Think about this. If you land your Timber Tiger Jenny at any GA airport and taxi up to the ramp, you might have trouble getting out of the cockpit for all the admirers that will assemble around you.
Take a close look at this example built by John Youngblut. You are quickly charmed by fond images of an earlier period in aviation. Then you look deeper, noticing its shaped wood struts, leather trim, and classic analog guages. This draws you in further and I watched people get closer and closer as they examined the detail.
All that leaves out how well it flies, which developer Nick Pfannenstiel reported was the #1 appeal of the airplane. So after enjoying an easy, relaxing flight in your Jenny, you land to be swarmed by people who believe they’ve just witnessed a piece of history fly into their lives.
Jenny began life as a Curtiss, was recreated in scaled down form by Early Bird Aircraft (Gen 1) and kits are now manufactured by Timber Tiger Aircraft, which has reimagined again in slightly larger scale, better fitting modern Americans.
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American Freedom… More than a National Concept; This One Flies (and Is Remarkably Affordable)
This may be the finest, most memorable company and aircraft name among LSA, heck, maybe among all aircraft. I think these fellows were inspired when they named the aircraft “Freedom.”
Given the new company’s name is American Aircraft LLC, their model name choice makes it “American Freedom.” If that isn’t a name that works in this country, I don’t know what is.
This is a new company and a new aircraft making their debut in America. Discovering such new entries can be quite challenging on AirVenture’s immense grounds with more than 800 exhibitors. I almost literally stumbled upon them when I showed up for a duty hour at Flying magazine’s exhibit (video below). As I approached I thought it looked familiar and sized to be the kind of flying machine I usually report.
Where did American Aircraft come from and how does it relate to earlier aircraft associated with prolific Columbian aeronautical designer Max Tedesco (using his somewhat Americanized name)?
A Return to 2004 LSA Prices in 2023 As SkyRanger and Nynja Return to Market
I write about affordable aviation whenever interesting material is available. This website will eventually (probably by August or September) move to the AffordableAviation.com domain that I purchased many years ago. It’s important to me that pilots can actually afford to own and fly their own aircraft because I am one of you.
I maintain you’ve always been able to find affordable new airplanes but you had to accept something other than a 150 knot four seater.
Part 103 has always been a choice — no medical, N-numbers, or pilot certificate needed — yet not everybody wants that. A great many pilots desire a two seater, even if they nearly always fly it solo. You usually pay more for a two seater, making it less likely to be affordable.
One modestly-priced two seater is available, fortunately.*
A Genuine Bargain?
One flying machine made flying affordable some years ago but it rather quietly slipped from the American market.
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023 — Set-up Day Tour to Whet Your Aviation Appetite
Do you know when you’re an airshow junkie, ‘er… enthusiast? Answer: When you actually enjoy observing the set-up process. I’ve made the following observation many times.
The night before opening, with literally hours before the show starts, the place appears in a state of chaos. Pandemonium reigns. Vehicles, crates, equipment of every kind is seemingly strewn about as if by a storm (which did do some damage on Saturday night, ironically most affecting those who started earlier).
Every show I think, “No way can they get this or that exhibit ready in the 10-15 hours before the main gates open to hundreds of thousands of visitors.”
Yet every show on opening day, I find myself saying, “What?! It’s all done!” Did they work all night? Even if staff was willing to work all night, it seemed unlikely to get the job done mere hours earlier. Maybe it’s magic or Santa’s Elves.
Super-Affordable Part 103 Dingo (low $20,000s, complete) Enters Production
While you continue digesting FAA’s 318-page thriller on Mosaic, here’s a fun aircraft that does not have to spend even one minute meeting those new rules. I’ve written about the Part 103-compliant Dingo from Future Flight before (this article) but the delightful biplane is now entering production.
Tom Peghiny of Flight Design USA fame, wrote, “Jan Jilek is one of the design engineers of Future Vehicles as well as their test pilot. He is also a talented aerobatic performer. We flew together in a few planes while I was working in Sumperk, CZ [as a consultant to Flight Design].”
Dingo was created by Marek Ivanov. At the beginning of 2021, he showed the first 3D images to the Future Vehicles team. This is an experienced group that does a wide range of engineering work for a variety of aircraft producers.
Describing Dingo
Dingo’s airframe is primarily riveted 6061 and 2024 aluminum sheet.
MOSAIC NEWS — FAA Running Ahead of Schedule? Unbelievable? …Proof Here, Now!
Whenever I write about FAA’s Mosaic regulation, especially when I mentioned the date they predicted, a substantial percentage of all readers shrug this off, believing that FAA will never complete it on time.
What if I told you they were ahead of schedule? Is that an unbelievable claim? Perhaps, but the proof is right here, right now! Can’t wait? Check the link below.
Consider the following communication from the ASTM committee working on LSA standards. In case you don’t know what that is, ASTM is an industry standards group that operates privately, creating and getting agreement on standards used by FAA to accept Light-Sport Aircraft into the aviation fleet. (This is different than conventional FAA “certification.”)
BIG MOSAIC NEWS
Honestly, from almost the beginning, FAA has moved faster than most of us imagined. At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2022 FAA announced they would remove the drone portion of Mosaic, which was delaying the overall regulation as that community works out their issues.
More than Spinning Multicopters, Here’s an In-the-Wing Electric Idea that Recently Won a Patent
Naturally, sharp-eyed ByDanJohnson.com readers already know about Chip’s big idea. See this article; scroll down.
What you didn’t know is that this idea was unique enough to win a patent. That’s uncommon in recreational aviation, though, of course, an idea like this may go far beyond sport flying.
Chip Erwin is one of those restless people who probably lays awake night cooking multiple ideas in his brain at the same time. Many industries have their “Elon Musk” type who moves forward on several fronts despite plenty of people telling him he can’t do what he does every day.
As the mainstream media hyperfocuses on multicopter air taxi ideas consuming vast amounts of money (why media pays attention in the first place), people like Chip have different thoughts about using electric power on aircraft. Depod is one of those concepts.
Depod is not intended for Merlin Lite.
Top 50 — Beginning the Decade of Gyroplanes; Meet ArrowCopter and Those That Followed
A dozen years ago, fixed wing pilots thought very little about “gyrocopters” — as some people called them. Actually that word is a model name established by Igor Bensen, widely thought of as the father of this activity along with Juan de la Cierva of Spain, known for his pioneering autogyro work.
The preferred term these days is “gyroplane.” Names aside, what pilots care about is having fun in the air and being able to afford a flying machine. When an aircraft also looks terrific, heads turn.
From eleven years ago comes the #3 in our list of Top 50 Aircraft Videos. More than 450,000 views of this video show broad interest in ArrowCopter, quite the head turner in its day.
Gyroplane interest grew quickly after European designers took the lead from American manufacturers. Think back to the days of Ken Brock’s gyro or the former Air Command (now under new management).
Air Taxi or Air Funster? — 5 Models in Development, as Part 103 Multicopters Not Taxis
If you listen to perpetually-excited media, air taxis will soon be shuttling people hither and yon in all the big cities of the globe. Executives and shoppers will be whisked around downtown skyscrapers silently, quietly, swiftly, and the cost will be modest. Do you buy all that? I’m not holding my breath.
Oh, these air taxi vehicles are coming. I don’t doubt that, if for no other reason than they are absorbing vast amounts of money as people bet on some grand future where infotech merges with aviation to make flying vastly better and easier. It’s a fantastic dream and when smart people powered by enough money work on something long enough… something often happens.
Fine. That’s the sales pitch and apparently it’s working because more than 350 companies around the globe have raised billions of dollars to pursue their dreams yet the first entries remain far from market.
Several people at the very pinnacle of FAA have departed the agency and are now working for air taxi developers (naturally, they are often called by some term other than the mundane “air taxi” label).
Streaking through the Sky — Speedy Risen Continues our Top-50 Aircraft Series
When this series started, Icon’s shapely A5 LSA seaplane topped the list. Handsome as it is and like most seaplanes, A5 is not particularly fast. The subject of this second in the series of 50 aircraft is Porto Aviation’s Risen. You might say it is on the other end of the speed spectrum Risen rips!
This one challenges all others in the speed contest for LSA (and later, mLSA).
Our #2 video on Videoman Dave’s immense library has garnered 700,000 views. That’s particularly satisfying as Dave was able to use footage from my first solo video effort.
I was at Aero Friendrichshafen 2015 when Risen made its debut. Videoman Dave was not able to attend that year but I hit it off with developer Alberto Porto and he consented to work with me. I was just learning how to shoot a video so for this one to go over well speaks loudly about how much pilots love Risen.
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