EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021 is one for the history books. Initial reporting from the big member organization suggests 2021 was a return to normal attendance and exhibitors were not far behind.
One can always find a few empty spots and wonder if they failed to sell yet it is equally likely a company bought the space but could not attend or exhibit for a variety of reasons. To my eyes and by the numbers, Oshkosh 2021 looked to be a home-run success.
Stories will continue but here I want to address two very different views of AirVenture. On one hand vendors widely reported solid sales. On the other, FAA clarified some questions but raised others. Many frowns were reported when agency boss Steve Dickson held his “Meet the Administrator” session but let’s look at the bright side first.
LSA – SP Kits – Ultralights
Sold Well at Oshkosh
I did no survey and even if I had, what a vendor reports and what actually follows are rarely identical.
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AirVenture Day 5: Complying Part 103 Helicopter? …Not a Gyroplane? YES! …and Well Priced
As EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2021 winds down to a conclusion, a chance conversation brought the handsome aircraft below into clearer focus. I already knew about Mosquito and received a briefing to fly one captured in this 2013 video. I did not grasp how the producer evolved after original developer John Uptigrove‘s unfortunate demise in 2018.
What appeared in Composite-FX‘s display in the Fun Fly Zone were beautifully done flying machines that looked heavier and much more complex than John’s original Mosquito. They are neither, fortunately.
Owner Dwight Junkin and friend George Boynton replaced John’s open-cockpit Mosquito with a composite fuselage using long experience with such constructions. Dwight’s Florida company ultimately took over John’s work, moving the contents of the Canadian’s workshop to his base in Trenton, Florida.
In truth, not only is Composite-FX’s XEL a compliant Part 103 helicopter, it is modestly priced and truly belongs with six other affordable flying machines in my AirVenture 2021 opening article.
AirVenture Day 4: Generation 3 Ultralight Electrics — Where Electric Propulsion Works Today
A mid-week demonstration featured Europe’s Volocopter and America’s Opener BlackFly. The two (three actually, a pair of BlackFlys flew) demonstrated their eVTOL flying capability. They could hardly have been more different.
Billionaires are investing in, uh, what to call them? …drones, multicopters, eVTOLs, UASs, UAVs, Powered Lift aircraft, the list literally goes on and on. The lack of a widely accepted generic name is one of several indications these air taxis of tomorrow are still in a fairly distant tomorrow.
Two industry experts gave me their judgment after viewing the Volocopter and BlackFly demonstrations. Both agreed the Volocopter presented better, performing a true demonstration of its vertical launch then transitioning to forward flight, manuevering, and then doing a landing. Both also said the BlackFly was much less impressive. “They just kind of bobbed and floated around, not doing any maneuvering or making a transition to forward flight,” each agreed. Both wanted to like each aircraft but one clearly won in their minds.
AirVenture Day 1: Welcome Back, Oshkosh! TODAY: Affordable Airplanes in the “Fun Fly Zone”
WOW! It’s great to be back at a major airshow. I imagine every single person on that immense stretch of show grounds (way past a mile north to south!) felt largely the same way I did.
Airshow buddies. Cool aircraft to check out. All manner of compelling gear to make your bird better. Forums on a wide variety of topics. Terrific aerobatic acts and a constant, joyful racket of airplane noise. Oshkosh is literal aviation sensory overload and every person present is splashing around in it like a kid in a backyard pool. Whee!
Fun Fly Zone
Where Affordable Aviation Lives
Short story first…
My Canadian videographer Dave Loveman was denied entry at the border (long story) so I’m flying solo this year. I will concentrate in areas as the show is simply too big to cover top to bottom unless you have wheels — and they are reserved for a gilt-edged few.
LSA Update: Pre-AirVenture Oshkosh 2021 — Aircraft, Products, Dealers, Achievements
Well, FINALLY, AirVenture Oshkosh is barely a week away. It seems like forever, doesn’t it? It has been two years but feels like a decade. I hope you can attend, but if not, I plan to be on-site all week gathering the latest about Light-Sport Aircraft, Sport Pilot kits, and ultralights.
In this edition of “LSA Update,” I’ll cover an update about…
1️⃣ Jabiru and their AirVenture activities; 2️⃣ Beringer’s new SensAir system that works with your smartphone; 3️⃣ an impressive father-and-daughter partnership forming a new dealer for Seamax; 4️⃣ a preview of the new Dragon powered paraglider single-place quad; and, 5️⃣ competition successes for E-Props and Polini engines.
Let’s get this show underway…
Jabiru USA
One of the earliest Light-Sport Aircraft to be approved was the Australian Jabiru brand.
Not only was Jabiru one of the first approved SLSA (#22) but also one of the most prolific with SLSA #22 J250-SP, #23 J170-SP, #40 Calypso SP, #67 J230-SP (redesignated as J230-D in 2013), and #142 J170-D.
Streaking through the Sky — JMB Aircraft’s VL3 Gets Clean and Goes Fast
The age of Light Personal Aircraft is not far off in the future but is that where “fast-glass” LSA are headed?
Certainly, some LSA producers have ambitions for four seat cruisers or tougher bush aircraft or larger load-carrying aircraft to satisfy pilots that want more capability from their aircraft.
Those goals are fine, of course, but they are not what stimulates leaders and engineers at JMB Aircraft, a restless bunch that loves flying their screaming machine as fast as they can.
How fast is it? I went aloft with dealer Kyle Schluter to find out.
I also learned about the fuller product line and what Sport Pilot certificate holders can do to own and fly one of these impressive aircraft. (Article updated 7/17/21)
Orange Lightning in the Sky
Maybe it doesn’t look familiar but VL3 has already been seen by Yankee pilots under the brand name Gobosh and with the model designation 800XP.
Going the Distance on Battery Power — Record Attempt Reveals the State of Art in Electric Propulsion
Does Alpha have the tiny little motor that could?
Article updated 6/22/21 —DJ
That sounds like an old childhood story (“The Little Engine that Could…”) but here we are in the new millennia with electric cars, huge wind farms, vast solar collector projects, biofuels, and more. Subsidies are pouring in to electric projects around the globe. Hundreds of developers building “urban air transport” multicopters are raising millions of dollars.
Will human-flown conventional aircraft join the electric parade? One company has pursued the electric dream further than most.
This story is about a group in Australia that aimed to set a new world record, one of a rather different sort.
In this case the team plans a “record attempt flying a Pipistrel Alpha Electro plane,” Australia and USA Pipistrel dealer Michael Coates wrote. “[The flight] will start at Parafield Airport at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday June 19, 2021.” Total distance, Michael added, will be 1,150 kilometers, which “will shatter the previous record of 750 kilometers flown in September 2020 in Germany.”
This project hopes to break the previous distance by more than 50 percent.
Family Flying Adventure… AirCam Enthusiasts Flock to Gorgeous Jekyll Island, Georgia.
“Winds are going to be rather sporty,” observed AirCam developer, Phil Lockwood, as he and Robert Meyer and the AirCam team finalized arrangements for another fly-out, this one to Jekyll Island (09J).
The single runway near the resort island had a crosswind forecast for arrival day. When it comes from the east, air tumbles down over a tree line to disturb a smooth approach. The air was indeed “sporty.”
I’m an AirCam enthusiast even though I don’t own one. I earned my multi-engine rating in an AirCam some years ago and I’ll take any opportunity to fly one.
Numbering 300 AirCams
(…that’s 600 Rotax engines!)
Many of you know the story by now. AirCam was first developed to fly National Geographic photographers trying to document nature in Namibia. From what I can tell the entire country appears to be one enormous, dense jungle. Where ya gonna land?
Phil to the rescue.
LSA Update — Finland’s ATOL Avion… Ekolot Topaz Wins Another… Fresh SW-51 Video… New FAA Reg Update Video
Summer is fast approaching and for much of the northern hemisphere, that means seaplane flying. For all pilots, covid fear is dissipating and summer skies beckon.
In this LSA Update…
Learn about the return of Finland’s wood-and-composite LSA seaplane, now rebadged as Avion from new supplier Scandinavian Seaplanes (updated 6/15/21)
Check out another award for Ekolot’s handsome and deluxe Topaz
See a very fresh video of the impressive ScaleWings SW-51 in flight
Watch a video version of our recent FAA regulation update on Mosaic
As the globe slowly emerges from the dark cloud that was Covid, the light aviation industry is doing admirably to move forward with developments and improvements.
Come along for the read — check out these stories.
Atol is Back …with Avion
According to main man Anssi Rekula, “Finland is a true [paradise] of seaplane flying with 188,000 lakes, 45,000 miles of river and 4,000 miles of seafront.” That is surprisingly similar to the United States even though America is 29 times larger by area.
Faster and Faster — Porto Aviation’s Risen Eclipses the 400 Kilometer per Hour Barrier
The appeal is obvious. What pilot doesn’t like the idea of flying faster? Even those of us who enjoy low-and-slow Part 103 ultralights remain intrigued by the idea of going fast, eating up the miles en route to a destination. [Article updated 5/31/21 with additional information. —DJ]
Since I first saw this aircraft when it was unveiled to the world at Aero 2015, I have kept my eye on Risen. It was clear this design was going places… literally.
I used a bit of English humor in the lead photo saying “Risen Shine,” meant to play off “Rise and shine,” a get-out-of-bed-and-get-to-work phrase common in the U.S. The truth is, you don’t pronounce it RYE-sen. Porto Aviation Group marketing man Stéphan D’haene clarified that they say REE-sen.
However you may say the name, Risen is one ripping-fast aircraft. Below you’ll read about its latest speed record but Americans may be interested to hear the first example is now tearing up the skies over Montana.
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