ByDanJohnson.com

Affordable and Capable: Merlin Lite
sponsored by Aeromarine-LSA.com

News & Video on Light-Sport Aircraft, Sport Pilot Kits, and Ultralight Aircraft

Search Results for : mosaic

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.

Select a F.I.R.M. List company to go straight to all our content about that F.I.R.M. List company.

Midwest Expo 2023, Zenith’s Homecoming, Aero Showcase, and a New Owner of Jabiru

by 3 Comments

When AirVenture Oshkosh ends, you can almost hear a national sigh as if to denote the flying season is over. EAA’s magnificent summer celebration of flight leads to Labor Day and into fall.
Fun flying in northern climates might begin to slow but in the southern half of the U.S., flying for fun is entering its best season.
As if to prove the point, coming up soon:

15th annual Midwest LSA Expo,
Zenith’s 32nd Annual Homecoming event follows the Expo, with even larger crowds,
Aero Showcase’s second event is scheduled and being promoted, and
down under — where Australis is exiting winter (yeah, weird, huh?) — big changes for Jabiru

Midwest 2023
I’ve taken to shortening the event name to “Midwest (Year)” because I say or write it so often. This show — as you might expect, in the Midwest USA — has become a foundation of my aviation calendar. I only missed one year due to a hurricane in Florida where I live.

Here’s Some Good News from Ukraine — LSA Manufacturer Aeroprakt Is Building Steadily

by 4 Comments

We are awash in bad news from Ukraine. Some is honest reporting of the extremely difficult circumstances for many in the war-racked nation. Yet media does not always grace itself, always finding the worst of the news to report in somber tones.
Amazingly, it’s not all bad. While heads of state send troops into harms way, most of a nation’s citizenry merely attempts to live a normal life amid the chaos of war. Doing business and living your life while bomb warning sirens shriek is something most Americans can’t grasp, thankfully.
Aeroprakt, builder of the very successful A-22 and A-32 series of Special LSA, suffered directly when a missile hit their flying club building (report here, scroll to last video). Their main factory remains in the central city of Kyiv, where it has been for many years. I visited this location back in 2003 so they’ve been stable for more than 20 years.

Back to Our Top-50 Videos — Aerolite 103 May Be the Top Seller Among True Ultralights

by 6 Comments

Among the couple hundred readers who commented on my recent Mosaic article, several referenced Private Pilots who consider a Sport Pilot to be “unqualified.” I’ve heard that, too. In fact, I’ve heard similar comments my entire long career.
It’s a pecking order thing, I suppose, a natural human response, but I dislike when one aviator puts down another. Is a hang glider pilot somehow less than a power pilot? Is a LSA pilot doing a lesser job flying than a GA pilot? Indeed, is the humble prop pilot somehow less than a jet pilot? Are pilots who like rotary or seaplanes oddballs? I think not but such opinions are too-commonly heard.
Similarly, why are pilots so ill-informed about Part 103? Most pilots have heard of the category yet most of them know next-to nothing about the aircraft type. Contrarily, I can say this: the ones who learn about Aerolite 103 know this is a right-proper light aircraft and they want more… for less.

AirVenture Oshkosh 2023 Is Done; Here’s an Overview Done On-Air with EAA Radio

by 15 Comments

It’s all over — EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the world’s largest-attendance airshow event. It’s a delicious, if somewhat overwhelming, drink out of a firehose for an entire week.
Oshkosh has something for every pilot and more than any one person can see.
I’ll mention this news briefly as I wish to pay respect to fellow pilots. Two crashes on the weekend after we departed resulted in four fatalities reportedly including one passenger. My sincere condolences to the surviving families. Oshkosh has had safe years with no loss of life but when so many airplanes assemble, mathematical odds suggest a crash is going happen despite heroic efforts to make the event as safe as possible.
During the week of Oshkosh, a few days were rather warm. Cooling rains came mostly at night, sparing the airshow but surely soaking campers in tents. The campgrounds were full to the edges and EAA opened multiple other locations to handle the overflow.

American Freedom… More than a National Concept; This One Flies (and Is Remarkably Affordable)

by Leave a Comment

This may be the finest, most memorable company and aircraft name among LSA, heck, maybe among all aircraft. I think these fellows were inspired when they named the aircraft “Freedom.”
Given the new company’s name is American Aircraft LLC, their model name choice makes it “American Freedom.” If that isn’t a name that works in this country, I don’t know what is.
This is a new company and a new aircraft making their debut in America. Discovering such new entries can be quite challenging on AirVenture’s immense grounds with more than 800 exhibitors. I almost literally stumbled upon them when I showed up for a duty hour at Flying magazine’s exhibit (video below). As I approached I thought it looked familiar and sized to be the kind of flying machine I usually report.
Where did American Aircraft come from and how does it relate to earlier aircraft associated with prolific Columbian aeronautical designer Max Tedesco (using his somewhat Americanized name)?

Kitplanes For Africa… Where Bushplanes Are Big — Really Big — and Capable

by 1 Comment

I first ran into Stefan Coetzee and KFA at Aero Friedrichshafen, my favorite light aircraft show in Europe. I was caught by the clever name. Easy to say, “KFA” sticks in your mind like a catchy tune.
Kitplanes For Africa sounds like a company making aircraft that should have superior bush capabilities. It was a handsome aircraft and I felt readers would enjoy it but they had no American representation at the time so I filed the discovery away under: “Promising.”
The bigger and more accurate picture is that KFA is yet another light aviation success story for South Africa*.
Almost half-way around the world, South Africa fell out of many conversations once the apartheid struggle finally ended in the 1990s. Yet despite years of ugly headlines, the country’s interest in aviation has been strong and building. Companies are producing lots of aircraft. (The Aircraft Factory alone produces 20 Sling aircraft each month, and has plans to increase to 30, employing almost 500 personnel.)
KFA was begun roughly when apartheid ended, so it shares no history with that difficult period.

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023 — Set-up Day Tour to Whet Your Aviation Appetite

by 2 Comments

Do you know when you’re an airshow junkie, ‘er… enthusiast? Answer: When you actually enjoy observing the set-up process. I’ve made the following observation many times.
The night before opening, with literally hours before the show starts, the place appears in a state of chaos. Pandemonium reigns. Vehicles, crates, equipment of every kind is seemingly strewn about as if by a storm (which did do some damage on Saturday night, ironically most affecting those who started earlier).
Every show I think, “No way can they get this or that exhibit ready in the 10-15 hours before the main gates open to hundreds of thousands of visitors.”
Yet every show on opening day, I find myself saying, “What?! It’s all done!” Did they work all night? Even if staff was willing to work all night, it seemed unlikely to get the job done mere hours earlier. Maybe it’s magic or Santa’s Elves.

Super-Affordable Part 103 Dingo (low $20,000s, complete) Enters Production

by 8 Comments

While you continue digesting FAA’s 318-page thriller on Mosaic, here’s a fun aircraft that does not have to spend even one minute meeting those new rules. I’ve written about the Part 103-compliant Dingo from Future Flight before (this article) but the delightful biplane is now entering production.
Tom Peghiny of Flight Design USA fame, wrote, “Jan Jilek is one of the design engineers of Future Vehicles as well as their test pilot. He is also a talented aerobatic performer. We flew together in a few planes while I was working in Sumperk, CZ [as a consultant to Flight Design].”
Dingo was created by Marek Ivanov. At the beginning of 2021, he showed the first 3D images to the Future Vehicles team. This is an experienced group that does a wide range of engineering work for a variety of aircraft producers.
Describing Dingo
Dingo’s airframe is primarily riveted 6061 and 2024 aluminum sheet.

Big Splash! — Vickers “Aggressively” Tests the Hull of their Wave LSA Seaplane

by 8 Comments

Oshkosh is nearly here again so it must be seaplane flying time. America’s north is rich with open water for fun or safety. When the summer season arrives, seaplanes are at their finest. Indeed, AirVenture’s Seaplane Base operation is a whole show alongside the main show; if you’ve never gone, a visual treat awaits you.
One LSA seaplane we’ve been anticipating for a long time is Vickers Aircraft‘s Wave from New Zealand. Lead by namesake Paul Vickers, the down-under company has been deliberate about development.
I wrote about Wave following its maiden flight. That splendid achievement awkwardly came immediately before Sun ‘n Fun 2022 launched. As a result, other show-related news quickly pushed down the Wave story on my home page.
That was unfortunate but unavoidable. The show must go on (and be reported). I’m always amazed at how many aircraft make first flights or other notable events just as some show is opening.

Top 50 — Beginning the Decade of Gyroplanes; Meet ArrowCopter and Those That Followed

by 2 Comments

A dozen years ago, fixed wing pilots thought very little about “gyrocopters” — as some people called them. Actually that word is a model name established by Igor Bensen, widely thought of as the father of this activity along with Juan de la Cierva of Spain, known for his pioneering autogyro work.
The preferred term these days is “gyroplane.” Names aside, what pilots care about is having fun in the air and being able to afford a flying machine. When an aircraft also looks terrific, heads turn.
From eleven years ago comes the #3 in our list of Top 50 Aircraft Videos. More than 450,000 views of this video show broad interest in ArrowCopter, quite the head turner in its day.
Gyroplane interest grew quickly after European designers took the lead from American manufacturers. Think back to the days of Ken Brock’s gyro or the former Air Command (now under new management).

Privacy Policy
Terms of Use