Search Results for : Flight Design

Photo Wrap Up: Some other stories that will get fleshed out down the road here and in the magazine. Sun ‘n Fun ends tomorrow. Long Live Sun ‘n Fun.

I caught up with a fellow hang glider pioneer from the 70s’, Scott Severen of U.S. Aviation, Denton, TX who filled me in on the latest events for his broad-based Light Sport/GA service and repair center. *** U.S. Aviation is a large, well-established aviation service center that does it all: flight training, aircraft and avionics sales, service and maintenance (for general aviation as well as LSA). *** Scott has been involved with Indus Aviation and its Thorpedo LSA aircraft for years. That project is moving to a China-based manufacturing base and “It’s a big process to pull it all together,” he says. He was just over there, assembling a couple Thorpedos to support the transition. *** “It will be a beautiful facility over there once it’s built. We’ll still do parts and aircraft sales in Dallas, and US Aviation will assist in factory support of the Thorpedo; it’s one of several LSA we do.

Rotax Aircraft Engines just raised the bar with its new Rotax 912 iS, fuel-injected, 100-hp engine, based on the truly ubiquitous core 912 mill we all know so well. *** FYI: Did you know more than 170,000 Rotax aircraft units are in service worldwide? Wow! That’s a lot of engines. *** The new powerplant is being hailed as the most fuel efficient aviation engine for light sport aircraft. *** Alas, the 912 iS won’t download your email, doesn’t have a Retina display and has nothing in fact to do with Apple. Watch the video below for more details on the new engine’s operation. *** The “i” of course stands for fuel injected, and with this happy development come beaucoup bennies: • Up to 30% lower fuel consumption than previous versions, and up to 78% lower than “comparable competitive engines”. Could this lead to smaller fuel tanks in LSA? That would easily make up for the 13 pound increase in engine weight and then some without giving up range.

In a product launch somewhat comparable to an Apple Inc., product event, BRP Rotax drew a large group of attendees to their facility in Gunskirchen, Austria.
Update 3/12/12 — See the impressive list below for airplanes displayed at the 912 iS launch. —DJ
The occasion was the launch of their new 912 iS engine. In the tech world, “i” means Internet. In the light aviation world, or more specifically BRP Rotax’s world, “i” now means injected. *** “Pilots will appreciate the easier pre-flight check and starting procedures offering them an enhanced flight experience,” stated Rotax/BRP. They add that this removes “the need for servicing and synchronizing the carburetors every 200 hours.” Fuel injection also “eliminates” carburetor icing. Users of the engine will appreciate these improvements. *** Fuel injection is controlled by an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) similar to automotive applications. A mechanic can connect to the ECU with a laptop for easier maintenance.

Time to wrap up this week’s discussion with John Lampson, CFII and veteran Flight Design CTLS instructor. *** Our topic: How and why are LSA different than GA airplanes and what transition challenges do they present for experienced GA pilots?”LSA really perform,” says John. “When you add power in the CT, it wants to just leap off the ground. That’s not true of most heavier GA airplanes.” *** “As I said earlier, GA experience shouldn’t hold pilots back in an LSA. But I’ve noticed they’re often surprised at the lighter, more dramatic, responsive feel of LSA, especially when they make the exact same control inputs that they’re used to for a GA airplane.” *** “New pilots on the other hand, with no prior flying experience, have no preconceptions. I can teach them from the ground up. They don’t have to combat and unlearn those old habits first.” *** Does that mean baby blue students get with the program quicker?

My good pal John Lampson, the 6,000 hour CFII who took me through my Sport Pilot training a few years back now, continues the good fight to put well-trained, safe Light Sport Aircraft pilots in the air.John’s a CFII, so he teaches for all the GA ratings, but he’s getting a lot of students putting in LSA time on the Flight Design CTLS that’s on leaseback out of Premier Flight Center in Hartford, CT. *** John’s done well over 1,000 hours of training by now in the CT so I thought he’d be a great source of regular tips on learning to fly, or transition to, light sport flight. We got to chatting on which topic to kick off this training discussion with and before long settled on something we’d covered before and that I’ve written about in the past: how is flying an LSA different, especially for rated GA pilots used to heavier, less responsive aircraft, and what challenges does that present to the student?