Coming up soon — September 8-9-10, 2016 — is the Midwest LSA Expo. Videoman Dave and I will be present to report on around 50 aircraft on display. I hope you can join us. Get more info: Midwest LSA Expo.
Many times I’ve written that Quicksilver is arguably THE most successful seller of kit aircraft in the world. Some aviators might retort, “No way! Van’s Aircraft is the largest kit builder.” In total kits, at least portions of kits, that’s surely true. Van’s reports more than 20,000 tail kit-type deliveries have been made. Even more impressively, their completions — aircraft fully built and registered with an N or other number — now exceed 9,460 and I would never take away from their success with multiple designs nor would I diminish their highly-regarded business integrity.
Nonetheless, with Quicksilver having delivered more than 15,000 full kits, the vast majority of which were built and flown, they may be the most successful deliverer of complete aircraft kits in history.
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Will Third Class Medical Reform Hurt LSA?
One of the most common questions I got at Oshkosh 2016 was the title of this article. I’m only one person with an opinion, but since I work with many airframe producers in the LSA space, I heard this question fairly often, several times from airplane sellers who were curious what other producers thought.
Just shy of five years ago, EAA and AOPA caught the LSA industry off guard by announcing plans to push FAA to drop the Third Class medical. Most LSA professionals likely agree with the basic idea that FAA ought to keep their noses out of the recreational end of aviation. Many feel that the medical requirement has prevented almost no accidents. Nonetheless, this new initiative took aim at the primary reason LSA builders were then selling airplanes like crazy. If you wanted to fly without a medical you had ultralights (Part 103… and still do), or sailplane motorgliders, or Light-Sport Aircraft.
Latest and Greatest LSA from Oshkosh 2016
In a show as vast at EAA’s AirVenture Oshkosh, it is presumptuous to attempt covering everything of interest. What follows are some new aircraft I found in the categories I cover on this website. Other projects were certainly worthy of special note but with the goal of a fast dash through the latest and greatest, I’m keeping this one fairly lean. I’ll cover other developments in subsequent articles.
So, here’s three aircraft you haven’t seen before AirVenture 2016 plus a revised project involving an increasingly popular engine. I’ll start off with a famous guy checking out a famous engine to propel one of my favorite airplanes. We begin our quick review with Lockwood Aircraft‘s AirCam.
Of course, you know his face. When I once heard Harrison Ford speak, he said modestly (paraphrased), “I earn a living making faces.” I never thought of acting in such simple terms, but I accept such skills are part of the job.
Succeeding the Old Fashioned Way: Getting It Right
Media people (like me) flock to airshows looking for the new stories, new airplanes, new avionics, new company developments… whatever is new. Journalists pursue what’s new because they believe that’s what their customers readers want to read (or perhaps because it interests them as a writer). Nevertheless, sometimes the story is what’s not new. Aerotrek, importer of the A240 and A220 has not made major changes to the aircraft.
Why? Simple. The airplanes don’t need to change.*
Aerotrek’s planes are very well built, fly predictably and efficiently, handle nicely and perform near the top of the category at modest operation cost. They are simpler, not fancy carbon fiber, but rely on trusted construction methods using familiar materials. As important as any quality, Aerotreks are modestly priced, affordable to many budgets.
Not breaking new ground means getting familiar ways down pat, honing the building skills and techniques to a fine degree.
Remos GXiS — A Mercedes of LSA
Oshkosh is on! OK, not today. The big show starts tomorrow, but you wouldn’t know it as airplanes are already arriving in droves and the grounds are rapidly filling. Time for EAA’s summer celebration of flight to begin!
Although I’m a longtime regular, today I did something I’ve never done. I flew out of KOSH and then returned. If you’ve never flown into Oshkosh during AirVenture, you may not know what an experience such an arrival can be. This is the world’s busiest airport for one week. Airplanes arrive every few minutes and all of them do so in a unique, follow-the-plane-in-front-of-you method where no pilot uses the radio. Departing was fairly simple. Arriving is always an eye-opening experience.
I did my departure and reentry with Remos PR & Marketing guy Patrick Holland-Moritz, a former German aviation magazine writer. We flew in the brand new Remos GXiS. Flying into Oshkosh was a repeat treat for me, but I think Patrick was blown away by the flowing river of airplanes of all types.
Flying America’s First Homegrown Modern Gyroplane
Once upon a time… gyrocopters were an American invention. Igor Benson was such an important pioneer that many fixed wing pilots refer to all such flying machines as “Bensen gyros.” Starting in the 1950s, he hit on a good combination of ideas that made the new sector flourish… for a time.
Gyros are small rotary winged aircraft that resemble helicopters in some ways — all have a spinning wing above the occupants. However, gyros work by the air moving across the blades of the rotor disk; their rotors are not powered. Most readers likely don’t need a technical discussion. Suffice it to say gyros and helos are far from the same animal no matter how much they might look like one another.
Yet in the last couple decades things began to change, dramatically. Perhaps to accentuate their differences, modern producers prefer “gyroplanes” while the older Bensen types are often referred to as “gyrocopters.” The old and new are different in important ways.
Pilots and Manufacturers… Help Rescuers Help You
HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO — You crash landed your airplane at an airport. You are unconscious inside. Emergency crews race to assist but they are worried about your airplane having a powerful rocket motor that might injure them as they try to extricate you. What do you do? More advisably, what should you have already done?
Plenty of smart aviators and nearly every salesperson will tell you safety doesn’t sell. Pilots buy performance, range, sleek lines, comfort, and the latest instrumentation. Most take for granted that the aircraft is well-built and designed with stable characteristics and reliable systems. No matter their ultimate value, safety systems simply aren’t sexy.
Tell that to Cirrus Design, the Minnesota startup (back in the late ’90s) that did a terrific job of selling “that airplane with the parachute.” Of course, their SR20 and SR22 also steadily acquired all the dazzling features they could incorporate but any Cirrus rep’ is likely to agree the whole airframe parachute system, now called CAPS, was a leading reason why they did so well.
Mainstream Media Awakens to Flying Cars
Perhaps like many of you, I read the newspaper most mornings. Today I was reading the Wall Street Journal. In one of their special sections was an article about flying cars. As regular readers know, I try to keep up with this niche within our niche of aviation.
Major publication reporters are finally catching up with what we have been observing for several years. People talk about the “mainstream media” disdainfully for a reason. Even though they provide the “news,” their realization of all things new is not necessarily that timely. So much is happening in so many fields that mainstream media reporters cannot be expected to keep up with all developments. A website like this one is laser-focused on Light-Sport Aircraft, light kit aircraft, and ultralights. Even a billion-dollar news organization can’t stay up on the latest like we can.
In fact, today’s “Journal Report” — a subsection of the daily newspaper — was all about aviation.
Toyota May Be Thinking Differently about Aerocars
Maybe you haven’t heard enough about electric-powered aircraft, flying cars, and automobiles on autopilot (presuming you’re aware of Tesla’s fatal accident in May). How about a shape-shifting aerocar? Huh?! I know it sounds rather crazy but Toyota, being the world’s largest car manufacturer, is not a name to be dismissed when they may choose to delve into the flying car business… twice, in a few months!
Nope, I’m not kidding. The Japanese car company was awarded a patent for a “Shape Morphing Fuselage for an Aerocar.” The illustrations — typical patent artwork — might fool you. This is not some 1930s silliness. The U.S. Patent office published this very recently, on June 23rd, 2016.
Perhaps it’s no more than a publicity generator, much like Amazon’s drone delivery aircraft — about which, by the way, Amazon claims to be sincere. Or, maybe Toyota is afraid Terrafugia might beat them to an interesting market, something like Tesla did to the big boys of auto manufacturing.
Jabiru Gets an “OK” from Australian CASA
It doesn’t often happen this way. When media reporters get hold of a story that casts a company or person in a bad light, this generates headlines. The results can be disastrous for that company or person. However, if the initial article turns out to be overstated, a followup report does not always earn publication. News organizations don’t gain subscribers or advertisers by saying, “All is OK now.”
Perhaps this was the situation with Jabiru… the engine side of the house, not the airframe side. As you can read in our earlier report, Jabiru was taken to task for some problems down under. You should judge for yourself.
“I hope people who read [CASA’s] report get the main message that well-maintained Jabiru engines were not a problem but sloppy maintenance did them in,” wrote Jabiru North America boss, Pete Krotje. “CASA does not mention the group of eight flight schools where most of the problems arose and that the same maintenance company did their maintenance.” He ventured further saying, “I can’t imagine that the FAA would take steps similar to CASA’s limitations without knowing the source of the problem.”
Pete wrote, “Limitations have been lifted on engines that have been maintained according to the Jabiru manual and have complied to the ‘significant’ Jabiru service bulletins & service letters.” He expressed that, “It is a real round about way of saying that poor maintenance practices are the real cause of Jabiru engine malfunctions.” Like it or not, aircraft — like houses, autos, RVs, boats, well… pretty much everything — require regular and proper maintenance.
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