Directory of Leisure Aviation.
Aero officials said “e-flight-expo will again be a major section at Aero Friedrichshafen 2015.” They note that as in other industries such as automobiles and drones, electric power continues to gain in importance in the man-carrying aviation sector.
To ADS-B Out or Not to -B — AoAs on LSA
OK, it’s the weekend so indulge my sense of playfulness with the somewhat inexplicable headline above. Even though I’ve written about ADS-B Out before (article) and have covered Angle of Attack indicators on LSA (article), FAA feels the issue needs more attention. Some of the motivation for extra effort is FAA’s 2020 deadline for all aircraft operating in the airspace system — meaning under ATC supervision in segments of controlled airspace, though not necessarily in the vast chunks of uncontrolled airspace around the country.
It has been reported in various aviation media that all the maintenance shops in the country no longer have sufficient time remaining to install this equipment in every aircraft even if owners currently possess the hardware … which they do not. I will not seek to verify that problem but in the LSA space, this is a relative non-event, in my humble opinion.
Rui Xiang RX1E … Certified Electric Two-Seater
All over the world, electric airplanes are getting remarkable amounts of attention, deservedly so as an exciting development to match work in cars and other vehicles. These days, while drones (also called UAVs, UASs, or RPVs) are made in various countries, a lot of the development comes from China … so why be surprised to hear of a positive development in a Chinese human-occupied aircraft?
Is it the first “certified” electric? Well, “certified” is a term that can be challenging to define as the word means different things in different countries. For example, we’ve already produced a video covering the American-designed, Chinese-developed eSpyder from Yuneec. It won German approval in 2013. My flying experience on eSpyder is documented in this article. You can also read a more encompassing electric aircraft review article from 2011, though with the rapid pace of development such articles become dated rather quickly.
Boeing & Airbus Explore Light Aircraft
Recently I had a visit from my longtime friend and fellow aviation journalist, James Lawrence (photo). Among other mutual interests we share a passion for electric aircraft. We’ve each flown early examples and believe we see the future. From the headline above, you might interpret that to mean we anticipate electric airliners. We might … yet we recognize such developments remain distant. Or, do they?
The electric power action today is in very light aircraft — and some are available for you to buy and fly immediately. One example is Zigolo and I’ve reported on eSpyder. The reason is that light aircraft rule is singular: batteries, which weigh too much to allow heavier aircraft any range. The ending video explains why.
Unless you’ve been off-planet for a while, you know the development of improved battery technology is drawing many billions of dollars of investment. Cars, laptops, drones and many more products or industries want better batteries.
Four Days of Sebring 2015
Sebring is history, which says the aviation year is now underway. On whole it was a good show and a solid start to 2015. Sebring’s weather was overcast and cool to start though even that didn’t seem to dampen buying enthusiasm. About a dozen airplanes were sold plus numerous vendors reported finding many good prospects. By Friday afternoon the skies went to deep blue and the Sunshine State earned its nickname.
“It was a great Saturday,” wrote U.S. Sport Aviation Expo organizers. The 11th annual Expo nearly filled the auto parking lot and the transient aircraft parking area was hopping with activity, officials said.
While I write about the good news of Sebring, I want to pay respect to two fallen aviators. Dennis Day and Jason Spinks of the Aero Adventures company lost their lives in an unfortunate accident during the event. I offer my sincerest regret for this loss to their families and to the DeLand Airport business team.
Working Aircraft … for the Fun of Flying
In two industry meetings held during 2014, Light-Sport Aircraft manufacturers, organization leaders, FAA personnel, and other interested parties reviewed a list of changes that would improve the 10-year-old SP/LSA regulation. Some items represent minor changes the agency could make fairly quickly. Others are more challenging. Number one on the list involves FAA allowing certain commercial LSA operations when flown by qualified pilots. Even if no great resistance exists — and reasons for optimism are present — this could be some time coming as regulation change is complicated in today’s federal government. Another area of intense interest is electric power. While unleashing development of LSA using electric propulsion also requires regulation change, an exemption might allow technical progress before rule change could occur. Recently another group with many more years of effort already invested was able to earn such an exemption. Ed Pitman of Pitman Air recently announced Exemption 11104.
Giant Companies Enter Aviation; Should You Worry?
What do Airbus, Google, Facebook, Amazon, DHL Logistics, and Domino’s Pizza have in common and why should you care? All are very big companies, considerably bigger than most aircraft builders. Here’s what else they all have in common: all of them report developing aircraft and will be seeking their chunk of airspace, those same friendly skies that you and I enjoy using for our sightseeing or other airborne fun. They also have highly paid lobbyists to convince government to let them do what they want. Little airplane companies cannot afford a lobbyist. |||| On the opposite end of the spectrum are hobbyists. Amazon will sell you a drone with a camera for as little as $50 and ones for around $1,000 can easily occupy the same airspace you want to use this weekend. I don’t know about you but while I like all things that fly, the prospect of drones buzzing about willy nilly gives me a case of the creeps.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- Next Page »