Videoman Dave first pulled me aside to look at an unusual ultralight aircraft nestled in the homebuilt area hidden behind a row of porta-potties. It was a questionable (but, surprisingly not stinky) location for what I had to admit was one truly fascinating aircraft. Check out Lightning Bug!
Sun ‘n Fun Paradise City volunteers and officials evidently agreed that Lightning Bug was too fun and too novel to be sequestered behind the biffies. Out it came to a prominent position right in front of the area headquarters tent. In this central spot, this sweet little flying creation steadily drew a crowd.
I missed seeing Lightning Bug take to the air on Friday, April 7th, but I was told it looked good. This despite fairly strong winds that crossed the runway at angles approaching 90 degrees. Other light aircraft managed to fly normally so why does this surprise me?
One look at the photos ought to explain but what you can’t see is that Lightning Bug weighs a mere 140 pounds and employs unorthodox control surfaces.
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Rotax Training at Dueling Airshows
How is it that Rotax so dominates the supply of engines to light aircraft? Many reasons might be cited but one is the superlative training they offer. For 2017, the company is going even further, now offering essential training opportunities to the legions who attend airshows in both the USA and Europe.
Rotax makes high power-to-weight ratio powerplants that fit in smaller cowlings. Liquid cooling addresses the challenges of keeping motors from overheating, especially in those in tighter engine compartments. Rotax engines are modern and they keep updating them. They can produce in higher volumes than some competitors, have highly regarded quality control, and their testing facility is state-of-the-art. These reasons and more explain the estimate 75% or higher market share the Austrian company enjoys.
The Austrian engine maker said that during Sun ‘n Fun 2017 the Rotax Flying and Safety Club (RFSC) and BRP-Rotax will offer information sessions conducted by experienced RFSC instructors.
A Short Biography of Dan Johnson
DAN JOHNSON has been called “the leading reviewer of recreational aircraft” after writing hundreds of pilot reports.
A 6,000-hour Commercial, Instrument, Multiengine Pilot and former Certified Flight Instructor, Dan’s focus today is on Light-Sport Aircraft, ultralight aircraft, and kit-built aircraft that Sport Pilots may fly.
He has flown and evaluated more than 400 different aircraft models and has created articles or videos about all of them. These can be found here on ByDanJohnson.com plus numerous print magazines have featured Dan’s articles over many years.
In addition to writing more than 2,000 articles, Dan Johnson began work with the Light Sport and Ultralight Flyer YouTube channel in 2008. He has since appeared in around 1,000 videos and hosts a whole library of videos on Light-Sport Aircraft and other recreational aircraft Sport Pilots enjoy flying.
Promoting aviation over several decades, he is president of Dan Johnson Media Corp and publisher of ByDanJohnson.com (also AffordableAviation.com).
Watch for a Whole New Look… Very Soon!
For thirteen years, ByDanJohnson.com has served the light aircraft community, covering Light-Sport Aircraft, light kit-built aircraft, and ultralight aircraft. Along the way, we’ve covered all manner of interesting light aircraft from the tiniest drones to the emerging new-style certified GA aircraft from producers of LSA. As my outgoing webmaster said, “It’s been quite a ride!”
Of, course, since ByDanJohnson.com has been live for 13 years (almost to the day, which will be April 1st, 2017), this website preceded social media and even giants like YouTube. The website you have been so loyally visiting was assembled using the fairly crude tools available at the beginning of this new millennia. However, now that we are 17 years into the new century, it is time for a change… a BIG change.
In just a few days, after we check and recheck, adjust and tweak, we will hit the button for our “beta launch” of an entirely new look and feel.
Video—Jabiru J-230D Reviewed at Midwest LSA
Why do we go to all the little airshows? Good question. Everyone knows that a professional journalist or true-blue aircraft enthusiast almost has to trek to the big events like AirVenture or Sun ‘n Fun — with the latter coming up soon April 4-9, 2017. Fine. Yet are the smaller events worth the travel expense and time?
For Videoman Dave and I this is a no-brainer. Gotta go! Why? Because events like Sebring just finished or DeLand‘s end-of-the-season show or the Mid-West LSA Expo early in September in Mt. Vernon Illinois (about an hour’s drive east of St. Louis) are perfect for us to collect video footage and flying experiences that we can relate to viewers on Dave’s widely-watched YouTube channel (to the tune of a million and a half minutes every month!) or here on our LSA Video page.
Announcement…Major Upgrade for ByDanJohnson.com!
Once upon a time, the world was without Internet, static and boring. In those ancient times, to follow aircraft developments, most aviators had to wait for a magazine that arrived once a month. In 1995, the World Wide Web was born and only four years later work began on ByDanJohnson.com. *
Many have called the Internet, specifically the Web, the most important change in history for human communications! Since that time, the pace of change has been ever quickening.
I am pleased to announce to you that ByDanJohnson.com is upgrading to a brand-new site that will have a modern look and will automatically adapt to your phone or tablet. This redesign has consumed more than a year’s worth of work but the change will occur this month.
With more than 1,500 pages of information featuring millions of words, thousands of articles with photos, and hundreds of videos plus special features like PlaneFinder 2.0, the SLSA List, and our FI.R.M.
Duc Hélices’ New Factory Hosts Engineer Students
In my experience, pilot love learning about engines. Yet without a prop, that engine may run fine, but nothing happens to the airplane other than converting a tank of fuel into noise. To get up and go, you gotta have a prop. How about a beautiful composite one?
DUC Hélices New Factory — French propeller manufacturer DUC Hélices moved its facility late in 2016, relocating from Lentilly to Frontenas on the Villefranche-Tarare Airfield.
Last year marked a turning point in the evolution of DUC Propellers, the company said. A relocation project was launched in April 2016 with the primary goal to move the company to the Villefranche-Tarare aerodrome to be at the heart of its business. “This move will allow [us] to expand our premises and modernize further. The move started in November of 2016 and an inauguration or grand opening will be completed by spring 2017.”
Shortly after the big move, DUC was pleased to welcome engineering students from Centrale Lyon Engineering School the new site at the Villefranche-Tarare Airfield (LFHV) for a presentation of the facilities and DUC’s design and manufacturing activities (nearby photo).
Sky Writing 2.0 — Flight Tracks in the Sky
Almost every year at AirVenture Oshkosh, some pilot or team of pilots performs some sky writing, that is, trailing smoke while flying precisely enough that you can read what they are writing from the ground.
The slow script building of the letters captivates the attention from tens of thousands on the ground; of course, many are pilots who are compelled by their interest to watch any airplane gyrations. I also enjoy these aerial penmanship exercises. However, in the 21st Century and with the looming 10th anniversary of the iPhone, perhaps it’s about time aviation caught up to the tech wave.
In this story two Light-Sport Aircraft went aloft for a whole different sort of sky writing, call it Sky Writing 2.0. In this exercise the scale is vastly larger and the challenge is perhaps greater as the letters cannot be seen, not from the air or on the ground or by the pilot.
VIDEO — Dreams Come True with Harmony
This weekend, let’s watch some video. At airshows (where I seem to spend a lot of time), my video partner Dave and I race around from booth to exhibit and attempt to find new aircraft or products we think may be of interest to our viewers. I’m pleased to tell you that we must do this fairly well measured by a million and a half minutes a month spent watching Dave’s YouTube channel according to Google, which owns the popular video outlet.
In the video below shot at the Mid-West LSA Expo, you hear from Steve Minnich, who operates Dreams Come True, a family-run Evektor dealership in Dayton, Ohio.
Harmony is the evolution of the SportStar, the airplane that launched the Light-Sport Aircraft phenomenon back on April 5th, 2005. Along with Flight Design’s CT, the two were honored at a ceremony at Sun ‘n Fun that year where FAA presented the #1 and #2 aircraft to satisfactorily demonstrate compliance to the ASTM standards.
Full Lotus Offers Amphibious Floats for LSA
They may not be as sleek and speedy looking as fiberglass floats and lack the familiarity of metal versions but Full Lotus floats have long been revered for their super tough exterior finish and their high functionality. As they were primarily a straight float system and prior to Lotus Floats being acquired by AFM, adapting the floats to amphibious operation took ingenuity from the owner or builder. As Aircraft Float Manufacturing puts it, “Full-Lotus’s already versatile aircraft floats for water, snow and ice just jumped to the next level. The newest models are now also equipped for paved runways, gravel, dirt and grass.” Zenair Floats / AFM said the new Lotus Amphib design is aimed at pilots who want it all. The company adds, “This new all-season multi-surface amphibious system easily installs to most light aircraft up to 1,450 pounds.”
Debuted at Sun ‘n Fun in April AFM’s news floats were introduced for LSA-type aircraft.
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