On the last day of the last airshow of the year — unbelievable as that sounds — I examined a superbly-finished gyroplane that Powered Sport Flying‘s Vickie Betts saw at the Mentone PRA fly-in earlier this year. She was impressed. She was not alone.
Another designer of very striking hardware is Larry Mednick of Evolution Trikes. (An interview with him revealed that in this very strange year, his company is having their best year ever.)
Larry encouraged me to go check out Gyro Technic as he enthusiastically described parts and components on the gyroplane that he found “exceptional.” If the guy behind the elegant Revo weight shift trike thinks an airplane from a competitor is worth a look, I was certainly going to take his advice.
He was correct. The components of this gyro are highly CAD engineered but also exhibit an artistic flare.
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Merlin Lite… New, All-Metal, Fully-Enclosed, “Deluxe” Part 103 Ultralight
Are you looking for an affordably-priced airplane? On this website, you can find many choices of aircraft that qualify, with something to fit the budget of almost any pilot.
Using the Search bar at the top of the page, you can look for any text anywhere on this website. Have you tried it? More on this below…*
In this article, let me introduce a new aircraft to you …and, no, this is not Merlin PSA.
Merlin Lite Delight
Among affordable aircraft, Part 103 ultralights have a solid position, both as fixed wing aircraft or alternatives like weight shift, powered parachutes, and gyroplanes.
However, such “alternative aircraft” may not be what you had in mind. Many are open cockpit and pilots trained in a Cessna or Piper can feel uneasy being out in the open (even if behind a pod and windscreen). Also, weight shift trikes, powered parachutes, or gyroplanes handle differently from stick (or yoke) and rudder.
Staring At Goat — Wild Sky’s Brutus Off-Field, Outback Weight Shift Trike Light-Sport Aircraft
If you flew better than 9,000 hours solely to give trike instruction, you would tend to develop ideas about how an aircraft can better fit the type of flying lessons you want to give. That’s exactly what Wild Sky owner Denny Reed reports.
Denny has an enviable position to some. Imagine any fixed wing instructor saying, “I wish the aircraft would do some operations differently for my teaching. I can’t find one that exactly matches what I seek, so, you know what? I’ll just design what I want.”
Yeah, sure. Most of us never have that chance. Instead, we learn to adapt to the aircraft. As an example, what if you wanted the throttle in a different place, or any number of possible changes.
In a long career that has included talking to CFIs from around the world, I have never met a fixed wing flight instructor who set about making the airplane he truly wanted.
Try and Fly TriFly — Kolb’s Wonderful Single Seat Light Aircraft Goes Both Ways
Some pilots are wary of taildraggers. This is hardly surprising since only tricycle-gear aircraft have been used in primary flight instruction dating back into the 1970s. Most pilot have no experience with taildraggers but nearly all have heard of the dreaded ground-loop tendency such gear configuration can allow.
Indeed, when investigating insurance for a taildragger, you will have to prove you have some experience or get training from a suitably-experienced instructor — and you won’t find many able to help you.
How about if an aircraft went both ways? What if an affordable aircraft allowed you to fly with tricycle gear but permitted you to practice your taildragger technique yet still use the nosewheel’s self-straightening capability if you start to get a little “sideways” (literally or figuratively)?
Kolb Aircraft has an answer.
Kolb TriFly
Producers of Part 103 aircraft, such as Kolb Aircraft report consistently strong business for the last few years.
Kit Aircraft Are Up; New Sales Are Off — Recreational Aviation Copes with Covid
Our fastest-with-the-mostest partner tracks the health and performance of the light aircraft industry and is once again punctual. Datastician Steve Beste has proven his capabilities to collect the registration data quickly, accurately, and with an insider’s viewpoint. Steve is a trike pilot, so he is “one of us.” In his former life he was a database expert in the tech field explaining his great facility with these systems.
Here we are reporting facts for the period of April, May, and June 2020. Given the spectacular upheaval around the world, I’m happy to see the recreational aircraft industry holding its own fairly well. Reporting for the companies making larger, heavier aircraft, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association also reported sales are down. I cannot imagine anyone is surprised.
If I was reporting numbers for the restaurant, bar, hotel, airline, theater, sports, or concert industries it would be an ugly bloodbath. This report is far less glum and beaten-down than those enterprises.
What’s Enough Power? Always More? Maybe Not, as Bill Canino Explains Zlin’s Shock Ultra
In the last couple months as we’ve all been struggling under the lockdowns happening across the country (and around the world), some of our best-read articles have been about going fast using the most powerful engines.
What pilot doesn’t want more power? Or speed?
The trouble with more power allowing more speed is that old auto racing line: “Speed costs money! How fast do you want to go?”
How about a not-so-expensive option?
U.S. importer Sportair USA has you covered.
Ultra Shock
If a name has “ultra” in it, the name implies the most of what you should want, right? Wrong! In this case, as famous architect Mies van der Rohe noted, “Less is More.”
It seems all the talk is about Rotax‘s 915iS or Titan’s X340, or most recently Continental‘s CD-170. All these engines share at least two things: (1) They are awesomely powerful, and (2) they might bust your budget.
Ultralight April 2020 — Ninth in the Vintage Series: Rans S-4/5
This first year I ever saw Randy Schlitter fly one his models at an airshow seems a hundred years ago. Indeed, since that distant memory at Sun ‘n Fun, this Kansas company has created a profusion of designs and delivered nearly 5,000 aircraft. To say it has been a great run qualifies as a significant understatement.
Today’s S-21 Outbound (pilot report video) or S-20 Raven (pilot report video) seem a long ways off from those very early models yet it does not take an expert eye to see they are clear descendants from the original Rans aircraft.
What began this fascinating evolution of a light airplane company started almost 40 years ago — here’s a report on the very first model, still flying! That humble little Coyote (Kansas is a U.S. prairie state so coyotes are a logical name) began something great but it remains a wonderful light airplane that you can buy today for a song.
Full-2019 Market Share Report for Light-Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot Kit Aircraft
We have a new year upon us. With our new reporting capabilities for LSA and SP kit market shares, we can now quickly report results from 2019.
A huge thanks to our supreme “datastician,” Steve Beste for making such swift and accurate reporting possible. I assure you that I’ve looked high and low for every year LSA have existed to find no comparable information.
As always, be advised that our data comes from FAA’s aircraft registration database. That means it is impartial — hopefully meaning reliable and dependable — but it also means some massaging of the information is needed to be completely accurate. (See this article for more detail on the effort involved; it is not trivial.) Steve’s valuable ability to manipulate database resources combines with his knowledge of light aircraft to make an unbeatable combination.
As much as any data allows — and as the saying goes… “you can take this info to the bank.” It’s solid!
DeLand Showcase 2019 — Ending the Airshow Year for Light-Sport Aircraft and SP Kit Aircraft
In about one week, it all ends. Before then, DeLand Showcase 2019 is set to begin! As this is the last airshow of the year, it’s also fair to say the season ends when DeLand show concludes. This year is the fourth annual event.
Since the Sebring show bid a final farewell last spring, DeLand will be the last light aircraft show until Arizona’s Copperstate/Buckeye Air Fair in February, followed two months later by Sun ‘n Fun. If you live in the eastern half of the USA, DeLand and Sun ‘n Fun are separated by five months. Yikes! You can learn more about Copperstate/Buckeye in this video with the Vice Mayor.
Next week on November 14-15-16, welcome to sunny, warm Florida.
Come to DeLand
I hope many of you who frequent this website will be heading to DeLand for the event starting next Thursday.
What’s Happening in Light-Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot Kits? Here’s Our 3Q19 Update.
This website seeks to offer a reliable source of market information for Light-Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot kit aircraft as a service to the light aircraft sector.
If you follow light aviation intently as many readers do, knowing what aircraft and subgroups (within LSA and SP kits*) are thriving or stumbling can be of great interest. Thanks to our fantastic “datastician,” Steve Beste, we know more now than we’ve ever known about aviation’s recreational aircraft segment. You simply cannot find this information anywhere else.
With Steve’s superb help, following are a few stories within the numbers. If you don’t care about market shares and just want to hear about aircraft, we won’t keep you waiting long. However, for many, these figures are quite valuable and this is the only place you will find them. Let’s dive in…
2019 Is a Good Year (so far)
We’re only three quarters through the year but extrapolating from the first three quarters and assuming a steady pace (which is not a guarantee, of course), we see that all of 2019 should result in 724 new aircraft registrations in the light aircraft sector defined (by us) as Light-Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot kit-built aircraft.
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