We are less than two months away from Sun ‘n Fun 2015 where once again the LSA Mall will be a central part of the fascinating area called Paradise City. Here is where thousands of visitors to the large season-starting event can see a flock of Light-Sport Aircraft and light kit aircraft. Prospective customers for these airplanes can also take a demonstration flight, right on the show grounds of Sun ‘n Fun. See any vendor to inquire about demo flight availability.
At this 41st running of the popular event in Lakeland, Florida, LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association is pleased to again showcase the newest sector in aviation. Visitors can enjoy the third year of the completely redesigned Paradise City, formerly known to enthusiasts as the Ultralight or Lightplane Area. Transformed in 2013 with an entirely new layout that brings visitors closer than ever to a wide variety of aircraft, Paradise City is particularly popular as you can get intimately close to the runway where a wide variety of flying machines will take off and land almost all day long (except during certain parts of the main airshow in the mid-afternoon).
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M-Squared Aircraft a First for Sun ‘n Fun
Sun ‘n Fun is coming in less than two months. Surprised? Yes, we are now less than 60 days before the start of this season-opening event. The folks in Lakeland offer so much to do at their April celebration that you can barely jam it all in to a six day visit. No doubt this is why many arrive a few days early … well, that and Florida being the Sunshine State which will be warm and pleasant from April 21-26, 2015. C’mon down. Get away from that snowy winter up north.
One thing you may not have done is visit the Museum on the property. All those new airplanes and products plus a major airshow keep people outside, understandably so. However, for 2015 light aircraft enthusiasts have one more reason to plan some extra time to keep the sunburn to a minimum by spending a few hours inside.
NavWorx Relieves ADS-B Out Demands for LSA
Across aviation segments of all types, noise is becoming shrill over FAA’s demand that you install Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast equipment which not only receives but sends information. The phrase is such a mouthful that everyone just says, “ADS-B Out” though that is still a mysterious abbreviation to anyone not deeply attuned to aviation instruments.
Most alphabet organizations and many aviation writers have been outspoken about the challenges faced by owners of Type Certified aircraft. A chorus of lament wails about the high equipment cost (several thousand dollars) and high installation cost coupled with what is often described as an impossible situation. According to many experts, the number of aircraft needing ADS-B Out equipment is so great that maintenance centers no longer have time to install the equipment before the deadline.
Well, that is a troubling TC-aircraft dilemma but LSA and light kit aircraft owners recently got relief from the onerous requirement.
Love Them or Not, Drones Are Coming
The good news is that most pilots I’ve interviewed — with a few outspoken exceptions — think drones are fine. Some are openly enthusiastic. Indeed, major drone seller Atlanta Hobby said their most effective advertising ever was on Barnstormers, an online source frequented by pilots (the sort that fly from inside the aircraft). This article will try to cast additional light on the new drone rule, FAR Part 107, that was announced over last weekend and gained wide coverage.
I contacted a subject matter expert who happens to be a longtime friend. Cliff Whitney is the fellow that first talked me into starting ByDanJohnson.com way back in 1999. Much earlier we met through a mutual interest in hang gliding and have remained friends ever since. Today, Cliff runs a multimillion dollar enterprise that sells … well, things that fly (but with the pilot not inside). He remains an active pilot that enjoys flying several airplane types so he gets it from a pilot’s perspective.
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.
iPad Invades the Cockpit … Again
If you are not an iPad user — like I am along with millions of others including a significant number of pilots — perhaps you just don’t care about iPads in the cockpit. This isn’t an Apple ad; they hardly need any more promotion. Yet iPads in the cockpit can do some great work for a much lower cost than anyone would have imagined less than five years ago (iPad was introduced in fall 2010).
Unless you have ignored the news since 2010, you are surely aware iPads can run slick apps like Garmin Pilot or Jeppesen’s Mobile FliteDeck VFR, WingX Pro, Foreflight, FlyQ, and several others. Most of these are very useful products and even with data subscriptions they don’t cost much. However, they all share one problem … a rather big one.
Simply, cockpits weren’t designed around the new technology.
You have to hold an iPad. Of course, several companies have made mounts of various types, some of which hang out from the instrument panel and swivel about like a wall-mounted TV so you can poke and prod them while flying.
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.
7 Aircraft to Look for at Sebring 2015
We’re off to the races … OK, the race track … OK, we’re off to Sebring, which happens to be alongside the Sebring International Raceway. Yep. It’s January so it’s again time for the Sebring Expo, this time number 11, the 2015 edition of the popular Florida show. I’ll be onsite for the four days, which this year is one day sooner, running Wednesday through Saturday. The plan makes it easier for vendors to stay to the end on Saturday and still have time to get home on Sunday so they can be back in their businesses on Monday.
Every time I head to a show people contact me, including journalists from publications that don’t follow Light-Sport, light kits, ultralights, or light GA as closely as we do). The question is always the same. What new aircraft or products will we see at the show? …Uh, let me think.
It’s Winter, So Seaplanes Are Flying … Uh, What?
On this website, we zoom around the world following Light-Sport Aircraft, from near the Arctic Circle — you know, where Santa and the wee elves are pulling some heavy overtime about now — to the warm balminess of Southern California. I know of what I write, having once lived in the snow belt and now hanging with the family in Palm Springs, California for Christmas. It seems everywhere I look I see LSA seaplanes in sea trials and this is happening in the dead of winter.
Why be surprised? Perhaps you’ve noticed boat shows happen in the winter months. When living in Minnesota, I was always amazed that boat shows were held in January and February, a time of year when it would be months before the ice melted from the state’s 10,000 lakes to allow use of those boats. Yet this is when people were shopping, I suppose anticipating an upcoming season of boating fun.
Fun, Powerful, Gnarly … that’s AirCam
What would you like for a Christmas present, perhaps if you won big in a lottery? Well, you’re a pilot so I might guess that some airplane has caught your fancy. Me, too. Like most pilots a number of desirable airplanes catch my eye but also like most pilots, I cannot afford to have one of each that appeals to me. High on my list of wished-for airplanes is Lockwood Aircraft‘s Air Cam. I have quite a few hours flying one example or another. I even earned my multiengine rating in one, as part of an article I wrote years ago.
As part of the required hours of training to take the flight check — no written test is involved for a multiengine rating — I engaged an old friend and multiengine instructor, Richard Johnson. An Air Cam owner, Sebring dentist Ron Owen, graciously supplied his Air Cam.
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