ByDanJohnson.com

Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA).

U-Fuel offers a turnkey fuel system that can supply mogas to airport operators.

Zero ethanol (E0) fuel is available at some stations today.

Two publications — GA News’ “The Pulse” and AvWeb reported on a letter from Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) urging FAA to help airports encourage auto gas supply. While his reasoning has a political quality (no surprise in this election-charged atmosphere), the point for LSA enthusiasts is that this could help increase availability of Mogas at airports. Since the Rotax and Jabiru engines that power the vast majority of LSA actually prefer automotive fuel as experts say it burns cleaner and provides a more efficient use of fuel — plus it costs significantly less! — congressional pressure on FAA could be a game changer.

The downside is that many in aviation’s more influential ranks are focused on withering supplies of 100LL Avgas and for unexplained reasons, some continue to resist supplying Mogas at airports. Waxman’s letter refers to a report by FAA’s Unleaded Avgas Transition Aviation Rulemaking Committee report released in February 2012. “This report outlines steps to identify, test, and certify an unleaded ‘drop-in’ replacement fuel by 2018,” the Congressman wrote, “but it does not identify any efforts to reduce the use of leaded fuel before such a replacement fuel becomes available, even though, according to the report, it may be 11 years or more before the new fuel will be phased in.” So, no action for six years and possibly no replacement until 2023. That doesn’t sound very promising for all those aircraft that can’t run on less than 100LL

While our LSA can run on 100LL, they’d just as soon be fed Mogas (even the lowest priced “regular” 87-octane is sufficient for the 80-hp engines) so more airports with auto gas would be beneficial. Waxman also wrote, “Airports face significant barriers to offering fuel alternatives, which include lack of pilot education, uncertainty about liability coverage, and concerns about the supply of high octane unleaded fuels that are ethanol free.”

The reference to ethanol-free (“E0”) fuel is worthy as many older engines need non-alcohol go-juice. As the Aviation Fuel Club — which was specifically referenced in Waxman’s letter — has observed, airports might find a lucrative source of additional revenue by offering E0 fuel to non-aviation buyers, such as marine enthusiasts, outdoorsmen who enjoy off-road vehicles, vintage car and motorcycle hobbyists, and many others for whom the ethanol fuels are incompatible. Going to the airport to buy E0 fuel would also bring more folks within sight of aviation.

Regretfully, Waxman’s letter many not get much near-term action. Along with many other government agencies, FAA seems to be obsessing over the impending sequestration that could cause budget cuts and the $15-billion-dollar agency already feels underfunded and overburdened. As I’ve reported, FAA wants to audit LSA producers but lacks the resources needed to do this swiftly, which may cause long delays in new models coming to market (putting a damper on one of the most dynamic aspects of the LSA movement… new model development). Fuel ranks higher on the agency’s priority list, I’m sure, but while FAA rule-writers are already looking many years down the line for a 100LL replacement, here’s a way the agency could take action sooner, with little budget strain, and it could help LSA operators a great deal. Let’s hope they see the wisdom of this and that FAA helps LSA fans get lower-priced, better fuel (that has less environmental concerns than does leaded 100LL) at an airport near them. It’s all-too rare that Congress does something worthwhile so here’s one action that shouldn’t increase the deficit and requires little federal spending. With all eyes on the election and that often-referenced “fiscal cliff,” do you suppose anyone in DC sees the wisdom of mogas at airports? I hope so!

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From the Now-for-Something-Completely-Different deparment…

Weight-shift chauffeur?

News from Russian sport aircraft producers is rare. Though the old USSR had a vast military aircraft complex that hasn’t translated to recreation aircraft the way it did in the formerly Soviet Czech Republic, where many of our LSA originate. However, that doesn’t mean efforts are absent. We’ve seen some uptake of LSA (like Pipistrel) into Russia but here I’ll portray an unusual Russian development. It may not find a U.S. market but I find it intriguing.

The designer, Anatoly Geralevich Szukov, calls his work the result of “garage aviation,” a surprisingly American term (think: Apple computer coming from Steve Jobs’ garage) for a very different project… from Russia. Instead of meaning a source of innovation, however, Szukov uses the garage term because his development allows people to store their aircraft in a normal garage. Szukov’s U.S.-based contact didn’t provide an English name for Szukov’s company (though if you read Russian you might deduce it).

Szukov’s “Bug” line of trikes are commonly powered by a Russian injected VAZ 21083 78-hp engine though he offers other powerplants Americans would recognize such as the Rotax 582. Besides the Ruskie engine, Bug’s distinguishing characteristics are four wheels, side-by-side seating (almost never seen in a trike), and a variety of chassis bodies. Oh… and catch that highly unusual ring-wing design.

Why four wheels? The company states, “Classical, traditional three-wheeled chassis ultralights [have been] used for many years. However, land-based vehicles with three-wheeled chassis and front wheel steering [are] unstable on uneven ground and in turns, and are prone to rollover.”

Szukov identifies his trikes as “BUG-41” (a single seater), “Bug-42” (a two seater), “Bug-43” (surprise! …a three seater). He also refers to “Bug-44,” (photos) which is apparently all of the preceding based his four-wheeled “trolley” or chassis. Szukov’s website says four wheels adds only about 37 pounds including the steering mechanism and provides much better ground stability. He also feels it is more intuitive to a beginner than traditional wrong-way trike steering and that the added structure is safer when involved in an accident.

“Four-wheel carts [compared] to the three-wheeled device significantly improved stability at launch and landing,” he wrote. “Significantly, this property of trikes is shown at takeoff and landing on unprepared sites, especially in rural areas.” Szukov adds his belief that the four-wheel carriage increases comfort, allows easier and safer training, and lowers the center of gravity, resulting in increased stability and safety compared to classic trikes where the passenger is above the pilot.

The Bugs share many advantages with more conventional trikes, or weight-shift LSA in FAA parlance: easy transport, smaller hangar use, versatility, low cost, and more. Szukov sees a good future for his creations in many parts of the world, and indeed, trikes have found markets in many emerging countries.

If you want to find out more, the Russian language website has challenges but Google Translate will do a fair job. Otherwise you can write the factory or their Atlanta, Georgia-based Russian contact, Victor Vaiovod.

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Could flying clubs help rekindle aviation enthusiasm in America? — photo courtesy AOPA

Skyraider Aviation in Colorado has a thriving flight training and rental business based on the European "fun flying club" model. –photo courtesy Skyraider Aviation

AOPA during its annual Summit convention that ended October 13th announced during the event a program that makes a lot of sense: a national network of flying clubs with the aim to grow general aviation at all levels.

We’ve been talking about alternatives to the modern steep cost of private flying for some time now, and have advocated owner partnerships and flying clubs as clear alternative solutions to keeping costs under control, bringing more people into flight training and pleasure flying, and for that matter keeping airplanes from getting “stiff” sitting sometimes for weeks or even months, unflown, in hangars – because surveys and studies show most recreational pilots fly an average of just 50-100 hours a year, and in seasonal regions that can mean mostly in the good weather months.

I’ve written of a veteran pilot I know who flies for an airline as an instructor/examiner – he’s the guy in other words who makes sure the other airline pilots who fly you and me are in top form. Last year he flew a 1946 Piper Cub J3 that had sat in the hangar for 6 months without even an engine start. The engine quit at the worst possible time, two-thirds down the runway with insufficient altitude (65-hp engine) to turn back to the runway. My friend the airline examiner was at the controls. He miraculously (translation: with supreme skill) maneuvered around tall trees and managed to stuff that airplane into a backyard, unstrapping himself in the nick of time as the fuselage skidded into a thick, menacing tree branch, which punctured the side of the fuselage, broke his rib, and went straight through his seat back. It would have killed him if he hadn’t moved. Injuries, yes, but no fatalities. It could easily have been so much worse. The cause turned out to be a sticky valve… from sitting so long without being run. This can happen to any engine in any climate.

Back to AOPA: their program looks to keep airplanes flying more often while also cutting pilot/student attrition with, as they describe it, “affordability, community, quality instruction, an entry (or re-entry) point to aviation, and a viable business model.” Clubs can be a lot of fun.

Ask Chris Dillis at Skyraider Aviation, who has built his thriving LSA training/rental business around the flying club models so popular in Europe, and imported it to his native Denver, Colorado.

The national goal of the new clubs network program is to have 661 to 1,000 clubs linked up within five years. AOPA’s new Center to Advance the Pilot Community will help facilitate and grow the movement. A key part of the network involves sharing information and resources. AOPA will invite all existing clubs to join the network; members will agree to a statement of values, but there will be no cost to participate.

If you’d like to form a club or have yours join the network, here are some steps along the path: an AOPA Webinar Nov. 14 will lay out the program; a monthly e-newsletter will start in December; and a program manager will be hired soon. AOPA has an online flying club finder and Facebook group in place already, and has begun building the network by reaching out to 12 clubs of various sizes, to serve as “Pathfinder Clubs.”

Part of the association’s intended service is to offer assistance to flying clubs, including software to reduce the administrative burden for club leaders (often volunteers), simplify the insurance process, and create reciprocity agreements so pilots can go from club to club. Check out AOPA’s site for further developments as this program gets rolling down the ramp… and consider starting a club of your own if you don’t have one nearby!

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The “Blend Wall” problem is clearly shown on this chart, showing the problem arrives in 2013. Chart compliments of Dean Billing; used at an Oshkosh forum.

Use this often-updated map to find mogas airports.

Some stations, like Midwest-based QuikTrip, offer ethanol-free fuel.

Do you support the idea of “energy independence” by using ethanol blended into your fuel? Are you aware that politics drives the use of ethanol? Do you know that ethanol is reaching what’s called a “blend wall” — as soon as next year — and that this could have major consequences for ethanol-laced fuel? Sounds rather wonky, I know. Yet this matter affects the fuel for our aircraft engines in a very direct way. Although Rotax and Jabiru can handle 10% ethanol, the blended fuel can be very hard on engines not designed to handle the damaging aspects of water-absorbing alcohol in fuels. Pilots like their engines to last and to run consistently, so any ethanol presence in fuel can be serious.

Outspoken zero ethanol (E0) advocate Kent Misegades wrote in GA News, “Ethanol producers have found themselves under more pressure than ever in recent months, with numerous efforts afoot to grant waivers or even repeal the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) production mandates that have resulted in the nearly complete adulteration of our nation’s fuel supply in recent years.” He relates recent events such as a drought in corn-producing states contributing to higher gas prices and increased cost of feed for livestock plus the fact that ethanol, a highly-corrosive substance, may not be pumped through fuel pipelines so it must be trucked or shipped by rail or barge.

Fuel expert Dean Billing added to my understanding, “The federal government decided in late 2007 that the U.S. needed a huge push in bio-fuels to cut demand for fossil fuel-based energy. They thought they were putting together a program that would push demand and production of E85 (85% ethanol / 15% gasoline) and flex-fuel vehicles, which are the only cars that can burn the stuff.” The main problem, as Dean explained is that a production table was written right into the law requiring gasoline producers to blend more and more ethanol into gasoline by a rising quota each year through 2022. If they failed to meet the quota, gasoline producers faced fines.

“The gasoline producers have to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline through 2022. Since the law doesn’t tell them how to blend the ethanol, and doesn’t require them to make E85 — for which there is no market * — they make E10 … all E10, all the time. However, it is easy to mathematically determine how much ethanol is needed to turn every drop of gasoline in the U.S. into E10 and we have known that limit for years. It was obvious years ago that with gasoline demand stagnant at about 135-140 billion gallons a year, it would take less than 14 billion gallons of ethanol to turn it all into E10 and we would reach a ‘blending wall’ when the table in the law reached that amount. Well, guess what? Next year, 2013, we hit the wall. With gasoline demand declining it will be easy for the 14 or so billion gallons of ethanol required by the quota table to turn all of our gasoline into E10. And every year after that through 2022, the ethanol quota rises. It should be obvious, even to a politician, that there is nowhere for this ethanol to go.” * only about 2 percent of gas stations sell E85

What does this mean? Producers may get fined and they’ll have to pass that cost along in higher fuel prices. Or, the law pragmatically fails and goodness knows what ethanol politicians might do. Combine this with the so-called “fiscal cliff,” and flying costs could be significantly affected. Yes, our Rotaxes and Jabirus will run on ethanol but they prefer E0 where available just like they prefer mogas to 100LL avgas. Ethanol also lowers fuel economy and aviation doesn’t need higher costs. Fortunately, some good news exists.

Kent wrote, “Some states are working to increase the availability of ethanol-free fuel, which is good news for pilots. In Florida, where a mandatory E10 ruling for highway vehicles that took effect in early 2011 has had a disastrous impact on recreational boating, leading members of the state’s legislature are working to repeal this onerous law.” Stores like QwikTrip in the midwest are widely offering E0. Dean warns, “the federal RFS mandate is so overwhelming” that state actions may not help. However, he says states could “pass a law to prohibit the blending of ethanol in premium unleaded gasoline in order to protect their marine [and] aviation industries.” I’ll keep an eye on this problem and will report more in the future.

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For my next column for Plane & Pilot magazine, and to grow a dialogue here on the blog (diablogue?), I’m putting out a call to all Light-Sport pilots across the country (and around the world!) for your input on some topics we all think about and kick around with our flying pals. Think of it as a kind of open ended survey.

I’d appreciate your take on one, some or all of the questions below: whatever you’ve got time for. You can contribute here, on my Facebook page, or send your thoughts direct to a special email I’ve created at this special email address.

I’ll read and compile everything you send and will include your names unless you’d rather remain anonymous. The more concise your answers the better but if it takes more words to share your POV, please feel free to go for it and I’ll do my best to cherry pick the best insights and info. This is just the beginning. I hope to do more than one of these: we’ll see how it goes.

Thank you all in advance and here we go:

Do you currently own or rent an LSA? Details please, i.e., are you a sole owner or in a partnership? If you rent, do you tend to rent the same LSA or a variety of models? From the same location/FBO or more than one?

What licenses do you have? Details: if you have a Sport Pilot License, how many hours did it take, and did you have another license first?

If you have a Sport Pilot License, what signoffs do you have (controlled airports, taildragger, float plane etc.)? Do you plan to get a higher-level (Private Pilot etc.) license?

Where did you get your training?

How often do you fly an LSA? Total hours/year or flights per month etc.

How far do you typically travel to find an LSA dealer for service and maintenance?

Is the high average cost of a new LSA preventing you from buying? Do you rent primarily because of that?

What do you most like and dislike about Light Sport flight?

In your opinion, what are the greatest challenges facing the industry in the five years ahead (assuming the economy recovers)?

What kind of LSA flying do you most enjoy? (Long trips, around the patch, $25 burgers etc.)

Do you usually fly alone or with a passenger?

Have you found the Sport Pilot restrictions (10,000′ max altitude, no night flying, 120 knot max level speed etc.) a significant detractor from the kind of flying you’d like to do?

Wow, the more I get into this, the more I can see we’re just scratching the surface. Let’s start with those… and one more question: what question would you most like to have answered about LSA?

Thanks, all. I’ll be writing this up over the next week and will also continue to post other questions and keep these running too.

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Do the Lucky Lindy: Fly the Big Pond in a CTLSi

Vulcan C-100: the new all-aluminum, approved SLSA from Italy

As fall colors begin to pop their chromatic yumminess on New England, it’s time to do some shotgun Light Sport factoid gathering.

Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo Model Airplane Contest: Pandering shamelessly to the inner kid in all of us, as well as the kids we bring to the event, the LSA event this coming January 17-20 will hold a model airplane contest. Count me in! Five categories – age 6 and under, 7-10, 11-14, 15-18 and Adult give everybody a chance to walk away with a prize. Can I sign up in the 11-14 category or are these biological age groups?

Just back from a car trip down to the friendly crew at New Garden Flying Field southwest of Philadelphia, where Airport Manager Jonathan Martin made me welcome so I could finish up the photo side of my story on the Pipistrel Alpha Trainer which runs in the next issue of Plane & Pilot magazine. Jonathan tells me the Alpha has been busier than a bear in bee country, with lots of interest and several dozens of hours monthly in flight training for the Alpha. So far, the trainer has performed admirably, and students of all ages, he says, love it.

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British writer Dave Unwin enjoying flight in his beloved “Biffo.” photo by RJ Seed

Bird of a Different Sort — Dave explores another realm in a Schleicher Ka-6E sailplane. photo by Duncan Cubitt

Bird of a Different Sort — Dave is nestled in the brute Piper Pawnee, often used to tow sailplanes (note tug mechanism by the tailwheel). photo by Duncan Cubitt

Bird of a Different Sort — Dave revels in an open-cockpit wire-braced 1931 Buhl Bull Pup. photo by Keith Richards

See more of Dave’s work at DaveUnwin.com

After my post about ups and downs with government and recreational aviation, it’s wise to keep perspective on the sheer joy that flying can deliver. Here’s Brit’ Dave Unwin’s take…

Why fly? I was thinking this just the other day while wading through three piles of unpleasant-looking paperwork. One pile contained reminders regarding renewal of my medical, BFR and BGA BI ratings, another had info on my VP-1’s Permit renewal and insurance while the third, and largest, held news which I planned to refer to while writing ny monthly magazine column called “Push to Talk.” The news was all pretty grim — airfields closing and fuel prices rising, EASA, airspace grabs, the outrageous proposals for the Olympics, Mode S, ad nauseum. Bored (and slightly depressed) I did the only sensible thing — I went flying.

It was a beautiful evening and my demeanor was improving exponentially as I approached the airstrip. Flying, or even simply the prospect of flying, is a great tonic. For most people the sky really is the limit — but if you can fly, it’s just the start. I am very lucky in that I get to fly a lot. There is a constant stream of magazine flight tests, I get to fly the tugs at two gliding clubs, I own a share in a glider and — best of all — I have my own aircraft, which is based on a delightful farm strip only ten minutes from my house. As I work mostly from home, I fly several times a week.

I’ve never been much given to anthropomorphism, but of the hundreds of different aircraft that I’ve been lucky to pilot, four stand out as having real personalities. Curiously, they’re all single seaters. There’s the Piper Pawnee known as “Old Gasper,” the 1931 Buhl Bull Pup, a Schleicher Ka-6E and my Evans VP-1, G-BIFO (known, unsurprisingly, as “Biffo”). Many people sneer at simple, unpretentious machines such as ‘Veeps’, but it’s been my experience that these are the sort of individuals who don’t actually fly very much. Let’s compare the Veep to the Tecnam P2006, which I tested in a recent issue. As much as I’d loved flying the elegant, sophisticated twin, it isn’t really the kind of machine that you pull out of the shed by yourself on a warm summer’s evening, and then simply pop upstairs in for a half-hour bimble at 500 feet. Well, Biffo is.

Biffo’s engine started first swing: now for the challenge of enticing this under-powered machine into the air. I could feel my mood lightening as we raced down the runway, and my spirits rising along with the altimeter’s needle. It was good to be back in the sky. The slipstream was racing past the open cockpit like an icy waterfall and the engine was revving right up to the red line. It’s a heady, intoxicating combination and my senses (with perhaps the exception of my hearing!) were alive to any possibility. Now, where to go? With just a gentle pressure on the stick and rudder pedals I could make the whole world appear to revolve around me — how cool is that? I decided to follow the shoreline of Rutland Water. With my left elbow resting comfortably on the leather cockpit sill, I enjoyed a full, unobstructed 360° view above the wings — a wonderful way to clear the mind. Saint-Exupery wrote, “I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things — a sentiment I completely agree with.

The light had taken on that wonderfully sublime quality you often get in the hour before sunset, and the wings glowed in the soft, suffused sunlight. For the thousandth time, I appreciated just how pretty England’s patchwork fields are. I spotted a balloon towards the south and considered chasing it, but a scrap of cumulus had appeared above the disused airfield of North Luffenhamand I decided to investigate that instead. With only 60 horses available, I take every opportunity to increase Biffo’s “total energy” by using the atmosphere for fuel and my intellect as a kind of auxiliary engine. Like most other wood-and-fabric flying machines, Biffo is an aircraft that flies upon the air, not through it. Consequently any rising air can and should always be exploited. I spiraled swiftly up to 3,000 feet on what must have been the last thermal of the day, and then headed for home while trading height for speed.

From the end of the downwind leg I flew a single graceful sweeping curve, then rolled the wings level on short final. The throttle only ever moved backwards — to add power is an admission of misjudgment. A gentle flare, a brief floating moment then all three wheels simultaneously kissed the grass. In my opinion, the subtle and sublime shifting of weight from wing to wheel is profoundly gratifying when it all comes together — and doubly so on a grass runway.

I taxied back in with a smile on my face, basking in the smug satisfaction of knowing that not only could I not have done it any better, but no one watching could have done it any better either. I snapped off the switches, and having suffered the raucous blat-blat-blat of the Volkswagen engine assaulting my ears for the previous hour, the sudden silence was profound. I slipped off my leather helmet, and as my hearing began to return to normal the sounds of evening slowly unfolded, along with the whirling diminuendo of the single gyro as it slowly spun to a stop. Before climbing out I studied the sky, watching the last few scraps of cumulus dissolve into nothingness and wondered if it’ll be flyable tomorrow. It’s a good time to think; sometimes I’ll even jot down a few notes — just as I’m doing now.

Ultimately, that flight had not only helped me write my column but also answered my initial question. All pilots know that the sky is always waiting, but never impatient.

So, why fly? Because I can.

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SP/LSA was announced 35 years to the day after Neil Armstrong touched foot on the Moon.

Airframe manufacturer audits are document and process verifications.

LAMA wants to encourage you to participate in FAA’s survey.

While time consuming to complete, FAA’s survey gives useful info to regulators and others; your participation might help LSA be compared more equally.

In light of recent developments, perhaps some ups and downs of FAA’s involvement with Light-Sport aviation can offer perspective. First some background; then an appeal for your help on behalf of LSA.

POSITIVE In the summer of 2004, precisely 35 years after the day Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, FAA gave birth to Light-Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot. An agency of the government wrote a regulation obeying a 1995 law saying government agencies should relax the reins whenever reasonable. Presto! SP/LSA. In essence, the idea was to set aviation free from heavy-handed regs like Part 23 while also taming what some saw as the “wild west” of ultralight aircraft. This shrewd move propelled a rather fantastic 127 new SLSA models in only seven years… like nothing in aviation, worldwide, ever. For three years, LSA sales were firecracker hot!

NEGATIVE A couple years after the birthing, FAA started evaluating the producers. Teams visited 14 manufacturers ad 16 importers and declared many were not fully compliant with the ASTM rules of certification plus applicable regulations. Manufacturers declared on an FAA form that they’d done all the testing and had built proper manufacturing systems. FAA demanded they prove it. Without judging the aircraft themselves audit teams worked to verify these airframe sellers had all the paperwork and quality assurance processes implied by their statement of compliance. Some paperwork was incorrectly completed or missing. Some processes needed improvement. FAA gave a list of things that ought to be done. Before FAA’s assessment project report was released, the economy tanked, big time. Combined with FAA’s implication that companies weren’t compliant, some potential LSA customers got cold feet.

POSITIVE Despite the manufacturer’s lack of 100% complete paperwork, LSA safety remains reasonably good. FAA often uses the word “acceptable.” Of course it can always be better; same for Type Certified airplanes. Any fatality is terrible, but such accidents haven’t been too numerous. Paperwork issues aside, it’s clear most LSA engineers have done their job well.

NEGATIVE Due to the down economy money got tight. Producers’ paperwork improved but evidently not fast enough for the agency. In July 2012, FAA issued an order (8103.2G CHG 1) to their offices that the agency would insist on doing a top-to-bottom audit of any company coming out with a new model, or of any new company entering the market. Whew! Talk about a chilling effect on new model development. Meanwhile, some LSA ordered and paid for by customers are sitting in hangars with delivery in question. LSA producers are bearing the blame (“You weren’t fully prepared,” a customer might say). This is sure to cause financial losses for some companies.

POSITIVE To help show how safe LSA are, I want to encourage you to participate in an FAA survey. As LAMA board member Tom Peghiny wrote, “Data from the GA survey is used by the FAA, NTSB, and even Congress in their oversight of recreational aviation. It is crucial that owners in our segment (SLSA, ELSA and Experimental Amateur-Built light aircraft) make the effort to respond. Only by having accurate operational statistics can we know how our safety record compares to other parts of General Aviation.” LAMA believes that LSA conduct more operations — defined as a takeoff or landing — per hour flown than, for example, business jets, which are flown for hours at altitude. Therefore comparing LSA and business jet safety based solely on hours flown is an unequal comparison. More data from the LSA user community could correct the statistics. Please go the following website and enter your information: www.AviationSurvey.org Use the N-number of the LSA you fly as your password. Let’s make sure the LSA safety record is correctly compared!

Please bear with the survey; it’s long, clunky, and of crappy design, but the information is nonetheless important to transmit.

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As happens at an Apple event, crowds line up outside the impressive showroom of Flying & Living.

Few (more likely, zero) recreational aircraft dealerships can boast a showroom like this.

With a circular observation tower and beautiful facilities, Flying & Living has a lot to offer.

Plenty of airplanes (and hot air balloons) await visitors from Mexico and abroad.

One of the most storied companies in the entire light airplane space is Quicksilver. Their iconic models have populated the skies more than any other recreational aircraft brand… yes, more than Van’s (7,000+), Rans (4,500+), and Challenger (2,500+) combined! In fact, in 2002 and 2003, Quicksilver by itself outsold Cessna, Piper, and Beechcraft combined! Now, that’s a performance any aircraft company would love to match.

Recently this company, which has what our nation’s president might call “a good narrative,” acquired new ownership, the fourth such transition in the five decades it’s been in existence. Quicksilver Manufacturing became Quicksilver Aeronautics. Thanks to increased energy and fresh directions from Will Escutia and Dan Perez, the California company is attracting new retail businesses to become part of Team Quicksilver. One of the newest is Flying & Living LLC, located in Queretaro, Mexico. Here’s another reason for envy from other producers. Brand-new, custom-built facilities owned and operated by Isaac Castro are simply spectacular (photos).

About two hour’s drive from Mexico City — the third largest metro area on Earth with a population of 21 million people — Flying & Living built a strikingly handsome facility that is very rare for sport aircraft retailers. Customers are sure to view this location as an ideal place to enjoy recreational flying. The company offers fixed wing flight with Quicksilver aircraft or in FireFy hot-air balloons Classroom and other quarters are highly inviting and form an excellent role model for other sport aviation facilities. Flying & Living has a large and growing fleet of Quicksilver aircraft housed in several new hangars.

“We are very pleased to sign Flying & Living LLC with their very impressive operation. As the new owners of a company that Americans and aviation professionals in many other nations have loyally supported for several decades, we are gratified by the continuing support of dealers around the world,” said Will Escutia, president of Quicksilver Aeronautics.

“Since Quicksilver is one of the best-known brands in aviation, we are attracting new dealers in the USA and around the globe,” stated operations chief Daniel Perez. He referred to the company’s “15,000 aircraft flying in countries around the planet and with highly affordable prices and a superb safety record.”

Escutia and Perez will continue to operate Quicksilver Aeronautics in Temecula, California. The SoCal enterprise builds the MX series including the Sprint, Sprint II, Sport, Sport II, Sport 2S and the GT series including the single seat GT 400 and the two place GT 500. The GT 500 is the first aircraft approved by FAA under the Primary Aircraft category (1993). Quicksilver has dealers throughout the USA and the world with thousands flying in nearly 100 countries. Work is proceeding on Special LSA approval for the Sport 2S and the GT 500. Here’s a well-known company we’ll be watching closely.

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