At Sebring 2013, we made the rounds speaking to sellers of various Light-Sport Aircraft. We asked how their aircraft holds up in flight school instruction use. Some aviation journalists and some general aviation pilots believe LSA cannot withstand the rigors of training. Flight Design USA sales manager John Gilmore assures us the CTLS does very well in flight schools and one has accumulated more than 13,000 landings! Here the rest of the story in this video.
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Flight Design — CTLE (Law Enforcement)
Perhaps it’s to be expected that the leading seller of Light-Sport Aircraft in the USA has now entered the public service aviation market with their CTLE, the “LE” standing for Law Enforcement. This specially fitted LSA has a high-tech wing mounted camera system that is controlled from the right seat where a Tactical Flight Officer sits. He can send and receive with ground units. CTLE is leading the way to a promising new market for Light-Sport Aircraft.
Flight Design — MC (2011)
Flight Design has lead the Light-Sport Aircraft market since Day One, selling variations of its all-carbon fiber CT series including the present-day CTLS. The MC is the German company’s new all-metal airplane. MC stands for Metal Concept. With conventional construction, repairs are easier and many mechanics are familiar with working in aluminum. This brings flight schools to look at MC, but a lower price attracts everyone.
Flight Design — CTLS Floatplane
If you’ve tried flying with floats (or in a boat-hulled aircraft) you already know the appeal. Those who haven’t should check out the experience. You can do that by going to www.flyct.com, the website of Airtime Aviation in Tulsa Oklahoma where the CTLS Floatplane has been developed. Proprietors Tom Gutmann Sr. and Jr. offer seaplane instruction and sign-offs. Amphibious floats are fabricated by Claymar of Canada.
Flight Design — CTLS
The leading seller of Light-Sport Aircraft is Flight Design and CTLS is their third-generation of the popular CT series. Not only geared to American pilot interest, CTLS added many new features including a more spacious cabin with greater visibility (though it was already huge). CTLS comes standard with a full glass panel, ballistic parachute and more.
Flight Design — CTsw
While Flight Design has released two newer models (the CTLS and all-metal MC), it was the CTsw that helped the German Flight Design company continue to be the market leader, even after four years and nearly 100 new models followed the CT series into the American market. CTsw is one of the fastest and longest flying LSA in the U.S. fleet.
Flight Design USA Forges Ahead with CTLSi
Breaking News … Recently Flight Design in Germany sent a letter to their dealers including this statement, “We have applied for a planned receivership which allows for reorganization of the company.” What does this mean?
Since Light-Sport Aircraft burst on the aviation scene in 2004, Flight Design built the largest fleet in the United States. Using internationally-accepted ASTM standards to good advantage, CT series aircraft also sold well in other countries. Flight Design USA president Tom Peghiny was the first ASTM Airplane Subcommittee chair for several years in the mid-2000s while Flight Design Germany’s Chief Technical Officer, Oliver Reinhardt served as overall F37 chair until very recently.
Parlaying their prowess in aircraft design, testing, and certification, Flight Design engineered an all-metal version of their carbon fiber CTLS, called MC, plus a four-seat certified aircraft design named C4, among other projects.
That may sound positive, but engineering-intensive projects require costlier talent and can consume boatloads of money.
First Flight of Flight Design’s Four Seat C4
Aero 2015 is open! The halls are full of shiny airplanes displayed with the usual European sense of style and panache. Visitors are backed up at the entry gates awaiting the official opening time. (We sneaky media journalists are allowed in earlier to get photos and begin interviews with vendors.) It is a great event, for Europe and for aviation.
I already have some airplanes in mind for reporting, both brand-new designs and the sort you never see in the USA. I will aim to prepare coverage of some of them and report as soon as time permits. Yet first, I want to talk about a project that is equally exciting.
I refer to the Flight Design project aimed at the general aviation world, that is, of airplanes with more seats than allowed in the LSA space … in addition to more speed, more weight, and other capabilities.
Spy Cam’ Catches Flight Design C4 in Taxi Test
We are heading into a weekend with a couple wonderful airshows immediately ahead. The dry spell since Sebring is over and Aero Friedrichshafen in Germany starts next week — preceded by meetings of the ASTM committee that writes the LSA standards. A couple days after Aero ends, Sun ‘n Fun starts. Whew! This is a tight schedule but what could be more enjoyable than going to airshows and finding lots of new airplanes about which to write and shoot new videos. I hope you’ll click back regularly to see the latest.
Meanwhile I have some fun bits of news to report here. Perhaps the best is that we obtained “spy photos” of Flight Design taxi testing their C4 in anticipating of their first flight (more below). Plus, Van’s Aircraft, the world’s largest producer of kit aircraft, set a new record. Let’s get started.
Flight Design has been at work on their four seater C4 for several years and it is finally nearing conclusion.
Flight Design Expands to Accommodate Growth
Since the beginning of Light-Sport Aircraft almost ten years ago — this summer at EAA AirVenture, the SP/LSA sector will celebrate its tenth anniversary with special functions — Flight Design has continuously led the fleet size statistics as seen in our market share charts. In recent years, along with most other LSA manufacturers, a tough global economy slowed the enterprise. However, as 2013 began to show renewed sales activity and with positive forecasts for 2014 and 2015, Flight Design and many other of the LSA “majors” have been again growing their staff, inventory, and physical facilities. Recently the German company sent photos of its new quarters in Kamenz (pronounced like “commons”) in eastern Germany almost directly north of Prague in the Czech Republic.
Most senior staff moved from the company’s Stuttgart, Germany base to the new facility and the Light-Sport models including the CT series and more are now housed in a spacious hangar on an airport.
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