For a billion-dollar, publicly-listed company Garmin (stock symbol: GRMN) has repeatedly displayed the nimbleness of a start-up enterprise. As if to prove this point Garmin announced several new products for the start of Sun ‘n Fun. And for those of us who need some introduction to these new gee-whiz gizmos, the company has a seminar tent just north of Hangar D where you can learn it all from the experts. No wonder Garmin remains one of the most trusted names in aviation. (My trusty auto Garmin will be leading me around the winding roads of Europe as we head over to Aero immediately following Sun ‘n Fun.) So … G3X Touch, now in a giant 10.6 display • GTR 20 remote comm controlled through the touchscreen • Angle of Attack (AoA) info when paired with their GSU 25 ADAHRS and GAP 26 probe • and, you can even watch VIRB (Garmin’s HD action camera) video in a PFD inset.
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Dynon’s Modernized SkyView Touch
With the chance to fly and learn both Dynon SkyView and Garmin 796, I have become a fan of each. Dynon is dominant in Light-Sport Aircraft instrument panels for very good reasons. They work well and don’t cost an arm and a leg. Their Synthetic Vision is superb. However, much as I have come to love those big, beautiful, all-color digital instruments, you must resort to a button or joystick to make changes. Those of us spoiled by our smartphones and iPads have become accustomed to touch. So, no wonder that I also fell in love with the all-touch 796. It works a lot like my iPad and finding things is reasonably easy … a few functions are hidden behind menu layers but on whole, the 796 is a brilliant bit of engineering design. However, in bumpy air, I’ve had to learn a technique of hanging a thumb or finger on the bezel to steady my hand as I try to select certain functions by touch.
LSA Alive & Well: Slings in Stock; Evektor Sales
The Great Recession was the pits … for nearly all industries and most employees or small business owners. That’s hardly newsworthy. However, the recovery from the recession — that government economists insist ended years ago — has been a long time coming. For too many out-of-work pilots, that recession lingers with us yet. Fortunately, the aviation economy appears to be improving. Although registrations didn’t show it for 2013, the year provided more sales for sellers if not more airplanes for their customers. Now, the hope is that airplanes will emerge from factories faster and the general health of the industry will improve, which is good for seller and buyer alike. A couple companies have proof that things are looking up and I’d like to tell you a little about them.
First is South Africa’s The Airplane Factory (TAF) and their rep’, TAF USA, led by Matt Litnaitzky and associate Ryan Ruel.
Light Aircraft Flight Over the North Pole
Matevz Lenarcic is in the air again. Lenarcic is the daring pilot who has already flown around the world … twice! Some pilots simply don’t know when to rest on their earlier achievements. Indeed, today Matevz embarked on a solo flight over the North Pole in his specially configured light aircraft. His mission (besides an audacious long distance flight): recording black carbon readings over the Arctic. He’ll cross much of Europe, pass over the North Pole, continue to Canada and return to Europe crossing the North Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland flying parallel to Lindberg’s record flight from New York to Paris (map). He will capture the Arctic with aerial images and if you’d like to vicariously join his adventure, you can follow Matevz’s North Pole flight.
A biologist and photographer, Matevz is again flying a Pipistrel Virus SW that has won NASA’s efficiency competition; the company pocketed prizes of more than one million dollars.
Getting With The (Tower) Program
Pilot Workshops of Nashua, NH is getting with the program to help ease pilot anxiety about the transition. The company just put out three free videos that are aimed to help us all refresh our memories about Non-Towered Airport operations.
PilotWorkshops founder Mark Robidoux had this to say: “With the recent announcement of 149 tower closures, there will suddenly be thousands of pilots flying into and out of airports that had ATC services one day, and none the next. While all of us are trained in these procedures, it’s easy to become rusty if you aren’t using a skill. We wanted to make this refresher available to all pilots for free in the hopes that it makes flying a bit safer for all of us.”
PilotWorkshops.com LLC was founded in 2005 and is best-known for its free ”Pilot’s Tip of the Week” emails received by over 100,000 pilots each week.
iFly 720 GPS Raises the GPS bar
I just wrote up a piece for the Tech Talk Dept. of Plane & Pilot on the *** iFly 720 GPS, a really amazing, super-affordable, Air Gizmo-dockable unit that’s got more features than Carter had pills (that’s a reference for older readers). *** Here’s my lead from that article, out in the next issue : *** “If you could buy a sunlight-readable, multi-featured, portable moving-map GPS for VFR and IFR flight, with an excellent automobile GPS, that also played your music, audio and video files and connected to the internet via WiFi, would you think $749 was a good price for that unit? *** Two years ago I stumbled across a new avionics company: Adventure Pilot. Headed up by two super-bright, hard-working guys — Walter Boyd and Shane Woodson — their first effort was a feature-rich, Everyman’s “supplemental” (not FAA-certified) navigational GPS, the iFly 700. It was a runaway success at $500 (comprehensive annual subscription package: $69.
Rans S-7 Courier LS
Available Fully Assembled or as a Kit
Unlike the flock of internationally
designed Special Light-Sport Aircraft,
RANS is a familiar name to Americans.
Even closer to home, ultralight enthusiasts know
the brand very well; ultralight aviation is the
arena that gave designer Randy Schlitter his
start. I first recall seeing the brand at Sun ‘n
Fun around 1984. And each year subsequently, it
seemed, Randy showed up with something new.
Not long into this profusion of new designs came
the S-7.
“The design of the S-7 originated out of the
need to train [single-place] Coyote I pilots,”
Randy explains, “so the cockpit was set up the
same with throttle on the left, and stick in the
middle.” Randy adds that he named the Courier
in honor of one of his favorite planes, the STOLperforming
Helio Courier.
The S-7 Courier was the first 2-seater produced
by RANS, dating to 1985 when the first prototype
flew, succeeding the S-4/5 single-seater that
kick-started the aviation business of the nowwell-
known airplane manufacturer.
Icon Aircraft’s A5 Seaplane
Growing “Out of the Box”
A large number of current pilots
have some sense of foreboding
regarding the dwindling numbers
of the pilot population. Many feel powerless
to change this fact, what
with our airports often surrounded
by a 10-foot-high
chain link
fence topped
with barbed wire
plus prices for training
and airplane ownership
out of reach for many
Americans.
An Eye for the New
Airshow visitors with an
eye for the new may have seen ICON
Aircraft and their gleaming silver-and-accent-red A5 seaplane at
Oshkosh AirVenture ’08. The company’s displays have attracted as
much attention as their aircraft design.
ICON’s A5 is a handsomely stylish Light-Sport Aircraft design.
Airshow visitors had good reason to pay it attention. Many gawking
attendees found A5’s “wow factor” off the charts.
But the story here is much more than the aircraft, fetching though it
is. The real ICON story is that of a company trying to bring aviation
and flying to people who don’t have a pilot’s license.
LSA News Bits as 2011 Draws to a Close
In 36 hours or so, Chief Pilot S. Claus will be on final for a few billion chimneys worldwide. Here’s what’s popping up in one of my last looks at LSA news webwide for 2011. Meanwhile, my best wishes for a Merry Flying Christmas and new flight horizons for all in 2012! *** Cubcrafters flexes its market success muscle with a new manufacturing facility and the hiring — yes, hiring! — of new personnel to build its popular LSA Piper Cub clones. *** A newly leased 15,000-square-foot building near the Yakima, Washington airport boosts existing capacity by almost 40% and is already in operation. Congrats to CubCrafters and we wish you continued success. *** Included are a new welding shop and CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machine shop. *** The new space will make room in the main plant for an R&D facility and an updated, more centralized parts department. *** Owner Jim Richmond says, “Our planes are selling well, and if we get even a little help from the economy, we will need to increase our production rate.” *** Check out those job openings.
Evektor Harmony LSA Becomes SLSA #119
Evektor will always be First… that is, the Czech company gained the very first Special Light-Sport Aircraft approval back in April 2005 and no one can ever take that first-in-class title away from them. Now they are also the newest approval, before AirVenture 2011 anyway. Congratulations to Evektor Aerotechnik and their U.S. representatives including Steve Minnich’s Dreams Come True operation in Dayton, Ohio. *** “I got a call right at lunch time that the Evektor Harmony LSA, N905EH, just received her airworthiness certificate,” Steve wrote on July 13th. How is Harmony different than the SportStar series (SE, Plus, Max, Max IFR)? Steve helped out with an informative summary. *** “The wing and tail surfaces are tapered and the wings and horizontal stabilizer have greater span so the wing area is actually the same. Both rudder and ailerons are larger giving a higher crosswind capability and the rudder pedal linkages exit through the floor rather than penetrating the firewall.
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