Sun ‘n Fun 2023 means spring and helps kick off a season of recreational flying. As the year progresses and Oshkosh arrives, we have our fingers crossed for FAA to issue the Mosaic Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM). At AirVenture 2022, we were promised the draft proposal by August of this year.
The following month FAA’s Sport Pilot / Light-Sport Aircraft regulation will celebrate its 19th birthday. That means LSA will turn 20 years old in 2024 and by the end of the year we should have Mosaic.
It has been a fast and furious twenty years!
In those two decades, LSA have arrived and flown in nearly every country on Earth.
A few years ago, I evaluated total worldwide market size — see this article or this chart — for LSA or LSA-like aircraft and found more than 66,000 aircraft worldwide. Eight years later, that number may be 80,000 aircraft although I made no attempt to repeat that time-consuming global survey*.
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“Ultra Petrel?” How Do You Make Super Petrel Even Better? Add Power And Call It “XP”
I have followed Super Petrel since before it went to Brazil* more than 20 years ago. I mention this to make two points.
Super Petrel has a long history; some 400 are flying around the world. In addition, the current producer, Scoda Aeronautica, has continually made changes to the design. The video below identifies some of this history.
What’s new for 2023 is the Super Petrel XP and it’s boost to big Rotax power, the 915iS fuel injected, turbocharged, intercooled engine that seems to be steadily supplanting all prior models.
Smoother & More Powerful
Super Petrel XP
“Eight years ago, Rodrigo Scoda and his team of engineers at Scoda Aeronautica began a secret project to redesign the aircraft from the wheels up,” started the update explanation by Roger Helton president of Super Petrel USA. “About one year into the project, they and other OEM aircraft manufactures were invited by Rotax to attend a meeting and were informed of the new 915iS engine.”
The timing was perfect as Rodrigo has always said, “You begin with the engine and build the aircraft around it.”
Besides the more potent engine, Scoda engineers have been busy.
It’s Winter, So Let’s Talk Seaplanes — Aero Adventure’s Affordable Amphibious Aircraft
It’s cold up north. So, time for a winter boat show? What’s that got to do with seaplanes? Why don’t organizers present the Minneapolis Boat Show in spring or summer? Fact: Minnesota owns 30% more boats per capita than any other American state. Wisconsin is in third while South Carolina is second. Florida leads the nation in registered boats but it has a larger population than Minnesota.
Who cares about boats (or seaplanes) in the dead of winter? Well, what better way to endure icy streets and frigid temperatures than to go look at boats and dream of using them come summer — Plan Ahead!
As with airplanes, boats can’t be built overnight, so ordering early ensures that when the lakes finally do open up, fun starts quickly thereafter.
Affordable Aventura
I know the word “affordable” is packed with meaning and that it signifies something different to each individual. Nonetheless, I think it’s correct to state Aero Adventure makes some the most affordable amphibians* on the market.
6 Mosaic High Wing Light-Sport Aircraft — FAA’s Coming Rule Will Create “mLSA” Sector
Darkest before dawn? I hear growing concern about FAA’s new Mosaic regulation and what it will or won’t do. An increasing number of comments I hear are variations of these words — “FAA is never going to get this done, and if they do, it will be a crappy rule.”
Why so glum?
Maybe pilots are frustrated because FAA has delayed the release of Mosaic. This also happened almost 20 years ago with the Sport Pilot / Light-Sport Aircraft regulation. SP/LSA was anticipated for more than three years after the first announcement.
However, Mosaic is coming and this time we know more about it than most regulations. Why? Because FAA must involve ASTM committee members along the way. (More on this? See at end.*)
Earlier FAA rule writers did not reveal their work as broadly. Yet FAA is sufficiently pleased with industry consensus standards, ASTM’s work, that they will use it on the next generation of GA aircraft (think: Cessna, Cirrus, etc.).
Midwest LSA Expo 2023 to Hit a New Benchmark—15 Years—Matching Former Sebring Expo
When the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo launched back in 2004 — the same year the SP/LSA regulation was released — the central Florida location began serving a then-new aviation segment. For 15 years this show grew and prospered …until it ended in 2019. (Sebring’s timing now appears foresightful because the next year, 2020, started the world down the Covid path that put enormous financial pressure on other events.)
Sebring Expo accomplished its principal goal for the race-city airport: to put it on the aviation map in a definitive way. Led by longtime airport manager Mike Willingham, Sebring enjoyed a remarkable run and the young LSA industry benefitted greatly from their event. If you’re curious about how and why Sebring called it quits, check this first and second article on the subject.
Not long after Sebring first opened its visitor gates, another small event started in the unlikely town of Mt.
Follow the Skyleader 400 — Czech Producer Offers Wide Variety in Light Aircraft
When Light-Sport Aircraft arrived on the scene almost 20 years ago, one early model that caught my attention was Kappa KP-5. This was one of the first of several brands unknown to Americans then. Others went on to become fixtures in the LSA space: Flight Design, Tecnam, Evektor, and Aeroprakt, among others.
Over some years, light aircraft models that arrived under the name Kappa were rebadged as Jihlavan and then Skyleader. In truth, it’s been Jihlavan all along but Americans have an easier time saying Skyleader. The company has been a busy development engine lead by engineer Antonín Píštěk while the enterprise is lead by CEO Radek Filip, also an engineer.
In the center of the model lineup, Skyleader 200 to Skyleader 600 are descendants of that first Kappa KP5. Contrarily, GP One and UL-39 Albi (article) are distinct designs that do not derive from the 200-400-500-600 series.
2022 In Review — How Did LSA and Sport Pilot Kit Aircraft Fare During a Turbulent Year?
The year started with hope. As 2022 arrived, America and most countries (China excepted) were emerging from two years of difficult lockdowns and Covid. The good news was that a flood of money from the U.S. government had buoyed the stock market and I’ve long observed that in a rising equities market, LSA and SP kit aircraft sell well.
No one thinks this is because anyone sells stock to buy a Light-Sport Aircraft. Rather, it’s something economists call the “wealth effect,” where rising asset values give stockholders confidence that good times are here and they can buy an airplane to have fun.
Then… Russia invaded Ukraine and global markets trembled.
Despite a year of war, of plunging stock markets and sky-high energy prices, of protests and riots in multiple countries, plus on-going supply chain strains and lingering Covid fears, the light aircraft nonetheless grew by a very healthy 18%, after rising 10% in 2021.
Invasion of the Part 103 Multicopters — Surveying 5 Entries, All “No Pilot License Required”
These new-millennia flying machines have inspired multiple names. While an eventual winner is determined, a common handle seems to be the rather awkward “eVTOL” — for electric vertical takeoff and landing. A range of abbreviations are also used: UAV, UAM, UAS, autonomous aircraft, and several others. I like multicopter — because all of them involved multiple propellers doing the lifting.
Most commonly, you hear “drone.”
Yet “drone” is further confusing because we haven’t separated crewed aircraft from uncrewed aircraft and this is a major distinction. FAA has also made this separation, so for this article, I will only speak of crewed aircraft, that is, a flying machine with a pilot using controls to direct its flight. In addition, I will also stick solely to single place aircraft that can theoretically qualify as a legitimate Part 103 ultralight vehicle.
Let me first extend a quick thanks to IEEE’s Spectrum magazine for making me aware of entries I’d missed.
The Aviator Family
The Aviator Family and Magnus Aircraft sell the aerobatically-capable Fusion 212, the only LSA fully supported for upset recovery training. Fusion is a part of Aero Affinity at the DeLand Airport, which offers aircraft to suit every need. The Aviator Family provides American sales, flight training, and maintenance for Magnus Aircraft of Hungary.
Rebirth — LSA Market Leader Overcomes the Tragedy of War
Web stats showed a strong response to my article about Ukraine-based light aircraft builders continuing on even as the missiles fly and the bombs fall around them. The situation is terrifying and the future uncertain but the stories we don’t hear sometimes involve courageous people in the recreational aircraft industry.
In the middle of the last decade, long before Putin’s aggression, LSA market leader Flight Design went through a German-imposed reorganization. While difficult, the company emerged stronger and more stable.
In development through this challenging time, Flight Design unveiled their new F-series, starting with their two-seat LSA F2 model at Aero Friedrichshafen 2019. They also displayed an F2e powered by electric motor. Those who examined these displays could readily see the spacious fuselage was built with a four seater in mind for the future. Things were progressing well…
Then, WAR!
Some experts believe ample signs existed that Russia might invade Ukraine yet to ordinary individuals busy living their own lives, hostilities seemed to erupt suddenly.
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