One of our most popular articles of 2019 involves FAA’s plans for refreshed regulation. To save you a click or tap, my best guess is that we will see an NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) in 2021. Though it could possibly be sooner, it’s still many months in the future.
Sky Arrow producer Magnaghi Aeronautica of Italy will be ready before the regulation is ready. That’s because the builder of this handsome composite aircraft already has a very rare approval: Part 23.
Part 23 is also going through a major rewrite so some companies planning to enter this space are continuing their development work while they wait the final version of the regulation. The current Part 23 has been used to approve every Cessna, Piper, and Cirrus for decades.
Similarly, LSA producers are digesting the news about sweeping changes that have potential to greatly improve the LSA market.
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Great News for Gyroplanes Such as Magni Gyro + a Video Pilot Report (at Midwest LSA Expo)
For more than 15 years one class of Light-Sport Aircraft has been held down in America even while it has been burgeoning in other parts of the world. The class is LSA gyroplanes, for a decade and half prevented from selling a fully-built model in the USA.
How well is the category doing in other parts of the world? The answer draws on reports from dominant engine producer, Rotax Aircraft Engines, which has reported for years that the class of aircraft buying the most engines has been gyroplanes. Considering the many fixed wing designs also use that engine brand, Rotax’s statement carries tremendous weight.
The story about why gyroplanes were denied the full privileges of Special LSA — and therefore have to be built as Experimental Amateur Built (EAB) kits in America — is a long, sad story …but it is one that appears to be ending, thank goodness!
As described in this recent article about FAA’s plans for revised regulation of LSA (as well as other non-LSA segments), the leash around the neck of gyroplane producers is set for release.
Newest Special Light-Sport Aircraft: Sunward Aurora …First Chinese Aircraft to Win FAA Approval
Welcome to the newest Special Light-Sport Aircraft, entering our popular SLSA List at number 149.
The newest is also unique among all 149 entries in one way. Sunward’s Aurora is the first entry from China. The company has been producing aircraft since 2013 and reported delivering 100 aircraft in that time, all in China, averaging about one a month. The U.S.-registered entry seen at Oshkosh (N871LS) is the first outside China. Here is link to the Aurora information.
You need a specific link because Sunward is a conglomerate active in diverse fields, for example, large earth movers and excavators. The photo of their expansive facility tells a thousand words. This is not uncommon in China. Many of that country’s acquisitions of major American aviation companies were done by still larger enterprises in China. Mostly these are private businesses, not the more staid state companies.
Assembled discreetly in Denton, Texas, Sunward quietly earned its Special Airworthiness Certificate — verified by examining the printed document kept in the aircraft — just in time for American Chief Pilot Patrick Keeling to take off and fly to Oshkosh.
Badland Aircraft — Kitfox Lite, A True Part 103 Ultralight Aircraft, Returns to the Market
Once we had Avid Flyer. It begat Kitfox, which begat many models before returning to the starting point by creating a Part 103 ultralight vehicle* called Kitfox Lite …what else? At that time Kitfox was owned by its principal, Dan Denney.
A good marketer Denney’s Kitfox once employed a whole staff of sales people following up on loads of leads that the then-new design was generating. Even now, decades later, Kitfox, doing business as Fox Air, is building one of the most successful kit-plane designs in aviation history. (For the facts and market position of Kitfox visit our Tableau Public page of LSA and SP kit statistics.)
While the Dan Denney version of Kitfox Inc., addressed strong demand, they also began working to widen the market they served. Kitfox had found success as a two seater in various configurations but did a market exist for a single seater?
Vashon Ranger — Making Waves Among Light-Sport Aircraft; Questions Answered
Sometimes a new Light-Sport Aircraft producer bursts on the scene in dramatic ways. Think of Terrafugia and their folding wing flying car or Icon and its sexy A5 LSA seaplane. Others enter from different positions of strength. One of the newest of these is Vashon Aircraft with their Ranger R7 (here’s our earlier reporting on Ranger).
While organized as completely separate companies, Vashon shares common ownership through the name John Torode, the founder of Dynon Avionics. The two businesses work hard to stay separate but it’s clear one success might help the other just as John’s earlier success in the tech industry lead to Dynon being formed.
When you check the Tableau Public tally of market share information — you can select to show only Light-Sport Aircraft, Sport Pilot kit aircraft, or modern gyroplanes, or any combination, but the link defaults to all aircraft.
Latest Update on FAA’s Plan to Change Light-Sport Aircraft Regulations — July 2019
Many have asked about progress on FAA’s proposed rewrite of the Light-Sport Aircraft regulations. Following a lengthy teleconference at the end of June 2019, LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, provided another update.
The update to industry covered a lot of ground but here we’ve tried to make it a quicker read.
Two key points: First, FAA is in the early stages of this rulemaking; at least minor changes are certain. FAA itself does not know all the specific details of the proposed rule at this time.
Secondly, the steps reported here come from actual rule writers but their effort has support from top FAA leadership. Driven by a Congressional mandate we know this will go forward.
LSA Is a Success Story
For 15 years Light-Sport Aircraft and their producers have proven themselves, LAMA argued. FAA concurred; the agency has often referred to the safety record as “acceptable,” reasonably high praise from regulators.
“Unbeatable Warranty” — Jabiru’s Rare Airshow Special for its Light-Sport Aircraft and More
Price matters. While pilots enjoy a huge range in aircraft types, capabilities, descriptions, and price points, the fact remains that some aircraft will always be too expensive for some buyers. A smaller number tilt the other way, thinking a too-cheap aircraft might be, well… cheap, as in cheaply built. Airplane buying is as subjective as any other purchase. It has to work for you!
If, for purchase consideration, you examine any of the LSA industry’s leaders, odds are the price of a new aircraft may require partners, financing, or a thicker wallet. However, one other factor enters into the decision: warranty.
Really? Have you considered this when seeking a new airplane? Perhaps not, at least not the same way you consider a new auto warranty. The latter usually have a longer timeframe (especially in the last couple decades) yet warranty can be significant if a major problem arises.
Now Read This…
We have an “Unbeatable Warranty,” declared Scott Severen, the representative for Jabiru in the USA under the business name US Sport Planes!
Super Affordability: U-Fly-It’s Aerolite 103 Ultralight Aircraft Will Be a One-Week Super Wonder
Super affordability. Super Wonder. “Super?“ — surely, I exaggerate, right? Hmmm, I don’t think so. Let me explain.
In an age where many Light-Sport Aircraft run $150,000, to well… possibly much more, “affordability” becomes something of a tortured word. What might seem affordable to a pilot that can buy a nearly one million dollar Cirrus SR22 is vastly different from what is affordable to most readers of this website. So, how affordable can Aerolite be to warrant my claiming “super affordability?”
Rob Tuttle, following Aerolite on Facebook, posed a similar question, “How much minus delivery?”
U-Fly-It owner Dennis Carley replied, “The normal price for this aircraft, assembled and ready to fly as it is equipped, is $21,680 without the parachute, $25,065 with the chute.” Airshows can bring even better prices but continue with this story for an even more unbelievable value.
Consider this perspective. Automobile companies, building tens or hundreds of thousands of a single model, have an average U.S.
Light-Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot Kit Market Shares in 2019
A funny thing happened on our way to quarterly reporting of LSA and Sport Pilot kit market shares.
Our first quarterly report in many years should have come about April 1st. It did not. That date came as Sun ‘n Fun was getting underway separated by only one day from the German Aero show. So involved were we in those season-starting events that we just blew past the date.
Five Months In
Combined Report
The first chart reflects both LSA and SP kit registrations through May of 2019 and also depicts the equivalent performances for the full years of 2017 and 2018.
What the chart suggests is that 2019 is a solid year with the light sector on track to hit 725 aircraft for the year, up about 5% over last year and up more than 10% over 2017. For space reasons the chart only shows ranks 1–18 but all are available on Tableau Public.
Lightning LS and XS — Arion Aircraft’s Sleek and Fast “Built in America” Speedsters
Most pilots love a fast-looking aircraft that looks as good on the ramp as it does in the air? Sure, gnarly backwoods airplanes on huge tires and tall gear struts have huge appeal, and float-equipped aircraft and seaplanes also draw strong interest. Yet aviation’s leading draw may be speed …more is better, right?
If that’s an accurate assessment, then let the drooling begin over this beautifully contoured flying machine that can race 135 to 185 miles an hour for a fairly modest investment. I’m writing about Lightning from Arion Aircraft, available as either a Light-Sport Aircraft or an Experimental Amateur Built version. That these handsome aircraft are also 100% designed and manufactured in the USA may be sweet icing on the cake for many readers.
LS-1 is a true Light-Sport Aircraft that meets all the parameters and survived a detailed FAA audit a few years ago. In the field owners I’ve spoken to love Lightning and its speedy ways.
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