Sun ‘n Fun streaks on with Blue Angels and Stearmans cracking the air. Exhibits are active. People are shopping for the right airplane. Strong crowds were present at peak times. Opening day may have set a record. Generally vendors and customers seemed to be in good spirits. Recreational aviation looks healthy.
As I spoke with vendors, one comment I heard repeatedly — freely offered but never requested — was “The economy is good. People have money to spend.” This statement came up often enough to give it weight.
Those of you shopping at home can have a little fun with PlaneFinder 2.0. Clicking or tapping a few categories will help you zero in on the best choices for you. Then you can click to articles or videos about them.
Outbound — Rans has enjoyed quite a run with their newest, the S-21 Outbound. It is a handsome taildragger with performance to make STOL designs jealous.
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Sun ‘n Fun Day 1 — Affordable Aircraft: CGS Hawk Ultra, Evolution RevX, Kolb Trifly, Thatcher CX5
Videoman Dave and I never left Paradise City’s exhibits in our first day of video interviews. Yet we found several airplanes worth reviewing that fit comfortably into the affordable aviation space this website reports.
Hawk Ultra — Despite some speculative rumors, all is well with the dual CGS Hawk project involving two-seat Hawk specialist and primary components fabricator Terry Short paired with the father and son team of Bob and LB Santom handling the single place Hawk 103, Hawk Ultra and Hawk Plus.
Hawks developed a strong following in the U.S. and several countries with more than 2,000 flying. As the design emerged in 1983, it was only single place. Once Part 103 aircraft were growing and need for a two-seat trainer became apparent, the Hawk Arrow series debuted in several variations. With one or two seats, Hawks won a place in the hearts of many aviators and that continues unabated to this day.
Modern Horten Wing Aircraft Excitement as Aero 2019 Approaches
Something old. Something new. Hang glider pilots I know are very familiar with Horten designs, a form of validation for modern hang gliders …flying wings, aircraft with no tail or fuselage structures. Yet many pilots don’t know Horton and have only a sketchy understand of flying wing stability.
World War II History
As the second great war progressed, Germany sought more advantage as fanatical government leaders pursued their ambitions. The war was dragging on and they needed better war equipment.
In 1943, Reichsmarschall Göring issued a request for design proposals to produce a bomber that was capable of carrying a 1,000 kilogram (2,200 pound) load over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) at 1,000 kilometers per hour (620 mph) — the so-called “3×1000 project.” Conventional German bombers could reach Allied command centers in Great Britain, but were suffering devastating losses from Allied fighters.
At the time, no aircraft could meet these goals. Junkers turbojet engines could provide the required speed but had excessive fuel consumption.
Flying SD Planes’ SD-1 Highly Affordable Single Seat Aircraft
We again have the pleasure of a flight review from British aviation journalist, Dave Unwin. Here’s his report on SD-1… —DJ
Having strapped the SD-1 on (well, that’s what it feels like) I gesture at the fuel sight tube. “Looks like around five gallons,” I said to UK agent Jiri Krajca. “So, how much playtime do I have, about an hour and a half?”
“Approximately four hours,” Jiri replied with a grin.
While some aircraft companies seem determined to price themselves out of existence it’s always refreshing to discover a new, fun aircraft that is genuinely affordable: the SD-1, which can be flown away for the equivalent of less than $30,000. In the USA, this is available as a kit that further lowers the investment (see video below).
Visually, SD-1 looks a bit like TEAM’s Mini-Max although it is actually a clean-sheet design from Igor Spacek intended to meet Britain’s SSDR rules (very similar to FAA’s Part 103).
AeroJones Unveils Their Six-Axis Full-Motion Flight Simulator for CTLS
At a major show in China called Zhuhai visitors saw something: a new 6-axis LSA flight simulator. The developer is AeroJones Aviation, the CTLS manufacturer for the Asia-Pacific region. The company exhibited their simulator to a warm reception.
General aviation is beginning to develop in China lead by airport construction at hundreds of the country’s huge cities. As I’ve written before, I have no doubt the airports will be built, but actual flying at most of them — by Light-Sport Aircraft or other recreational aircraft — seems somewhere off in the future.
China has a massive job ahead. Chinese business people have proven very capable of building many things, but developing a culture of the citizenry flying in light aircraft still has quite a distance to go. However, AeroJones new simulator may help the country take a huge stride forward.
First, Simulate — Then, Go Aloft
Chinese citizens play games, including flight simulators, as much as (or perhaps even more than) Americans do.
Copperstate Day 1 — Wild Sky’s Goat, a Special Light-Sport Aircraft Trike Built to Last
The Copperstate airshow is on in Arizona! Put on by a new combination of Copperstate leadership in cooperation with the town of Buckeye Arizona — which has been hosting its own Buckeye Air Fair — the new event is off and running in its new time slot of early February. For most of its 46-year-long life Copperstate has been in October. Showing the city’s support, both Buckeye’s Mayor and Vice Mayor were present at opening evening ceremonies. Some 20,000 people are expected.
Videoman Dave and I are on-site and working. We’ve already captured a few new interviews for you. On Day 1, one aircraft in particular caught our eyes.
Wild Sky Goat
In many years of reporting on light aircraft, I have flown a lot of weight shift control trikes. I love flying trikes. I’ve flown simple ones, super-deluxe ones, tough ones, and ones that weren’t so tough.
Eurofly Minifox — Light, Low-Cost, Single-Place Aircraft …Oh, and Fun!
“I knew we had all the pictures we needed but I was having a blast and just wanted to keep flying Minifox,” wrote British aviation writer, Dave Unwin. In this article we welcome Dave back to give his description of a fun, highly affordable Part 103-compliant ultralight.
Minifox by Eurofly is a lot of pure flying fun, and it was just joyful to spend an agreeable afternoon on a well-tended grass strip shooting a series of touch ‘n’ goes in an open-cockpit single-seater.
Upon spotting Minifox at a show I was instantly intrigued and inquired with Dave Broom of Airplay, the UK agent for Eurofly of Italy. Dave told me that a Minifox kit could be completed for less than £19.000 or about $25,000. That’s not a lot of money for a brand-new flying machine, and it occurred to me that such a price could help reverse the current trend of making aviation ever-more expensive.
2018 Light Aircraft Market Share Numbers — Now Optimized for Smartphones
At the recently concluded Sebring Sport Aviation Expo, I heard from a number of pilots and vendors about this website publishing fresh market share data. This clearly has value to anyone in the business but it also brings rewards for pilots trying carefully to choose a new aircraft.
Having roamed widely around the Internet to check multiple references, I can confidently state that this information is available from no other source.
Even though our information comes from FAA’s registration database, as our earlier articles about this renewed effort explained (here and here), the computer records needed some serious massaging to properly interpret a large number of make and model variations. Even a recently retired FAA official told me his former office has already begun using our Tableau Public presentation because the data is more user-friendly.
Yet again, I am motivated to give Steve Beste an enormous “Thank you!” for his dedicated effort to take FAA’s data, make complete sense of it (no small task), and to then work with the folks at Tableau to make this information available to you.
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Sebring Day 4 — 2 Video Pilot Reports, a Surprise Arrival, and a Wrap-Up Interview
The final day of the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo brought good flying conditions until mid-afternoon when light precipitation returned. The good start allowed us to record two Video Pilot Reports (VPR), one on the Magnus Aircraft all-carbon-fiber Fusion 212 and the other on the fully enclosed SilverLight Aviation American Ranger AR1 gyroplane. The videos will take some time to edit but I’ll provide a quick glimpse below.
One surprise arrival was Aeromarine LSA‘s Mermaid. Remember this model? This Chip Erwin creation was really the forerunner of the modern LSA seaplane category. Before Mermaid, we had Progressive Aerodyne‘s Searey and Aero Adventure‘s Aventura. Both those models have been upgraded for the time of ASTM standards compliance but early in the new millennium it was accurate to call them “ultralight seaplanes” built of gusseted aluminum structures covered with sewn Dacron surfaces.
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