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Day 3 at AERO: A Look At Sailplanes & Towplanes

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The cavernous halls of the Messe truly do contain the aspirations and, let’s be honest, the dreams of literally dozens of designers. There were quite possibly more new types than I have ever seen, and I’ve been attending the Friedrichshafen show for over 20 years. Anyone who claims general aviation is dying would only need to see this show to have their viewpoint radically altered.
Gliding has always been well represented at AERO, and in the show’s 30th year all the major sailplane manufacturers were out in force. For many years AERO was a biennial event and when the organizers made it an annual show, many decided to stick with the biennial schedule and only attend on even-numbered years. There were many different permutations of self-launching and self-sustaining sailplanes on show, which utilized piston engines, electric motors and small jets.
Jonker JS3

South African company Jonker has several versions of the “engine-on-stick” solution for its JS3 single seat high performance sailplane, including an electric motor turning a two-blade propeller and a small jet.

Goose—The Digital Co-Pilot

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You can have a co-pilot… even when you can’t get anyone to fly with you! ‘Goose’ is an iOS and Android app which its creators describe as “Alexa for pilots.”
“It’s like having a flight instructor or knowledgeable pilot sitting next to you,” explains Goose’s creator Jeff Bonasso. Introduced a few years ago and formally known as MiraCheck, the app has just been redesigned by AeroSys Technologies. The app works through a series of voice and GPS location activated checklists. For example, tell Goose (through your Bluetooth headset or your phone/tablet mic) that you’re ready for engine start and the app will read the specified list to you, pausing at each step for you to say “Check” before moving on.
You can download previously created checklists or make your own. Once you’re in the air Goose can be set to follow your flight and provide an emergency or pre-landing checklist when asked, or notify you if you deviate from your course or planned altitude.

A First Look at Sun ‘n Fun — LSA, We Got ‘em!

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Editor’s Note: Here again let’s take a quick look at some of the LSAs we’ve seen so far at Sun ‘n Fun and welcome Mark Timney to our contributors for this show.
The first-day crowd at Sun ‘n Fun 2024’s Paradise City was a little smaller than usual according to long-time attendees, but what the event’s light sport area might have lacked in numbers it made up for in aircraft evolution.
Of particular note: A sleek, new low wing from Italy’s CFM Aviation that could set the bar for tomorrow’s MLSAs; Magni Gyro’s long awaited M26 Victor; and, a speedy new ultralight flexwing from FlyLight called the ‘Nine. ‘
The hustle and bustle of opening day prevents a detailed report on these aircraft at this time… only an entry-level tease of what Sun ‘n Fun is offering up this year.
The Nine trike, which Great Britain’s Flylight sells through Blue Collar Aviation (BCA) in the US, is distinguished by its 56 mph hands-off cruise speed.

Light Sport Accidents — New LSAs vs. Legacy Trainers

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Editor’s Note: This is the second part of Ron Wanttaja’s survey of LSA safety (here’s the first). This time, he takes a close look at how modern LSAs compare with legacy trainers as epitomized by Cessna’s 152, both in terms of accident rates and the kinds of mayhem they succumb to. Let’s dive in!
In the previous safety review, we looked various forms of LSA—SLSA, ELSA and Experimental/Amateur-Built. For this article, we’ll look only at SLSA airplanes. We’re not addressing powered parachutes, weight shift or other SLSA classes—just traditional flying machines with wings and a motor. Call them “SLSA-A,” or “SLSA-As” for plural. We’ll address their accidents from 2005 through 2021.
To identify the SLSA-A accidents, I cross-referenced the NTSB accident database with FAA registrations, including both active and inactive aircraft.
What to compare them to? Let’s pick the near-ubiquitous Cessna 152. It’s close to the general definition of Light Sport, other than exceeding the LSA gross weight requirement.

Swedish LN-3 Seagull — Tandem-Seating LSA Seaplane …Plus, Breaking News!

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LSA seaplanes are a segment all to themselves. [See Breaking News at bottom!]
It isn’t only that seaplanes can offer “triphibian” capabilities (a term once promoted by MVP) because they can operate from land, water, or snow. That makes them versatile but amphibious craft must incorporate retractable gear and since they require a sturdy hydrodynamic boat hull as well as aerodynamic aircraft structures, the engineering task becomes significantly larger than land plane designs.
Icon took years with their A5 and Vickers is still working on their Wave. Both took more than a decade to reach market. Several other LSA seaplane projects required similarly lengthy development.
Now from Svenska Flygfabriken (Swedish Aviation Factory) comes LN-3. This new entry is distinctive because it is a tandem-seating seaplane. Yes, I know lots of Cub-types on floats are tandem but among boat-hulled seaplanes, I’m not aware of any others like this.

Light Sport Accidents — How Do The Categories Compare?

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Editor’s Note: This two-part short series is the handiwork of Ron Wanttaja, who has been tracking accident and registration data for Experimental aircraft for decades. Here, he looks at both the fleet size and accident rates among the various LSA categories. Looking ahead, the next installment will dig deep into how LSAs fare against more common certified trainers.
It’s been almost 20 years since the FAA implemented the Light Sport Aircraft category. While the planes might appear similar to traditional Experimental/Amateur-Built (E/A-B) aircraft, there are significant differences in how they are designed, constructed, maintained and operated.
Light Sports have had a major impact on flying in the U.S., even if their numbers are still relatively few. Without Light Sport (and the accompanying Sport Pilot program), the FAA would have lacked data to justify the simplification of pilot medicals known as BasicMed. Light Sport’s proven safety led to the MOSAIC program, featuring a major relaxation of the limits of what can be flown without an FAA medical.

Who Is This Guy, Anyway? Please Welcome, Marc Cook!

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You’re probably wondering about this raspy old voice appearing on the ByDanJohnson site. Who are you and what have you done with Dan? Part of that you already know.
Dan sold this site to what was then the Flying Media Group, owned by Craig Fuller, an LSA owner himself. Since adding a bunch of marine titles from Bonnier, the overarching company is now known as Firecrown, but the aviation side is still a big part of the portfolio, including FLYING, Plane & Pilot and KITPLANES (among many others). ByDanJohnson, when it becomes Affordable Aviation, will fit like the perfect puzzle piece into the group
Speaking of KITPLANES, that’s where I come from. In fact, Dan and I have history—the good kind—as he wrote about the then-nascent LSA category for KP back when all this got started. We felt it was important to get smart about the segment since it would intersect with Experimental aircraft.

Your Own P-51? (Only Modern?) — Remarkable SW-51 Increases Production

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Every pilot loves a P-51 Mustang, right? The World War II fighter with gutsy lines and a thundering engine turning a giant prop consistently ranks as one of the most desirable airplanes of all time.
Don’t even think about affording a real P-51 unless you win the lottery. Warbirds may be the biggest attraction at AirVenture Oshkosh year after year but only a few pilots have sufficiently deep pockets to own and fly one of these historic machines.
SW-51 is breathtakingly priced as well, many readers may think. Nonetheless, SW-51 is an awesome-looking flying machine that some will figure out how to afford.
Even more rare than a Ferrari, SW-51 is a very-limited-production design. The company forecasts a dozen aircraft per year. At that rate and given SW-51’s exquisite detail, I’ll bet they can sell out year after year.
Mount Your Mustang
You can watch a video below from Sun ‘n Fun 2022 that provides additional and fairly recent detail.

Top 50: Just Aircraft Escapade > Highlander > SuperSTOL and More…

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Here we go again… in a great way, I hope. Returning to our Top 50 Video series, we come to Just Aircraft and their jaw-dropping SuperSTOL. At airshows in recent years, lots of pilots spoke with excitement about STOL competitions. Just’s SuperSTOL was often part of the conversation.
Videos highlighted in our Top 50 series are the most popular 50 selections from a library of about 1,000 videos appearing on Dave Loveman’s Light Sport and Ultralight Flyer YouTube channel. They represent the “Best of Dave & Dan” videos as determined by your views.
Just Aircraft has a long history of building close to 1,000 aircraft, the company said in early 2024. A large share of these, around 800, were SuperSTOL kits. The lines are a bit indistinct because SuperSTOL is at heart a Highlander kit hopped up on steroids (or the airplane equivalent). These days, Highlander remains a good seller for Walhalla, South Carolina-based Just Aircraft, said main man Gary Schmitt on a recent phone call.

Rotax Aircraft Engines Fly-In World Tour 2024 — Dates Announced for Global Series

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For some years, Rotax Aircraft Engines has invited their worldwide flock to Wels, Austria. This charming town north of Salzburg is near the home of Rotax’s headquarters in Gunskirken.
On three separate visits to Rotax I was able to attend one of their Fly-in events plus a special visit just for aviation journalists.
Beautiful and inviting as Wels is, this is not an easy visit for folks from the company’s far-flung customer base in nearly every country on Earth. So, in addition to inviting the world to their headquarters event, Rotax is going abroad.
Get ready for Rotax’s World Tour 2024!
The Biggest goes Bigger
BRP-Rotax is the Austrian subsidiary of BRP Inc, “a leader in the development and production of propulsion systems for the recreational and powersports markets,” according to the company.
Founded in 1920, BRP-Rotax builds innovative Rotax four-stroke and two-stroke high-performance engines used in products such as Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo personal watercraft, Can-Am onroad and offroad vehicles, as well as for karts and sport planes.

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